Old School Bitcoin Shawarma with Ali from Tahini's - FFS #106

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as a business, when you consider Bitcoin as part of your strategy, Thank you.

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it's so beneficial in so many ways.

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Just look at the proof.

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Over a four year time period, our purchasing power had more than 5x,

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you'll still get the same benefit that Michael Saylor gets as a small

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operator And you should be considering that as well, if you don't own your

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own business, it has the same effect.

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truly consider, because you can't make it with just thinking about income.

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You really can't.

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You're going to run faster and faster on a hamster wheel, chasing

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a currency that's getting weaker and weaker, You'll never catch up.

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So you need to have a balance sheet strategy to match

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with that income strategy.

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Not saying don't go out, like trying to grow your income and

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get other sources of income.

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Do all that, but have a strategy for your balance sheet as well,

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because one strategy is not enough.

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Ali, welcome to the Freedom Footprint show.

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Thanks for joining us.

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Thank you for having me, Luke.

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Yes, a legend in the kebab business, or the shawarma business.

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What's the difference between a shawarma?

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So shawarmas is basically that big, like, meat on a spit thing, where

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the kebab is like the little skewers of meat that go on the barbecue.

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we specialize in shawarmas.

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Uh, so we specialize in that big, you know, big meat on a

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spit, on the rotisserie spit.

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And, um, yeah, and then we make like wraps out of those that we call shawarmas.

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Okay, because I think this is a, uh, yeah, I'm not following protocol here, Luke,

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I know, but I want to clear this first.

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Like, uh, because in Sweden, where I grew up, there was no such thing as a shawarma.

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Everything was a kebab.

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And when we drove down to Germany, there was no kebab.

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There was a döner.

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There was Which is a kebab, which is apparently a shawarma.

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So, so, is it different from different, in different cultures,

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or what, what's going on there?

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So I'll give you the backstory on, on, uh, the shawarma, uh,

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business, or the origins of shawarma.

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it basically originated in Turkey and in Turkey, uh, it's, it's the, the idea

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was the meat on us on a vertical, uh, rotisserie spit that keeps on spinning

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and it cooks that way and you just shave off as the outer layer cooks.

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And, uh, in Turkey.

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It was called Donair, right?

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And it was made a certain way with certain ingredients, and

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they're the ones that invented it.

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And then it went to the Arabs.

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The Arabs took that idea, made it into their own, put different toppings on

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the wraps, spiced the meat differently.

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And called it shawarma.

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And then the Greeks took it and, uh, they did their own thing with it.

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They put Zeki on it, you know, like they put like their own type of

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toppings and they called it Euro or Gaia, or however you wanna call it.

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And then the rest of the Europeans, um, just saw this as, oh, this

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is like, like foreign food.

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Let's just call it all kebab.

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And I think that's.

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That's where, and oh, also the Lebanese immigrants went to Mexico and started

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the same idea and they did it with, with the Mexican style and they call it pastor

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or el pastor or something like that.

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So, uh, that's basically like the backstory of the origins of, shawarma

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or doner or gyro or however, they're all the same thing basically, but

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each country does it in a certain way with different toppings and,

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um, they made it into their own.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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So

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that's good to have that straightened out before we

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I love it.

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I love, I love how people, like, want to know where, cause

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I, I'm fascinated by this.

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I think this is awesome.

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Uh, how food, like, can integrate into different cultures and stuff, so.

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Yeah.

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And no matter what you call them, I absolutely love them.

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I, I love shawarma's, doner's and, and kebabs.

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Uh, and all, well, most of it, not too shitty ones though, but, but still,

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I, I grew up on these things, I love them, especially after a hard night

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out, uh, like, there's nothing like a roll of kebab before you go to bed.

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Um Anyway, enough about that for now.

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Tell us a little bit about you, Ali.

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Um, who, who, I mean, we want you on here for several reasons.

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I mean, you're a legendary bitcoiner, legendary comedian, legendary shawarma

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man, and, uh, legendary YouTuber.

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You've, you've got like, uh, at least one gazillion subscribers now.

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So, who are you?

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Give us the TLDR on Ali.

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Yeah, so, TLDR, I'm a, Canadian born immigrant, which means, like, I was,

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like, born Canadian, like, my parents were the original immigrants, but

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my parents ended up moving back to the Middle East for, for work, and

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I was born there and grew up there.

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And then I moved to Canada in 2011, right after the Arab Spring, the Egyptian

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Revolution, I was part of that, and then I came to Canada after and with

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the intent of You know, starting my career here, we were looking, me and

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my brother, which is my partner, we were looking for a business to buy,

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to kind of, you know, give us a start.

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And we found the Shorma restaurant in London, Ontario, that was for

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sale, so we ended up buying it.

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We had no experience at all in the restaurant industry.

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And the first few years were a little bit chaotic while we were

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trying to find our footing and figure the restaurant business out.

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TLDR again, like we figured it out and then we opened a second

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restaurant and then a third restaurant all in Ontario, London, Ontario.

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And then from there, a lot of people came up to us and wanted

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to open like their own tahini.

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So they wanted us to franchise and we opened our first, uh, franchise location

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in late 2019 or early 2020, I wanna say.

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And from there we just kept growing this business.

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Uh, until now we're at 41 locations all over Canada.

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41 tahinis all over Canada.

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And, um, yeah, throughout the way, we were trying to be

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innovative as much as possible.

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So within our marketing strategy, early on, we realized that, you know,

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we're competing with McDonald's, Burger King, and KFC, and all these

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guys have a thousand X more budget, if not more in marketing dollars.

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So we had to find like a creative way to sort of reach our, our

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guests and our potential guests.

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So we adopted, uh, social media in an, in its organic form, trying

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to create content that would reach the masses organically without any,

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um, paid ads or stuff like that.

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And, uh, I started, I think we were like the first restaurant to, to be on TikTok,

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or one of the first, at least that I know.

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every, every platform, YouTube, we were like the first restaurant

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to probably hit a million subscribers as a restaurant account.

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Like, I know there's like personal chefs that do it, that also have

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restaurants, but as, as a restaurant only account, uh, we were probably the first

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restaurant to hit a million subscribers.

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And we just kept getting better and better at that until now we have

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more subscribers than McDonald's, Burger King, KFC combined.

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Wow, that's so cool.

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And like, so you, when did you hit a million, and when did you

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hit two million, because that, two million is pretty recent, right?

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Yeah, uh, yeah.

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Last year we, we hit a million and then this year we hit two million, I believe.

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Yeah.

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that's super cool.

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Like, uh,

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people always say when they talk about millions that the first million is the

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hardest one and it gets easier after that.

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And I think that's true for YouTube views.

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However, I don't think it's true for Bitcoin.

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In Bitcoin, the first million is the easiest one.

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It gets increasingly harder after that.

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And that's a feature, not a bug.

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Yeah.

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So, so how does Bitcoin come into all of this?

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When did you find Bitcoin and when did you realize that this is the thing

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where we need to start accepting it at our restaurants and stuff like that?

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Yes.

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So Bitcoin kind of like stormed in, uh, stormed through the

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gates, during 2020 for us.

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So during 2020, uh, when the COVID pandemic hit, our restaurants got

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like, At that time we only had, four restaurants and sales dropped from like,

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you know, dropped 80 percent in a week.

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From there, we obviously like, you know, um, went all out seven days a week

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trying to keep the restaurants afloat.

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And at the same time, personally, I had, I was, uh, sitting in a lot of cash.

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And when everything crashed, I decided, you know what, this is like my, my

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Warren Buffett moment, my 2008 Warren Buffett moment, where I go in and

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buy all these, uh, stocks for cheap.

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So I go in and I buy everything, and I put in a lot of money, and then, you know.

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I also buy a little bit of Bitcoin because it, it had crashed,

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uh, like 50 percent that month.

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And I was like, I have no idea what this thing is.

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I'll just buy a little bit of it.

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So I buy it.

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And then, you know, there's, um, a lot of people say like, you truly start to

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learn about something after you buy it.

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And that's exactly what happened.

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So I started going down this Bitcoin rabbit hole where I was

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like, um, reading Bitcoin articles.

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Uh, listening to podcasts.

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Started getting books and reading books and the more I fell into this rabbit

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hole, the more my allocation grew and it grew from like 5 percent to 10 percent

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to 20 percent to 50 percent to 80 percent to, holy shit, you know what, this is

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probably the biggest opportunity, in my life, so I'm just going to go all in.

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So I sold everything else and I just went all in on Bitcoin.

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And this is like over a few months.

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Right.

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And, but then from there, it sort of like it, it kind of hit me that it's not

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just the biggest opportunity in my life.

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It's, it's almost like a way of life.

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And when I had that change, like that paradigm shift, I was like,

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okay, I need to implement, I need to implement this into my family.

