Good morning, friends!
Since starting The Misfit podcast, I’ve spoken with people from all walks of life and corners of the world – from El Salvador to Kenya – about the power of Bitcoin to transform lives, communities, and countries. It’s been a transformative experience listening first-hand to the liberating power of Bitcoin.
So, for today, I would like to share comments on the life-changing force of Bitcoin by five brilliant guests of The Misfit podcast. Please enjoy!
Lorraine Marcel: Gender Gaps in Financial Literacy, Bitcoin for Africa, & Educating African Women About Bitcoin Through “Bitcoin Dada”
Kenya | Founder of Bitcoin Dada and LO-RYCE Events
“Bitcoin is a unifying currency for Africa. [It’s] the fact that you can actually do cross-border payments without the hassle of having to go through someone or some institution. There is no control by the governments. This actually makes it a unifying currency. It actually even improves the economy.
Bitcoin has the potential to provide financial services to people who may not have access to traditional banking systems – specifically to the unbanked or underbanked. And we know Africa has the largest number of people unbanked or underbanked. So I feel that with all these features of Bitcoin, it can actually enable Africa to want to raise its economic status, to be debt-free or be rid of the control that we have from the West because that's the major factor.
With Bitcoin, we eliminate the dollar because most of the African currencies – actually, I'd say all – sort of follow the trend of dollars. If there's inflation with the dollar, we actually suffer more. Again, that goes back to our economy being better, which leads to better infrastructure, medical services, education, and even just growing as a community because I feel sometimes there's social challenges that we face. Like crimes, domestic violence, poor living standards.
All these are just somehow attached to our economic way or economic status. And when we have an improved sort of economic status then all these tend to minimize. So, I feel, even as a community in itself, the bond, the growth will actually be successful with Bitcoin. I truly feel that Bitcoin is hope for Africa.”
**Listen to the full conversation here.
Abelito: On Having Interpol Red Alerts On Him (For False Crimes), Turning to Bitcoin Out Of Desperation, & Life Starting Anew
Panama | Previously worked for the government of Panama, U.S. asylum seeker, bitcoiner
“I've been in finance and I've been in investments all my life and I feel very comfortable doing investments. But I cannot find any investment today, or for the last couple of years, that has a better risk-return profile as Bitcoin has. I've been saying, for a couple of years, every other asset is completely overvalued and I see [bitcoin] tremendously undervalued.
If you want to see bitcoin from an investor's point of view, it seems very few people understand it and the penetration rate is less than 1%. I think this asset has a tremendous upside potential if you want to see it as an investment opportunity. Because the good thing about bitcoin is that it can mean a lot of things for very different people.
If you live in a jurisdiction where your property rights, or human rights, are not well entrenched, then you can buy into bitcoin which has the strongest property rights ever devised in mankind. If you want to protect yourself against inflation, then you can buy bitcoin because there's a finite supply of 21 million bitcoin. If you are in emerging markets and you have difficulty transferring money between people because you're underbanked or you don't have bank accounts, you can use the Lightning Network to actually – frictionless and in an efficient manner – send money to different people with zero fees and at the speed of light.
There's so many things that bitcoin represents to different kinds of people and based on their own necessities that makes this asset utterly amazing.”
**Listen to the full conversation here.
Nozomi Hayase: The Dangers of Central Bank Digital Currencies, Liberation Psychology, & How Bitcoin Protects Our Humanity
Japan | Philosopher, journalist, a prolific writer in the Bitcoin space
“I just found that Bitcoin really incentivizes us to be selfish. So, initially, I was kind of questioning that. It's like: ‘Wow, why does Bitcoin allow us to be selfish?’ And then I have to confront my own shadow. The shadow of our culture that contains certain aspects of human nature that are associated with selfishness.
And the word selfishness evokes [a] negative feeling, right? ‘How can you be selfish? You are so selfish.’ The expression that we use in our culture kind of has a negative tone because of selfishness. But I think Bitcoin redefines selfishness in the sense that it's a fundamental basis of existence.