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So my parents, my, my siblings, like everybody that I love.

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But I also need to incorporate that into my business.

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So, I orange pilled my partners along the way.

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They became Bitcoiners, not as hardcore as I am, but they became Bitcoiners.

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And then, in August, we decided, like, I personally ran out of money and

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I just wanted to buy more Bitcoin.

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And in August, we decided to put the company's money

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into buying Bitcoin as well.

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so we did that.

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And, uh, we, we tweeted about it.

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That's, that's when I created like the tahini tick, the Twitter account.

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Right.

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And we tweeted about it.

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We said, okay.

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Like we're a company out of London, Ontario.

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We, we have this, this, and we decided to adopt Bitcoin as a treasury reserve.

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And that was like a week after Michael Saylor, uh, did his move.

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That's.

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Michael really kind of like pushed us over the cliff, like we were

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debating about it, and then -Michael really like, you know, uh, gave us

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that last push, and it was probably one of the best business decisions

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ever made in, in, in our company.

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And, um, yeah, we just kept buying Bitcoin on a regular basis ever since.

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And, uh, we haven't looked back.

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That's such a cool story.

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And you know, Michael's company name implies that he might not

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keep up to restaurant standards when it comes to cooking, since

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micro implies microwave, right?

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should change his company to Macrostrategy instead.

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yeah.

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He's becoming a micro strategist and not a micro strategist.

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Oh, well, but that's, yeah, what a cool story.

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Uh, so, so, is Tahinis still only Canada only or is it, uh,

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Yes.

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So our, like, our game plan and our strategy is basically to conquer

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Canada first and then move to the US and then move internationally.

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So, um, we're in that conquering Canada phase.

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42 locations is a pretty, you know, good achievement for, for four years.

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Um, from, from our first franchise that opened.

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So, but next year we will be opening our first location in the US.

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I don't have a confirmation on which city exactly that's going to be.

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There's multiple options on the table right now, but next year,

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we're within the next 12 months.

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we're looking at, uh, our first U.

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S.

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location.

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and where does the name Tahinis come from?

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Is that your surname?

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Uh, no, it's just, it's just a name that we came up with.

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Tahini is, is like one of our main sauces that we use

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Okay.

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00:15:24,785 --> 00:15:25,565
in the restaurant.

237
00:15:25,835 --> 00:15:27,895
The tahini sauce, it's like a sesame paste.

238
00:15:28,275 --> 00:15:32,565
And we, we kind of saw it as like, we want to be like the Chipotles

239
00:15:32,575 --> 00:15:34,205
of the Middle East sort of thing.

240
00:15:35,095 --> 00:15:38,385
So, so we got the inspiration from that idea.

241
00:15:39,865 --> 00:15:40,165
All right.

242
00:15:40,165 --> 00:15:40,675
Yeah, yeah.

243
00:15:41,075 --> 00:15:46,825
I mean, I've, I've seen your videos and first of all, they're hilarious, uh, and,

244
00:15:46,825 --> 00:15:50,475
uh, second, Uh, they look extremely tasty.

245
00:15:50,475 --> 00:15:53,445
I'm like, why isn't there a tahini's here over here?

246
00:15:53,605 --> 00:15:54,905
Like I would go every day.

247
00:15:56,325 --> 00:15:56,725
Maybe not.

248
00:15:56,805 --> 00:15:57,525
Maybe that's a lie.

249
00:15:57,605 --> 00:15:58,785
I would go once a week.

250
00:16:00,545 --> 00:16:01,865
Uh, yeah.

251
00:16:02,035 --> 00:16:07,005
So if, if you ever need to start a tahini's somewhere in Europe, maybe we

252
00:16:07,005 --> 00:16:09,225
can, maybe we can figure that out somehow.

253
00:16:09,566 --> 00:16:13,966
Yeah, so we're, we're, we're looking at the UK right now.

254
00:16:14,864 --> 00:16:19,704
the, the challenge with opening franchises is that you need a partner, right?

255
00:16:19,704 --> 00:16:24,604
You need a partner that is sold on, on the restaurant, sold on the business

256
00:16:24,864 --> 00:16:27,364
that wants to open their own tahinis.

257
00:16:27,624 --> 00:16:33,190
So, so that's, you know, having somebody in Canada is easy and the States a little

258
00:16:33,190 --> 00:16:36,730
bit easier, but international, it's, it's a little bit more of a challenge.

259
00:16:37,574 --> 00:16:40,324
So, but yeah, we're, we're going to get there eventually.

260
00:16:41,079 --> 00:16:42,539
It just needs more time.

261
00:16:43,474 --> 00:16:43,944
cool.

262
00:16:45,814 --> 00:16:48,044
UK is not really Europe anymore though.

263
00:16:48,044 --> 00:16:49,404
I'm sorry, but they left.

264
00:16:49,829 --> 00:16:52,139
Oh yeah, I don't know.

265
00:16:52,139 --> 00:16:52,829
It is to me.

266
00:16:53,504 --> 00:16:56,969
They, they're not in, they're not in this lovely, you know,

267
00:16:57,719 --> 00:16:59,789
flag with stars on the front.

268
00:16:59,789 --> 00:17:03,059
And, uh, red background, uh, I mean a blue brack background, uh,

269
00:17:05,439 --> 00:17:09,889
this wonderful free trade agreement thing that turned into, you know,

270
00:17:10,499 --> 00:17:12,179
strawberry measuring contest.

271
00:17:12,629 --> 00:17:15,189
Anyway, um, yeah.

272
00:17:15,999 --> 00:17:18,459
Luke, do you have any questions for Ali?

273
00:17:18,774 --> 00:17:26,184
Yeah, so, uh, so I'm, I'm from Canada, um, Calgary, uh, and, and, uh, yeah, I,

274
00:17:26,224 --> 00:17:30,164
I am a recent lever from, from Canada.

275
00:17:30,164 --> 00:17:33,158
I've, I've been in Finland almost three years now.

276
00:17:33,503 --> 00:17:37,563
and I didn't leave only because of, of what was going on politically,

277
00:17:38,023 --> 00:17:43,123
uh, but the, the, the thing was that life was getting pretty tough, uh,

278
00:17:43,373 --> 00:17:47,863
under Justin Trudeau, especially, especially, uh, in, in Alberta.

279
00:17:48,273 --> 00:17:54,683
and, and, yeah, just, uh, your, your take, uh, um, on, on kind of how, how

280
00:17:54,683 --> 00:17:59,458
things are going in Canada right now, because it, I mean, There's, there's,

281
00:17:59,788 --> 00:18:03,838
uh, there's a lot of optimistic people, uh, in Canada, a lot of Bitcoiners

282
00:18:03,838 --> 00:18:07,528
that are, that are doing great things and are, are super optimistic.

283
00:18:07,558 --> 00:18:14,248
Uh, what's, what's your take on Bitcoin in Canada, the Canadian situation in general?

284
00:18:14,628 --> 00:18:16,518
Uh, open-ended question sort of.

285
00:18:18,163 --> 00:18:18,503
Yeah.

286
00:18:18,503 --> 00:18:24,743
I mean, like when it comes to politics, like it's, you know, I

287
00:18:24,743 --> 00:18:29,403
used to care a lot and now I just realized that the best thing.

288
00:18:29,883 --> 00:18:36,273
The best political move or stance you could take is to just focus on

289
00:18:36,503 --> 00:18:44,943
Bitcoin because, you know, if most of the problems in, in the world today is

290
00:18:44,973 --> 00:18:52,443
because the money is broken and left, right, uh, you know, I stopped caring.

291
00:18:53,073 --> 00:18:59,673
And, uh, you know, if the only thing I would engage in with politics is to

292
00:18:59,693 --> 00:19:06,742
help Bitcoin move forward, uh, so I did have, Pierre Poliev, who's the guy

293
00:19:06,782 --> 00:19:13,197
running against Trudeau right now, I Had him come to Tahini and he bought a

294
00:19:13,197 --> 00:19:16,767
shawarma with Bitcoin and it was big news.

295
00:19:16,827 --> 00:19:22,307
It was like the first, you know, uh, can, you know, candidate that,

296
00:19:22,727 --> 00:19:24,677
uh, bought something with Bitcoin.

297
00:19:25,647 --> 00:19:31,947
And I also also, Pierre became, we became good friends, uh, from there.

298
00:19:32,547 --> 00:19:38,757
And he also invited me to speak to the finance committee and the finance minister

299
00:19:38,757 --> 00:19:41,257
and the, the members of parliament.

300
00:19:42,362 --> 00:19:44,712
Uh, for the, the yearly financial budget.

301
00:19:44,712 --> 00:19:49,112
So, like, it was like this meeting where they were going to decide, okay, what are

302
00:19:49,112 --> 00:19:53,787
we going to spend on, what are we going to spend all this printed money on, right?

303
00:19:53,787 --> 00:20:02,110
So, I went up there and I prepared a 5 minute, speech trying to convince them

304
00:20:02,140 --> 00:20:10,440
that they I should be open to adopting Bitcoin as, as like a new technology,

305
00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:18,080
they should ride the technology wave of Bitcoin, like El Salvador, and they

306
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:23,310
should, I told, I recommended that they should adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.

307
00:20:24,580 --> 00:20:31,540
And then finally, I told them that they should borrow 10 billion from

308
00:20:31,550 --> 00:20:35,860
the Central Bank of Canada, and they should go buy Bitcoin with it.

309
00:20:38,190 --> 00:20:42,724
And of course, I got laughed at, you know, especially on the way down during

310
00:20:42,724 --> 00:20:48,074
the bear market, uh, everybody was dunking on us and they're like, huh,

311
00:20:48,114 --> 00:20:53,064
like, hey, how's that, you know, how's that Bitcoin thing going, you know, like.

312
00:20:53,844 --> 00:21:00,664
Uh, so, from there, if I look back, when, when I recommended the government should

313
00:21:00,664 --> 00:21:07,414
buy 10 billion worth of Bitcoin, Bitcoin I think was at 50, 000 Canadian, it's now

314
00:21:07,414 --> 00:21:10,694
at 90 something thousand dollars Canadian.

315
00:21:11,224 --> 00:21:16,637
So, they would have made a lot of money if they listened to me, but they didn't,

316
00:21:16,647 --> 00:21:21,637
so now I get to tell them I told you so, and, you know, maybe I can do a

317
00:21:21,637 --> 00:21:27,897
push, try to rally Canadians to try to convince the government to be more Bitcoin

318
00:21:28,147 --> 00:21:32,553
friendly, and I think that's honestly, like, that's the best thing to focus on.

319
00:21:33,235 --> 00:21:34,715
everything else is just noise.

320
00:21:36,126 --> 00:21:43,196
Yeah, so, and definitely that's a great perspective and interesting that you

321
00:21:43,196 --> 00:21:49,996
got so involved, I guess, in the little bit that Canada has dipped its toes,

322
00:21:49,996 --> 00:21:52,646
I suppose, politically into Bitcoin.

323
00:21:53,706 --> 00:21:59,101
Just leaving the politics aside though, I mean, uh, Uh, how is the Bitcoin

324
00:21:59,151 --> 00:22:02,471
scene in Canada going right now?

325
00:22:03,751 --> 00:22:06,851
Again, lots of great Bitcoiners in Canada.

326
00:22:07,201 --> 00:22:12,883
I saw that there was recently a setback in BullBitcoin's Canada Post thing,

327
00:22:12,883 --> 00:22:16,543
but it seems like the Bitcoin community in Canada is doing really well.

328
00:22:16,563 --> 00:22:17,683
What's your take on that?

329
00:22:18,310 --> 00:22:25,730
The Bitcoin community is probably like the, and that's like worldwide, the

330
00:22:25,740 --> 00:22:27,920
best community I've ever been a part of.

331
00:22:28,820 --> 00:22:35,040
And, um, the Canadian Bitcoin community, especially like you put sound money with,

332
00:22:35,100 --> 00:22:41,320
with just cool and nice people, like the, that combination is killer, right?

333
00:22:41,430 --> 00:22:45,895
That's why you get like, Incredible Bitcoiners here in Canada like,

334
00:22:46,285 --> 00:22:52,483
you know, um, Francis, Jeff Booth, from, you know, and Greg Foss and,

335
00:22:52,493 --> 00:22:59,283
and, uh, Brad Mills and, and like so many amazing Bitcoiners here.

336
00:22:59,663 --> 00:23:05,723
And the, the best thing about The, the, well, for Canadian Bitcoiners,

337
00:23:05,793 --> 00:23:07,513
it's there, it's exploding.

338
00:23:07,583 --> 00:23:11,793
We have the Canadian Bitcoin conference happening in May.

339
00:23:12,353 --> 00:23:19,813
We have like a Bitcoin halving party organized in Ontario where hundreds

340
00:23:19,813 --> 00:23:21,583
of people are going to show up.

341
00:23:22,183 --> 00:23:27,793
Uh, so it's a very tight niche, crazy community.

342
00:23:28,354 --> 00:23:32,559
but we're very loud and we make a splash and, you know, Uh, we're, we're

343
00:23:32,589 --> 00:23:37,469
causing waves and we're causing ripple effects and overall it's just, we're

344
00:23:37,469 --> 00:23:44,029
just another part of the Bitcoin network and we're doing our own thing and we

345
00:23:44,029 --> 00:23:48,369
love everybody else and like, this is, this is the best thing about Bitcoin.

346
00:23:48,639 --> 00:23:53,949
Like Bitcoin as a network is borderless.

347
00:23:54,674 --> 00:24:01,514
It's open, permissionless, and there's nothing more open and secure

348
00:24:02,284 --> 00:24:04,454
than, you know, other than Bitcoin.

349
00:24:05,464 --> 00:24:07,914
And it sort of translates to the community.

350
00:24:09,054 --> 00:24:12,404
So the community ends up being borderless.

351
00:24:12,849 --> 00:24:13,179
Right?

352
00:24:13,809 --> 00:24:19,689
I, you know, you know, love you guys more than a lot of people

353
00:24:19,699 --> 00:24:21,549
that I know very well here.

354
00:24:22,079 --> 00:24:28,859
And the reason is because I know, you know, you guys have the same

355
00:24:29,189 --> 00:24:33,789
ideas and the same level of thinking and we have the same mission.

356
00:24:34,699 --> 00:24:37,389
And we're all about truth.

357
00:24:37,514 --> 00:24:41,314
So,

358
00:24:43,754 --> 00:24:48,994
I already connect with you guys more than I connect with a lot of people here

359
00:24:49,054 --> 00:24:52,944
that I know and I, like, you know, some people I work with even, like, every day.

360
00:24:53,984 --> 00:24:57,574
So, this is the best thing, in my opinion, about the Bitcoin community.

361
00:24:58,629 --> 00:25:03,689
The other thing too is just, they're so nice, they like, when we announced, uh,

362
00:25:03,729 --> 00:25:07,779
our Bitcoin strategy for the company, that was like our, our coming out moment.

363
00:25:08,059 --> 00:25:12,079
And we were just met with nothing but love from the community.

364
00:25:12,079 --> 00:25:18,209
Everybody was like, retweeting about it and, and talking about tahinis and like

365
00:25:18,209 --> 00:25:20,449
seeing like amazing things about us.

366
00:25:20,489 --> 00:25:23,169
And it was like, man, these guys are awesome.

367
00:25:24,254 --> 00:25:29,474
So, uh, it just keeps getting better here in Canada for, for Bitcoiners and, and

368
00:25:29,474 --> 00:25:33,804
it's going to grow, especially in the coming couple years when more and more

369
00:25:33,804 --> 00:25:35,354
people start to come into the space.

370
00:25:35,684 --> 00:25:39,114
And, um, yeah, we're happy to be a beacon of hope.

371
00:25:40,006 --> 00:25:41,006
Right back at you, man.

372
00:25:41,056 --> 00:25:48,576
And, uh, I saw a fantastic map, uh, the other day of, um, searches,

373
00:25:48,616 --> 00:25:52,776
Google searches for the word Bitcoin per capita in each country.

374
00:25:53,316 --> 00:25:56,866
And Canada is like, uh, has the biggest number.

375
00:25:57,131 --> 00:26:01,281
search number for the word Bitcoin per capita and on the entire American, both

376
00:26:01,311 --> 00:26:04,051
American continents, which is pretty cool.

377
00:26:05,141 --> 00:26:10,211
But I think it's due to some of the great Bitcoiners that are Canucks,

378
00:26:10,761 --> 00:26:16,851
like yourself, Luke, I mean, and everyone else we mentioned,

379
00:26:17,831 --> 00:26:19,491
and we're forgetting a lot too.

380
00:26:19,911 --> 00:26:21,066
Um, but.

381
00:26:21,646 --> 00:26:25,486
The thing you said about the network, let me try to give you a perspective here,

382
00:26:25,526 --> 00:26:29,056
if you can bear with me for a minute or two, like, and, and, uh, because I'd

383
00:26:29,056 --> 00:26:30,616
like to see what you think of this idea.

384
00:26:31,116 --> 00:26:35,796
So, so I've had this idea for, uh, quite some time, um, that if you think

385
00:26:35,796 --> 00:26:41,036
about, What, what owning a Bitcoin is like, what does it mean to own a

386
00:26:41,036 --> 00:26:45,086
Bitcoin or even to possess a Bitcoin is even a better term for it because

387
00:26:45,146 --> 00:26:47,556
ownership is something more legal.