If you don't value yourself as an individual. If you don't have high regard for yourself, and respect yourself, then how can you love another person? How can you produce values that you can share with other people? So, being selfish is actually a necessity. It's a really important thing but somehow it kind of got distorted.
So, I have to kind of find a way to incorporate aspects of myself that I judged and and pushed away from my consciousness. I’m into Jung’s views and work and idea of shadow and integration of shadow. And how it’s important for us to realize the importance of the shadow work.
I think that Bitcoin helped me to go through that. To work on the shadow aspect and integrate that aspect of myself – especially relating to attributes that are selfish in nature perhaps. Now, I can assert myself. I can tell other people what I want, what I need, I’m able to respect myself, and set healthy boundaries with other people. These are some capacities that I lack I guess because I was conditioned to be [empathetic] and not able to create my own selfhood and personhood.
So, that was major changes that I think Bitcoin brought to my life. And I understand why many people – especially left and progressives and socialists – don't like [Bitcoin]. Because of the incentives. They say: “Well, Bitcoin incentivizes greed or selfishness.” They are conditioned to have this one-sided goodness. They are not ready, I guess, to look up their own shadows and integrate that as part of themselves.”
**Listen to the full conversation here.
Roman Martínez (Chimbera): El Salvador's "Collective Dream," Investing in Children, Hope House & Bitcoin
El Salvador | Community leader of Bitcoin Beach, one of the founders of Hope House, bitcoiner
“Receiving payment from different people around the world that came [to El Salvador] using different wallets, different companies, using the same technology to pay the same guy – that's the future. And that family is benefitting from a technology that we didn't invent but it's there for everyone. That will take over the entire world.
But how we are benefitting? Maybe it's not going to be the same way that it will take over the U.S.A. or Canada or Europe because you guys already have access to a financial system. But there is a problem. The connectivity, financial connectivity [for us] doesn't exist.
And for example, if [we] have been living outside of our own country and we have been sending money back to our family, you can imagine how hard it is – the fees and everything. And why we can have this conversation face-to-face is because there is the internet, right? But we cannot send money instantly and free across borders without Bitcoin. Its technology is allowing you to do that. And with Bitcoin I can send $1 to someone in India. I can send $1 to someone in Africa.
For me, Bitcoin is the most inclusive tool, asset, [and] technology that humanity ever had. Before Bitcoin, if you were born in the U.S.A., if you were born in Canada, or if you were born in Australia, you already have more opportunities than the rest of the world. But with Bitcoin, someone in Africa, someone in El Salvador, someone in the U.S.A, someone in Europe puts $100 in at the same time and bitcoin goes up, we all benefit in the same way, you know, and that's amazing!
That's bitcoin. People are excited. And one of the things that I see now is that before [Salvadorans] were not dreaming. Now, [with bitcoin] people are dreaming. People have hope and there are so many people around the world dreaming with El Salvador.”
**Listen to the full conversation here.
Amiti Uttarwar: On Being a Bitcoin Core Contributor, What Makes Bitcoin Unique, & Its Infinite Infinities
India/U.S. | Bitcoin Core Contributor (developer)
“I think that [Bitcoin] is a global money that exists digitally. What money is to people has a lot of interpretations. And I think it's less important to specifically define that – for me, for my work. I think for many people that can be really relevant. But I think people should be able to use it however they want; which is simple words for censorship-resistant.
I think what makes Bitcoin unique is that it's this global digital money, but the underlying premise – the value that it offers – is the fact that no one should be able to prevent another person from participating in the system.
And I think that's a really beautiful thing to have – this inclusivity in the fundamental design of the tool because the digital financial systems that we see in our current day and age are all built on the opposite premise. The premise of exclusivity. I think that just bakes in inequality and unfair wealth distribution at such a low level. And I think bitcoin is a better global money than any other ones that I've heard about because of the premise of inclusivity.”
**Listen to the full conversation here.
Missed the last profile on The Misfit? Make sure to check it out below!