388
00:26:47,596 --> 00:26:53,636
Possession is when you really, when something is really possessed by you and

389
00:26:53,976 --> 00:26:57,996
with Bitcoin, you might be possessed by it as well, but that's another topic.

390
00:26:58,426 --> 00:26:59,416
So the thing is.

391
00:26:59,976 --> 00:27:03,946
Uh, when I think about that, like if you memorize your, the first thought

392
00:27:03,946 --> 00:27:08,736
I had was like, if you memorize your 12 magic words, your seed phrase, uh,

393
00:27:08,836 --> 00:27:13,706
and you destroy every other location that seed phrase exists in, then those

394
00:27:13,756 --> 00:27:15,916
bitcoins exist solely in your head.

395
00:27:16,556 --> 00:27:17,456
That's where they are.

396
00:27:17,476 --> 00:27:18,356
They're nowhere else.

397
00:27:19,711 --> 00:27:23,521
But when you think a little deeper about that, you realize that that is true

398
00:27:23,521 --> 00:27:28,921
for all bitcoins, because all owning them means is you're keeping a secret.

399
00:27:28,961 --> 00:27:30,031
You don't really own them.

400
00:27:30,051 --> 00:27:34,121
You have the ability to unlock them and move them, right?

401
00:27:34,511 --> 00:27:35,651
So it's not really ownership.

402
00:27:35,651 --> 00:27:37,031
It's not really possession either.

403
00:27:37,031 --> 00:27:37,891
It's something else.

404
00:27:39,531 --> 00:27:42,851
And if you take this thought even further, if you think about what

405
00:27:42,851 --> 00:27:49,396
a computer is, Um, then all that is it's ones and zeros in a row.

406
00:27:49,396 --> 00:27:54,106
Like, so it's calculating stuff for human beings, but it's basically

407
00:27:54,106 --> 00:27:55,496
just an extension of our brains.

408
00:27:55,706 --> 00:27:58,416
It's like an abacus, but a very, very advanced abacus.

409
00:27:59,306 --> 00:28:05,386
Uh, so all the computers used in Bitcoin are just extensions

410
00:28:05,406 --> 00:28:07,006
of the Bitcoiners minds.

411
00:28:07,996 --> 00:28:12,546
And the, the miner is not the hangar full of ASICs.

412
00:28:12,696 --> 00:28:16,696
It's the guy deciding to buy all those ASICs and run the software.

413
00:28:17,106 --> 00:28:18,046
That's the miner.

414
00:28:20,091 --> 00:28:25,631
Especially we can get into the debate of miners versus hash salesmen and that you

415
00:28:25,631 --> 00:28:30,271
need to connect to a transparent pool if you actually want to be a Bitcoin miner.

416
00:28:30,271 --> 00:28:31,841
But let's not go there for now.

417
00:28:31,851 --> 00:28:37,241
Like, also, if you're running a node to see that the transactions you make

418
00:28:37,241 --> 00:28:41,141
and the transactions you receive are valid and follow the rules that you

419
00:28:43,171 --> 00:28:50,016
define as Bitcoin, that node is not Actually, the Raspberry Pi running

420
00:28:50,226 --> 00:28:56,036
Umbral, it's you deciding to run the software, regardless of if you're

421
00:28:56,036 --> 00:29:01,756
running Bitcoin Core on an old laptop or, you know, something else on a

422
00:29:01,866 --> 00:29:04,626
Start 9 or a Raspberry Pi or whatever.

423
00:29:05,696 --> 00:29:08,636
The point is, there's a person behind all of it.

424
00:29:09,761 --> 00:29:13,411
And the computers involved are just extensions of our minds.

425
00:29:14,241 --> 00:29:19,891
So we, we aren't, maybe not all Satoshi, but we are the Satoshis.

426
00:29:20,451 --> 00:29:24,631
And that's what makes a Satoshi something else than just mere data.

427
00:29:25,411 --> 00:29:29,981
Uh, it's all the other data can be copied, but we are the bitcoins.

428
00:29:31,091 --> 00:29:36,286
So you and I, and Luke, We're not only parts of the same network,

429
00:29:36,336 --> 00:29:38,246
we're parts of the same entity.

430
00:29:38,606 --> 00:29:40,946
We are more than mere humans.

431
00:29:41,656 --> 00:29:42,726
We are Bitcoin.

432
00:29:43,286 --> 00:29:44,186
We are Legion.

433
00:29:45,301 --> 00:29:47,131
We cannot be stopped.

434
00:29:47,821 --> 00:29:47,901
I

435
00:29:48,121 --> 00:29:48,841
Deal with it.

436
00:29:50,271 --> 00:29:51,131
G E F Y.

437
00:29:51,281 --> 00:29:53,701
Like, it's wonderful.

438
00:29:54,201 --> 00:29:54,511
Yeah.

439
00:29:56,366 --> 00:29:56,756
Yeah.

440
00:29:56,786 --> 00:29:58,116
I love, I love that idea.

441
00:29:58,136 --> 00:30:03,166
And that's, that's the, that's the reason why the bond between Bitcoiners

442
00:30:03,166 --> 00:30:08,596
is so strong and it's so strong without, without us having to meet each other.

443
00:30:09,166 --> 00:30:11,836
So, yeah, absolutely.

444
00:30:11,836 --> 00:30:21,856
Like, uh, I, I like to, you know, if you go back in history, you, you know,

445
00:30:21,866 --> 00:30:29,296
you can see that one of the main, um, reasons for civilizations to, to grow

446
00:30:29,296 --> 00:30:40,406
and expand Bitcoin is by trade and throughout history, almost, well, I

447
00:30:40,406 --> 00:30:46,336
don't want to say all wars, but most wars have been fought for those trade routes.

448
00:30:49,916 --> 00:30:55,446
And what Bitcoin basically came and did is that,

449
00:30:57,606 --> 00:31:02,166
and it's the first thing that ever conceived of that idea, is that it

450
00:31:02,316 --> 00:31:06,466
secured our trade routes forever.

451
00:31:07,656 --> 00:31:11,636
So we can, you know, we can have true relationships.

452
00:31:11,912 --> 00:31:17,041
So we were able to connect with each other without having the need for militaries

453
00:31:17,811 --> 00:31:25,871
and governments to protect our trade and our communication and all of that.

454
00:31:26,711 --> 00:31:33,001
So it opened the front to, for like people to deal with one another

455
00:31:33,851 --> 00:31:35,491
in a completely different way.

456
00:31:35,551 --> 00:31:38,111
Like we've never seen anything like this.

457
00:31:38,461 --> 00:31:46,291
In history, there's, there was always wars for trades and, and, um, wars

458
00:31:46,311 --> 00:31:50,961
between nations and Bitcoin came and just flipped out over its head and said,

459
00:31:50,981 --> 00:31:58,176
okay, you can securely trade with one another now, um, let's see who you are.

460
00:31:58,656 --> 00:31:58,916
Right.

461
00:31:58,916 --> 00:32:01,086
And we're seeing that in real life right now.

462
00:32:01,876 --> 00:32:03,776
So it's, it's pretty amazing.

463
00:32:03,776 --> 00:32:07,756
And that's just the only thing like I can add that was an amazing rant, by the way.

464
00:32:07,756 --> 00:32:09,346
And we are Bitcoin.

465
00:32:09,506 --> 00:32:10,656
I love that.

466
00:32:11,641 --> 00:32:13,431
Yeah, it's hard to debunk, right?

467
00:32:13,551 --> 00:32:18,701
You can't really say, uh, I mean, I'm made up of kebab and bitcoin.

468
00:32:18,701 --> 00:32:20,421
That's, that's basically my body.

469
00:32:20,731 --> 00:32:21,081
Yes.

470
00:32:24,406 --> 00:32:24,936
Me too.

471
00:32:25,151 --> 00:32:25,791
There you go!

472
00:32:26,301 --> 00:32:27,211
Shawarma, sorry.

473
00:32:30,181 --> 00:32:34,441
Yeah, I mean, the non violent interactions.

474
00:32:34,821 --> 00:32:38,531
These are all trades, like we're trading right now, we're trading

475
00:32:38,531 --> 00:32:39,951
information, we're trading words.

476
00:32:40,211 --> 00:32:43,754
Like everything's a trade, until you introduce violence.

477
00:32:44,454 --> 00:32:50,374
And for, for anyone to engage in anything consensually, uh, they need to think

478
00:32:50,384 --> 00:32:51,804
that there's something in it for them.

479
00:32:52,725 --> 00:32:55,335
otherwise the, the interaction doesn't happen.

480
00:32:55,975 --> 00:32:59,865
And this is true for all trades, but I would say it's true for every human

481
00:32:59,865 --> 00:33:02,505
interaction that is not violent.

482
00:33:03,100 --> 00:33:09,620
And as soon as you introduce violence, one party loses, uh, one party

483
00:33:09,620 --> 00:33:11,400
wins at the expense of the other.

484
00:33:11,660 --> 00:33:13,400
Like, that's just what happens.

485
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:19,370
And we've been living in a, all of human history is, is colored by this

486
00:33:19,980 --> 00:33:25,270
mix between consensual interactions and non consensual interactions,

487
00:33:25,630 --> 00:33:26,880
which are all over the place.

488
00:33:27,620 --> 00:33:34,370
And so we're taught in schools that democracy is the shit, da shit.

489
00:33:35,190 --> 00:33:40,650
But Civilization happened despite democracy, not because of it.

490
00:33:41,170 --> 00:33:47,280
Like democracy might have been better than other hindering hindrance

491
00:33:47,350 --> 00:33:49,350
systems that were in place before it.

492
00:33:49,450 --> 00:33:56,920
We can debate that too, but still it's not the thing that makes Societies work.

493
00:33:57,530 --> 00:34:03,010
Trade is like free trade is the thing that makes makes things work in the l Farron.

494
00:34:03,847 --> 00:34:07,607
so, so that's just what, what I think now, now we've got a system

495
00:34:07,957 --> 00:34:12,042
that they cannot do anything about, and that is very, very important.

496
00:34:12,402 --> 00:34:16,992
Expensive to try to attack, regardless of if you try to attack the Bitcoiner,

497
00:34:17,102 --> 00:34:20,022
because the Bitcoiner can just die with all the Bitcoin in his head.

498
00:34:20,402 --> 00:34:23,742
The Bitcoiner doesn't have to give you all his Bitcoins because you cannot know

499
00:34:23,742 --> 00:34:25,902
how many Bitcoins another person has.

500
00:34:26,717 --> 00:34:31,347
I don't know if you have 10 or a hundred or a million, like, and I can never know.

501
00:34:31,997 --> 00:34:34,767
So, and that's true for everyone on earth, by the way.

502
00:34:35,387 --> 00:34:40,077
So we just, as you said, we've, uh, flipped everything.

503
00:34:40,457 --> 00:34:43,097
So yeah, that's what I find so insanely fascinating about it.

504
00:34:43,117 --> 00:34:48,077
But I truly believe that this notion that we are our bitcoins is why you feel

505
00:34:48,077 --> 00:34:53,507
that way, that you love us more than some other poor soul that is working for you.

506
00:34:53,547 --> 00:34:56,337
But, uh, but yeah, I feel it too.

507
00:34:57,557 --> 00:34:58,147
We all do.

508
00:34:58,762 --> 00:34:59,292
Yeah, I agree.

509
00:34:59,332 --> 00:35:03,192
And the other thing to, to add to your point is like, you know, if they even

510
00:35:03,192 --> 00:35:08,382
like kill a Bitcoiner, you just, by killing that Bitcoiner and that Bitcoiner

511
00:35:08,392 --> 00:35:10,432
dies a little Bitcoin, like in his head.

512
00:35:10,867 --> 00:35:17,457
You've just, you've also made every other Bitcoin, Bitcoiner stronger because you,

513
00:35:17,497 --> 00:35:24,037
you, you know, you remove those coins from the network or from the circulating supply

514
00:35:24,597 --> 00:35:27,037
and just made everybody else stronger.

515
00:35:27,057 --> 00:35:28,627
So you can't kill us.

516
00:35:28,627 --> 00:35:30,107
We're just going to come back stronger.

517
00:35:30,127 --> 00:35:33,557
It's like the Hydra that you cut it off and comes back with two heads,

518
00:35:33,707 --> 00:35:37,307
you know, so it's, it's so resilient.

519
00:35:37,742 --> 00:35:42,292
And yeah, it's just amazing to, to be a part of.

520
00:35:42,532 --> 00:35:46,452
I'm so bullish on, on so many aspects about Bitcoin.

521
00:35:46,452 --> 00:35:50,662
The other, the other aspect, like another aspect that I'm really

522
00:35:50,662 --> 00:35:56,182
bullish on is that, you know, the, the decentralized, the decentralized.

523
00:35:57,287 --> 00:35:59,207
Characteristic of the community.

524
00:35:59,957 --> 00:36:00,477
So

525
00:36:02,937 --> 00:36:06,487
Bitcoin being a decentralized network, you know, benefits that

526
00:36:06,487 --> 00:36:09,377
the actual network in a massive way.

527
00:36:10,277 --> 00:36:14,757
But when you put a decentralized community on top of that as well,

528
00:36:15,357 --> 00:36:25,047
everybody all over the world is doing their own thing to help advance Bitcoin,

529
00:36:25,057 --> 00:36:31,157
you know, uh, you guys, you're writing books, you're doing a podcast, you're,

530
00:36:31,167 --> 00:36:32,667
you're doing so many other things.

531
00:36:33,602 --> 00:36:39,482
I'm, uh, you know, trying to talk about Bitcoin for businesses, for people in

532
00:36:39,482 --> 00:36:41,672
Canada, you know, somebody in the U.

533
00:36:41,672 --> 00:36:41,932
S.

534
00:36:41,972 --> 00:36:46,792
is doing their own thing, and we're all doing this in a way where we're

535
00:36:46,792 --> 00:36:53,742
not like coordinated, you know, where we're organized in a decentralized

536
00:36:53,822 --> 00:36:56,022
manner, but we're not coordinated.

537
00:36:57,092 --> 00:37:02,122
And it's almost like we're like a decentralized intelligence agency.

538
00:37:02,122 --> 00:37:02,142
Yeah.

539
00:37:02,142 --> 00:37:02,337
Yeah.

540
00:37:02,767 --> 00:37:03,557
That is secret.

541
00:37:03,587 --> 00:37:10,827
That is like pushing, um, the success of its own empire or its own country.

542
00:37:10,847 --> 00:37:13,747
Like, if you consider like, you know, you know, there's like a Bitcoin

543
00:37:14,517 --> 00:37:16,677
empire or Bitcoin country, right?

544
00:37:17,557 --> 00:37:20,827
Every single one of us is like a member of this like intelligence

545
00:37:20,827 --> 00:37:26,547
agency that is like pushing to advance education, the adoption, the,

546
00:37:26,617 --> 00:37:29,387
the, uh, purchasing of, of Bitcoin.

547
00:37:30,047 --> 00:37:34,907
And we're all doing it in a completely decentralized way.

548
00:37:35,317 --> 00:37:36,877
And we don't even know that we're doing it.

549
00:37:36,937 --> 00:37:38,017
That's the crazy part.

550
00:37:38,257 --> 00:37:40,357
We don't even know that we're doing this.

551
00:37:40,772 --> 00:37:41,582
We're just doing it.

552
00:37:42,417 --> 00:37:47,287
I would say we're, uh, emerging, we're, we're, we're an emergent phenomenon

553
00:37:47,927 --> 00:37:54,907
arising from a very simple set of rules that we agree to, and that are fixed.

554
00:37:55,903 --> 00:38:00,753
so Bitcoin is nothing more than, uh, an agreement on a fixed set of rules.

555
00:38:00,863 --> 00:38:02,183
And we are this.

556
00:38:02,958 --> 00:38:06,948
Emerging phenomenon on top of that, that is like blooming like a great

557
00:38:06,978 --> 00:38:10,758
big flower and just becoming more and more beautiful and more and more

558
00:38:11,338 --> 00:38:15,048
multifaceted as, as time goes by.

559
00:38:15,638 --> 00:38:18,298
And it's a fascinating time to be alive for sure.

560
00:38:18,318 --> 00:38:20,958
And especially if you're in this community, because it truly

561
00:38:20,958 --> 00:38:24,468
feels like you have a front row seat to the future of humanity.

562
00:38:25,768 --> 00:38:26,638
Simply amazing.

563
00:38:27,506 --> 00:38:28,566
Absolutely, absolutely.

564
00:38:28,586 --> 00:38:33,066
And I just want to tell like, uh, I hope, like I'm trying to be as beneficial to

565
00:38:33,066 --> 00:38:41,236
your audience as, as possible, but, um, as a business, when you consider Bitcoin

566
00:38:41,726 --> 00:38:43,756
as part of your strategy, Thank you.

567
00:38:45,431 --> 00:38:48,881
it's it's so beneficial in so many ways.

568
00:38:50,341 --> 00:38:52,821
Um, you can't go wrong by doing it.

569
00:38:52,951 --> 00:38:56,621
So the biggest way it's beneficial and is that it's it

570
00:38:56,681 --> 00:38:58,431
increases your purchasing power.

571
00:38:59,172 --> 00:39:00,282
just look at the proof.

572
00:39:00,812 --> 00:39:07,993
We got in this August 2024, over a four year time period, our

573
00:39:08,013 --> 00:39:11,899
purchasing power had more than 5x,

574
00:39:13,405 --> 00:39:20,830
so, like, it's so beneficial in that way, and nothing else By the way, nothing else

575
00:39:20,970 --> 00:39:25,240
does that for you, you know, like, you try to buy real estate, you try to leave

576
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:30,670
it in bonds, you try to overborrow debt, like, it just, it hurts your business,

577
00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:34,180
you know, you need, as a business, you need to be, like, well capitalized

578
00:39:34,180 --> 00:39:38,965
and, you know, Michael Saylor talks about that a lot and, you know, Uh, you

579
00:39:38,965 --> 00:39:44,755
should really like, you know, whether Michael Saylor, I know he's buying

580
00:39:45,225 --> 00:39:52,135
billions of Bitcoin, but you can buy as a business, you can buy thousands, you

581
00:39:52,135 --> 00:39:53,795
know, it'll still have the same effect.

582
00:39:54,015 --> 00:39:56,735
You'll still get the same benefit that Michael Saylor

583
00:39:56,755 --> 00:40:00,395
gets as a small operator, right?

584
00:40:01,105 --> 00:40:05,595
And personally, you should be considering that as well, like

585
00:40:05,595 --> 00:40:08,819
you're, if you don't own your own business, it has the same effect.

586
00:40:09,814 --> 00:40:15,984
So, truly consider, because you can't make it with just thinking about income.

587
00:40:17,414 --> 00:40:18,114
You really can't.

588
00:40:18,124 --> 00:40:24,054
You're going to run faster and faster on a hamster wheel, chasing a currency

589
00:40:24,054 --> 00:40:28,144
that's getting weaker and weaker, exponentially more weaker, meeker.

590
00:40:29,174 --> 00:40:30,254
You'll never catch up.

591
00:40:30,804 --> 00:40:35,594
So you need to have a balance sheet strategy to match

592
00:40:35,824 --> 00:40:36,804
with that income strategy.

593
00:40:36,954 --> 00:40:40,554
Not saying don't go out, like trying to grow your income and

594
00:40:40,564 --> 00:40:41,994
get other sources of income.

595
00:40:42,184 --> 00:40:46,164
Do all that, but have a strategy for your balance sheet as well,

596
00:40:46,164 --> 00:40:49,114
because one strategy is not enough.

597
00:40:50,212 --> 00:40:51,172
No, absolutely.

598
00:40:51,912 --> 00:40:56,142
Uh, yeah, that's a good, I I would say that, um, a Bitcoin strategy

599
00:40:56,172 --> 00:41:01,172
probably benefits a smaller company even more than it benefits a, a,

600
00:41:01,177 --> 00:41:03,512
a, a big actor like MicroStrategy.

601
00:41:04,185 --> 00:41:09,055
because like a small actor, uh, a big actor can afford to lose and

602
00:41:09,055 --> 00:41:12,015
can afford a lot, uh, a small actor.

603
00:41:12,660 --> 00:41:19,490
You know, even more important, the smaller you are, I'd say, it's because it's your

604
00:41:19,540 --> 00:41:25,236
only option, basically, uh, the everything bubble is real, the currency, the dollar

605
00:41:25,236 --> 00:41:30,161
isn't working, the euro isn't working, it's, it's, Well, it's working for some,

606
00:41:30,311 --> 00:41:32,681
but it's at the expense of everyone else.

607
00:41:33,231 --> 00:41:36,361
And it's sort of like the, uh, the last days of the Soviet Union.

608
00:41:36,361 --> 00:41:41,801
If they only knew we could all, even them, even they could have a better life.

609
00:41:41,891 --> 00:41:45,901
Like if they stopped the money printing, it would benefit even them.

610
00:41:46,431 --> 00:41:47,321
I truly believe so.

611
00:41:47,321 --> 00:41:49,581
Like it would benefit everyone.

612
00:41:49,741 --> 00:41:52,011
Uh, Bitcoin adoption absolutely does that.

613
00:41:52,321 --> 00:41:53,131
I just like to.

614
00:41:53,591 --> 00:41:54,461
Devil's advocate.

615
00:41:54,641 --> 00:41:58,271
One thing you said before, because I don't like people to have an incentive

616
00:41:58,271 --> 00:42:02,071
to kill Bitcoiners, and that is, yeah.

617
00:42:02,101 --> 00:42:05,161
While it's true that you increase the scarcity of all the coins in

618
00:42:05,161 --> 00:42:09,031
circulations, uh, in circulation, if you kill a Bitcoin or with the Bitcoins in

619
00:42:09,031 --> 00:42:13,971
its head, you also remove a potential trading partner from the market.

620
00:42:15,646 --> 00:42:19,731
that might even out, at least in the short run, so don't go around killing

621
00:42:19,731 --> 00:42:21,301
Bitcoiners, trade with them instead.

622
00:42:21,311 --> 00:42:28,851
It's way, way, way more, uh, pleasurable, less costly, and, uh, better.

623
00:42:29,999 --> 00:42:32,979
We also have no idea if anyone actually owns any Bitcoin too.

624
00:42:32,989 --> 00:42:33,799
That's the thing.

625
00:42:34,369 --> 00:42:38,069
As far as any of us know, none of us own any Bitcoin, and that's probably good.

626
00:42:38,364 --> 00:42:42,534
No, no, no, we, we, I, I, I just, my, my boating accident, uh,

627
00:42:42,604 --> 00:42:45,224
company, uh, just, uh, went bankrupt.

628
00:42:45,234 --> 00:42:50,534
So, so, uh, I mean, we, we've lost all the Bitcoin in, in all of those accidents.

629
00:42:50,544 --> 00:42:52,734
So, like, there's no, no Bitcoins left.

630
00:42:53,974 --> 00:42:54,334
Yeah.

631
00:42:54,694 --> 00:42:54,904
Yeah.

632
00:42:54,904 --> 00:42:57,794
I go on a boating trip every time I buy Bitcoin.

633
00:42:57,914 --> 00:43:00,524
Like it's, it's, it's a really nice habit.

634
00:43:00,524 --> 00:43:01,814
Bitcoiners have, you know,

635
00:43:02,284 --> 00:43:09,574
Yeah, professional boating accident, like, uh, yeah, there's something there.

636
00:44:59,085 --> 00:45:02,135
Yeah, this has been a fun conversation.

637
00:45:02,795 --> 00:45:07,075
We're right around the corner from one of the big events in

638
00:45:07,075 --> 00:45:10,825
the Bitcoin calendar, so to say.

639
00:45:11,195 --> 00:45:16,825
Uh, the having this episode might be out after that, but, but anyway, uh, uh,

640
00:45:16,845 --> 00:45:24,145
what are your thoughts on the upcoming few years, uh, this having cycle?

641
00:45:24,365 --> 00:45:25,805
Uh, any thoughts there?

642
00:45:25,835 --> 00:45:28,955
Uh, are you as bullish as the rest of us?

643
00:45:29,382 --> 00:45:30,282
Absolutely.

644
00:45:30,332 --> 00:45:30,912
Absolutely.

645
00:45:30,912 --> 00:45:34,352
I mean, the layout that we have is just incredible.

646
00:45:34,462 --> 00:45:39,342
Um, everything that, you know, happened over the last four years.

647
00:45:40,422 --> 00:45:47,732
with Bitcoin's run right now and the ETFs coming in and then the halving

648
00:45:48,302 --> 00:45:52,771
right around the corner, the layout is just, it's impossible to miss.

649
00:45:52,821 --> 00:45:56,011
Like, you can't with a

650
00:45:58,081 --> 00:46:05,061
sane mind say that dismiss Bitcoin or say, oh, it's probably a fad or it's

651
00:46:05,111 --> 00:46:06,981
tulips or it's this or it's that.

652
00:46:06,991 --> 00:46:12,086
Like, uh, You can't have, like, you'll just sound like an idiot if you say that,

653
00:46:12,486 --> 00:46:16,626
and people do sound like they still, some people do still say that, like Peter

654
00:46:16,626 --> 00:46:21,956
Schiff, and, you know, he's considered to be an idiot by almost everyone now, right?

655
00:46:22,486 --> 00:46:25,406
It's, it's, it's undeniable at this point.

656
00:46:26,086 --> 00:46:30,216
And it's becoming more and more of a reality.

657
00:46:31,206 --> 00:46:38,296
And one thing that I find really bullish that I don't think a lot of other

658
00:46:38,296 --> 00:46:45,368
people are sort of, thinking about or talking about is the idea of Bitcoin

659
00:46:47,513 --> 00:46:50,791
Non haram money, there

660
00:46:50,876 --> 00:46:51,146
please.

661
00:46:51,246 --> 00:46:51,836
Please explain.

662
00:46:51,836 --> 00:46:52,506
This is awesome.

663
00:46:52,516 --> 00:46:53,036
Thank you.

664
00:46:53,106 --> 00:46:54,136
Great, great angle.

665
00:46:54,176 --> 00:46:55,046
Yeah, go ahead.

666
00:46:55,821 --> 00:46:59,961
yeah, nobody's thinking about this, but there's, there's like 1.

667
00:47:00,051 --> 00:47:02,711
8 billion Muslims in the world.

668
00:47:03,221 --> 00:47:03,621
Okay.

669
00:47:04,581 --> 00:47:10,982
And in our religion, the last, like, sermon that the Prophet

670
00:47:11,052 --> 00:47:12,792
Muhammad, peace be upon him, gave us.

671
00:47:14,792 --> 00:47:17,922
Do not do usury.

672
00:47:19,082 --> 00:47:19,372
Okay.

673
00:47:19,742 --> 00:47:20,412
Do not.

674
00:47:20,522 --> 00:47:22,042
Interest is forbidden.

675
00:47:22,192 --> 00:47:23,782
Usury is forbidden.

676
00:47:24,302 --> 00:47:25,112
Do not do it.

677
00:47:25,732 --> 00:47:27,842
And for centuries, we didn't do it.

678
00:47:28,412 --> 00:47:28,722
Okay.

679
00:47:29,192 --> 00:47:36,653
We avoided usury until the global debt economy took over

680
00:47:36,653 --> 00:47:38,963
the world with the last century.

681
00:47:40,513 --> 00:47:46,613
And we had almost, almost as if, you know, Muslims all over the world

682
00:47:46,613 --> 00:47:48,433
just kind of got dragged into this.

683
00:47:49,033 --> 00:47:53,183
Economy with, uh, no other option.

684
00:47:54,072 --> 00:47:56,152
And we were like, okay.

685
00:47:56,152 --> 00:47:59,242
I guess that's just, you know, the way things work.

686
00:48:00,322 --> 00:48:08,142
But what they don't realize is that everything they own and touch in their

687
00:48:08,147 --> 00:48:12,482
fiat world is a USY based system.

688
00:48:13,592 --> 00:48:15,897
Now, for the first time we have.

689
00:48:17,367 --> 00:48:25,027
A non usury based system, which, because of just, just because of

690
00:48:25,077 --> 00:48:33,857
it being there, it becomes haram to leave any money in the fiat, in the,

691
00:48:33,887 --> 00:48:37,437
in the normal fiat system, right?

692
00:48:37,807 --> 00:48:42,397
So another example of this is like, one thing that is haram for

693
00:48:42,397 --> 00:48:44,627
Muslims is, is eating pork, right?

694
00:48:45,447 --> 00:48:52,377
But if you're stuck in an island and that island has nothing but pigs on the island,

695
00:48:53,657 --> 00:48:55,337
You're, you're allowed to eat the pigs.

696
00:48:55,817 --> 00:48:58,607
You're not allowed to starve to death, right?

697
00:48:59,347 --> 00:49:04,632
So, the fiat system was almost, is almost like the pigs on

698
00:49:04,632 --> 00:49:06,572
the island analogy for us.

699
00:49:07,192 --> 00:49:11,812
Now that, that we have, once a cow comes in, those cows start coming into the

700
00:49:11,812 --> 00:49:17,088
island and we start breeding them and we have a sustainable, like cow ecosystem.

701
00:49:18,158 --> 00:49:24,318
Okay, then we can just not eat the pork and eat the cow, right?

702
00:49:25,228 --> 00:49:29,548
And Bitcoin is like the cow for us, right?

703
00:49:29,648 --> 00:49:38,998
So, it's a, it's a halal way for Muslims to save, conduct trade, adopt

704
00:49:39,038 --> 00:49:46,949
as, as a means of, of savings that, you know, Non negotiable at this point.

705
00:49:46,959 --> 00:49:49,709
Again, going back to like, you can't deny it at this point.

706
00:49:49,759 --> 00:49:52,949
You have to start looking into it and start seeing it.

707
00:49:53,779 --> 00:49:57,189
And I think once 1.

708
00:49:57,249 --> 00:50:02,859
8 billion people start looking into this, they're not just gonna like

709
00:50:02,859 --> 00:50:05,999
convert, you know, 5 percent or 10%.

710
00:50:07,109 --> 00:50:10,459
They're gonna move everything over, right?

711
00:50:10,529 --> 00:50:12,859
And it's gonna start with, start with the big money.

712
00:50:13,419 --> 00:50:17,229
It's going to start with all the royal families in the Middle East, it's

713
00:50:17,229 --> 00:50:21,169
going to start with all of these, and then once they get it, they become

714
00:50:21,179 --> 00:50:27,109
Bitcoiners, they become intelligence officers within the Bitcoin network,

715
00:50:27,719 --> 00:50:33,049
they start seeing the idea that, you know, Bitcoin is non haram money.

716
00:50:33,419 --> 00:50:38,179
And they start telling everybody about it and start preaching about

717
00:50:38,179 --> 00:50:42,549
it, then you're just going to convert everybody at this point.

718
00:50:43,889 --> 00:50:49,909
And that's, that's what one of the things that might not happen like this cycle,

719
00:50:49,909 --> 00:50:54,019
but it's, I think it's happening with, like, it's going to happen more and more

720
00:50:54,549 --> 00:50:58,089
at an exponentially increasing rate.

721
00:50:58,814 --> 00:50:59,924
over the next decade.

722
00:51:00,724 --> 00:51:03,724
And I'm very bullish about that.

723
00:51:04,978 --> 00:51:07,578
there's this, uh, is it a sheik or an emir, I can't

724
00:51:07,588 --> 00:51:09,428
remember, but from Oman, right?

725
00:51:09,798 --> 00:51:13,158
That's, uh, traveling around in a private jet and talking to

726
00:51:13,168 --> 00:51:14,718
Bukele and all of these people.

727
00:51:15,283 --> 00:51:17,463
Yeah, they're getting more and more exposed to it.

728
00:51:18,575 --> 00:51:23,855
and, uh, and yeah, uh, I think most, it's more common for Muslims

729
00:51:23,865 --> 00:51:27,275
to take these things seriously than, than for Christians, I guess.

730
00:51:27,795 --> 00:51:28,765
Uh, yeah.

731
00:51:29,225 --> 00:51:34,015
So hopefully we'll, I, yeah, I think this is totally underrated because as soon

732
00:51:34,015 --> 00:51:35,635
as they, you see it, you can't unsee it.

733
00:51:36,905 --> 00:51:37,505
It's, it's sort

734
00:51:37,570 --> 00:51:41,250
Once you see it, it's like you switch, like, like, you don't, you

735
00:51:41,250 --> 00:51:45,620
don't see Muslims like, you know, um, eating pork as an exception anymore.

736
00:51:45,805 --> 00:51:50,545
no, it's, it's, it's like, I was just gonna say, it's, it's just

737
00:51:50,545 --> 00:51:52,165
like the first time you taste bacon.

738
00:51:52,235 --> 00:51:53,515
You never go back afterwards.

739
00:51:54,180 --> 00:51:54,490
yeah,

740
00:51:57,880 --> 00:51:58,300
sort of,

741
00:52:00,801 --> 00:52:01,731
sorry about that.

742
00:52:02,201 --> 00:52:02,441
Yeah.

743
00:52:03,056 --> 00:52:06,306
Yeah, but like, once they see it, they're just gonna switch.

744
00:52:06,326 --> 00:52:11,456
Okay, I'm just gonna switch and not just see it, but see, see it and

745
00:52:11,466 --> 00:52:15,986
see it working for 20 years, right?

746
00:52:16,366 --> 00:52:21,946
It's not just seeing, it's seeing a proven track record as well, and a better

747
00:52:21,946 --> 00:52:26,496
system, you know, that is not haram, because everything they're doing is haram.

748
00:52:26,516 --> 00:52:27,516
Their car is haram.

749
00:52:27,876 --> 00:52:31,446
Their house is haram, their savings account is haram, their checking

750
00:52:31,446 --> 00:52:35,246
account is like a haram as well, because that's like a sort of

751
00:52:35,246 --> 00:52:37,956
like short term bond, right?

752
00:52:38,236 --> 00:52:42,696
It's all debt, it's all usury, everything, right?

753
00:52:43,546 --> 00:52:49,136
So yeah, it's a, it's a big catalyst in my opinion, that's eventually

754
00:52:49,136 --> 00:52:53,416
going to hit and eventually just going to go exponential.

755
00:52:54,441 --> 00:52:54,831
Yeah.

756
00:52:55,301 --> 00:53:00,381
I know Seyfriedin has had a couple of people talk about this on his pod.

757
00:53:00,942 --> 00:53:03,632
I've listened to some of them, but not all of them.

758
00:53:04,112 --> 00:53:10,522
And it's a very interesting, uh, Angle, because I think most people underestimate

759
00:53:10,522 --> 00:53:12,562
how important that is in the Arab world.

760
00:53:12,782 --> 00:53:14,312
It's, it's a really big thing.

761
00:53:14,762 --> 00:53:21,882
And like Arab banks, as far as I know, they, they get around that Haram Haral

762
00:53:21,932 --> 00:53:28,332
thing by, uh, and not doing, they, they, they figure out other ways to actually

763
00:53:28,332 --> 00:53:30,132
do interest, but they don't call it that.

764
00:53:30,442 --> 00:53:35,222
Like you have to deposit this amount in order to get this amount and whatever.

765
00:53:35,417 --> 00:53:36,617
the word interest for fee.

766
00:53:37,372 --> 00:53:37,872
Yeah, yeah,

767
00:53:38,047 --> 00:53:38,837
That's all they do.

768
00:53:40,026 --> 00:53:46,146
so, uh, yeah, hard to not be uber bullish, absolutely, and, um,

769
00:53:46,741 --> 00:53:47,571
Let's go, baby.

770
00:53:48,096 --> 00:53:49,706
yeah, Bitcoin and, Bitcoin and

771
00:53:50,051 --> 00:53:50,801
I'm ready.

772
00:53:51,091 --> 00:53:52,521
You better buy some more Bitcoin.

773
00:53:54,472 --> 00:53:55,282
absolutely.

774
00:53:56,657 --> 00:53:59,207
Alright, uh, what else do we have, Luke?

775
00:53:59,614 --> 00:54:01,154
Yeah, anything else on your mind?

776
00:54:01,154 --> 00:54:06,584
Uh, like, uh, anything you haven't told us about tahinis, uh, anything you're,

777
00:54:06,594 --> 00:54:08,624
you're doing right now in the space?

778
00:54:08,974 --> 00:54:10,304
Uh, the floor is yours.

779
00:54:10,484 --> 00:54:11,614
Anything else you want to talk about?

780
00:54:12,335 --> 00:54:13,135
no, not really.

781
00:54:13,135 --> 00:54:17,765
I mean, just, you know, if you're in town or around the Tahinis,

782
00:54:17,885 --> 00:54:19,395
come give it, give us a try.

783
00:54:19,885 --> 00:54:20,885
We have some good food.

784
00:54:21,380 --> 00:54:22,030
Good shawarmas.

785
00:54:22,820 --> 00:54:25,400
and follow us on, on Twitter.

786
00:54:25,480 --> 00:54:29,540
We're, we're, we're going to try to, Twitter is basically the, the avenue

787
00:54:29,540 --> 00:54:34,264
we used to, talk about Bitcoin and talk about our Bitcoin story and,

788
00:54:34,304 --> 00:54:37,104
and any Bitcoin related topics.

789
00:54:37,864 --> 00:54:39,584
Uh, but follow us everywhere else.

790
00:54:39,604 --> 00:54:44,054
You know, we'd love for you guys to be our guests, to come be our friends, be

791
00:54:44,054 --> 00:54:49,334
our, um, you know, loyal Tahini fans.

792
00:54:49,719 --> 00:54:54,719
And, uh, we'd love to feed you and, uh, yeah, that's, that's about it.

793
00:54:54,719 --> 00:55:00,592
We're about to, we have like Bitcoin ATMs at all, not all,

794
00:55:00,592 --> 00:55:03,432
sorry, at a lot of Tahini locations.

795
00:55:04,112 --> 00:55:08,872
So if you want to buy some Bitcoin with cash, come to the

796
00:55:08,872 --> 00:55:11,962
restaurants, get some cash, and you can buy some Bitcoin at Tahini.

797
00:55:12,882 --> 00:55:18,192
Uh, we're still not accepting Bitcoin for payments for all

798
00:55:18,642 --> 00:55:24,532
guests because, our POS and the technology, we, it's still not there.

799
00:55:24,537 --> 00:55:28,792
We haven't figured out a way to do it Also in like a franchising model.

800
00:55:29,527 --> 00:55:33,300
Type of way where, it can just all integrate easily.

801
00:55:33,300 --> 00:55:34,710
So we're still working on that.

802
00:55:34,860 --> 00:55:38,520
Bitcoiners get really mad at me for, for not accepting Bitcoin at Tahini.

803
00:55:39,283 --> 00:55:41,743
but we're, we're slowly working on that.

804
00:55:41,748 --> 00:55:44,983
We just need, you know, the integrations and the APIs and

805
00:55:44,983 --> 00:55:46,843
technologies to kind of catch up.

806
00:55:48,063 --> 00:55:49,443
Uh, we're early guys.

807
00:55:49,743 --> 00:55:50,823
super early, right?

808
00:55:50,823 --> 00:55:54,843
So, But yeah, we're, we're, we're doing the best we can to, to push

809
00:55:55,133 --> 00:55:57,283
the, the Bitcoin movement forward.

810
00:55:57,333 --> 00:55:57,613
So,

811
00:55:58,275 --> 00:56:02,175
Yeah, this is something I don't get, like, uh, a lot of Bitcoiners get

812
00:56:02,385 --> 00:56:05,805
flack for accepting fiat, and you should be Bitcoin only and stuff.

813
00:56:05,805 --> 00:56:10,545
I, uh, I get messages like that, like, uh, why do you charge euros for your t shirts?

814
00:56:11,105 --> 00:56:17,095
And I'm like, dude, uh, I, the reason I can do this Bitcoin thing for,

815
00:56:17,165 --> 00:56:23,005
uh, full time, I need something to show for it for the authorities.

816
00:56:23,055 --> 00:56:25,245
You know, I need some sort of fiat income.

817
00:56:25,665 --> 00:56:28,585
Otherwise I get a big spotlight aimed at me.

818
00:56:28,585 --> 00:56:36,115
I'm probably getting that anyway, but you know, uh, there are reasons.

819
00:56:36,235 --> 00:56:40,475
And if you want to buy something for Bitcoin from me or from you, I guess,

820
00:56:40,915 --> 00:56:43,555
just send us a DM if I can solve it.

821
00:56:43,665 --> 00:56:44,425
It's easy.

822
00:56:44,440 --> 00:56:46,510
What?

823
00:56:46,510 --> 00:56:48,890
Will we, will we be seeing you in person at some point?

824
00:56:48,890 --> 00:56:53,040
Uh, uh, we're going to all the European conferences mostly.

825
00:56:53,040 --> 00:56:55,590
Uh, did you have any plans to get over this side of the world?

826
00:56:55,861 --> 00:56:58,831
Uh, unfortunately not this year.

827
00:56:58,871 --> 00:57:03,851
Um, my, my And I won't be able to come to like the main

828
00:57:04,201 --> 00:57:05,371
Bitcoin conference this year.

829
00:57:05,371 --> 00:57:10,431
My wife's having her, we're having our fourth kid, um, in

830
00:57:10,441 --> 00:57:12,131
the month of the conference.

831
00:57:12,691 --> 00:57:14,731
So, uh, it's, thank you.

832
00:57:15,021 --> 00:57:18,991
So it's going to be hard for, for me to go to any conferences this year, probably.

833
00:57:19,161 --> 00:57:21,791
I'm just going to the Canadian Bitcoins, Bitcoiners conference.

834
00:57:22,961 --> 00:57:26,741
And that's in May and that's about it this year.

835
00:57:26,741 --> 00:57:30,771
I'm just going to bunker down until the little newborn is, is

836
00:57:30,891 --> 00:57:31,911
kind of grown up a little bit.

837
00:57:32,804 --> 00:57:34,174
well, family first.

838
00:57:34,584 --> 00:57:37,824
Anyway, I hope to see you, uh, in real life too.

839
00:57:37,864 --> 00:57:41,979
Um, As soon as possible, even if it's not this year, I'm sure

840
00:57:41,979 --> 00:57:43,919
it'll be one of these years.

841
00:57:44,229 --> 00:57:46,739
So Ali, thank you very much for coming on.

842
00:57:46,839 --> 00:57:50,729
Uh, it's been a wonderful conversation and we hope to see lots of you

843
00:57:50,739 --> 00:57:52,839
on the internets in the future.

844
00:57:53,349 --> 00:57:54,849
So yeah, take care.

845
00:57:55,014 --> 00:57:56,286
Thanks for having me, guys.

846
00:57:56,597 --> 00:57:57,167
Thanks a lot.

847
00:57:57,537 --> 00:57:58,997
This has been the Freedom Footprint Show.

848
00:57:59,417 --> 00:58:00,257
Thanks for listening.