0:53Eric GuthrieYou’re giving away the knowledge of the future. I’m an attorney at a law firm called the Kojic Law Firm. Group. I’m actually a partner in the coaching group, and I have my own global consulting and training company called Better Me Better We, where we better ourselves and we better others. I’ve trained in 15 different countries in person. I trained more virtually, so it truly is a global company. And I’m getting ready to publish the second version of Blockchain to Die, which we publish later on this year, which has a lot of updates that were not in this. book because it was published in 2019 and a lot has happened since then.
0:53Eric GuthrieYeah. So NFTs, metaverse, level 2 blockchains, all the buzzwords, you will find those, including some really cool new stories about crypto and blockchain. You’ll find those in the next version of Blockchain or Die.
2:22Kamal HubbardWell, so what led you to write this book? I mean, it’s pretty dire warning. Either we’re gonna live by blockchain or die without it. So, uh, what brought on this prepper mentality and adoption of block -- or blockchain adoption?
2:45Eric GuthrieRight, so I mean, it’s a little artistic, you know, uh, uh, uh, interpretation, right? I mean, you’re not gonna die, but look at it this way. Do you do anything now in life without the internet?
3:00Kamal HubbardNo.
3:01Eric GuthrieNow, if you were talking about back in the late ’90s, early 2000s, people were doing plenty of things without the internet, still using Yellow Pages, still publishing on business cards, and still doing things in areas that we do now everything on the internet. So what I mean by blockchain or die is I mean that This is technology, cryptos and blockchains, that are going to be used more and more in the future. For companies that adopt it, for companies that make it part of their business model, they’re going to thrive. The companies that won’t, well, they’re going to be in serious trouble. And we have seen examples where companies didn’t adopt to the evolving technology and no longer in existence. For example, Blockbuster Video. You know, as soon as Netflix came around and started emailing the DVDs out to the homes, We didn’t need Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. And I mean, that’s just two examples. Radio Shack, when we started mailing things, getting mail from electronics companies for our parts and services, we didn’t need Radio Shack and they went out of business. So we’ve seen companies that died because they did not evolve. Blockchain to die is a way to say you should choose to evolve, otherwise you may be choosing to die.
4:26Kamal HubbardYeah, I mean, I think especially within our community too, there is an opportunity right now at this early adoption phase for us to embrace this technology and leverage it to hopefully close the racial wealth gap, in my opinion. And that’s why I wrote this book, DeFi for the Diaspora, and Also, while I have it held up here, I’d like you to have a copy of my book.
4:55Eric GuthrieWell, thank you. I’m going to keep mine. I want to keep it.
4:59Kamal HubbardAnd I get a copy of Blockchain or Die. See, I like the cooperative economics here.
5:04Eric GuthrieAbsolutely.
5:05Kamal HubbardIt’s an early Kwanzaa gift, and I appreciate it. There you go. I’m going to read it on the way home. But I think in the spirit of all this, you know, everyone here is so passionate, and we just have the best and brightest of blockchain here. I feel like it’s in many ways like a family reunion because you get to see old folks that, you know, you always see at various conferences, but then you get to see new family.
5:31Eric GuthrieMm-hmm.
5:31Kamal HubbardAnd it’s been a real pleasure getting to meet, meet you here and understand what you’re doing. Obviously admire everything, all the research that went into your book, all the, uh, expertise that you bring to a text like this as a practicing attorney who’s been working hard for several years. So that said, you mentioned something in your panel about an upcoming law that people should know about that I think you should share with our viewers as well. Why don’t you talk about what you shared earlier?
6:02Eric GuthrieSo this, uh, Kamal, the law is called the Corporate Transparency Act and called the CTA. And if you own a company that you have registered with a state, any state in the U.S., whether it’s an LLC, a C corp, an S corp, or a DBA, doing business as, the federal government, specifically Treasury, specifically, specifically the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, what we call FinCEN, is going to require you to file with FinCEN about your business you filed with the state. Now, what does that mean? That means that you have to go on the website they provide and you have to enter in your company name, all the owners.
6:02Eric GuthrieYou have to enter in your EIN number or your tax ID number. You have to enter your address. And this is designed to curb back or hopefully eliminate what is called KYC/AML issues, know your customer, anti-money laundering. They’re trying to reduce money laundering by small companies. They’re already really enforcing it heavy with large corporations and big organizations, but the small businesses were kind of, you know, falling through the cracks when it comes to enforcement. Well, this is their way to proactively provide that enforcement effort. So you have until January 1st, 2024. If you are a company that already filed with the state before then, if you file, you have 1 year to comply with that.
6:02Eric GuthrieIf your company is filed with the state after January 1st, 2024, you’ve got 30 days. That’s it. Now you may be wondering, well, gee, what’s the big deal? If I don’t file, I don’t file. You know, there’s no problem. Well, there is some teeth to this law. If you do not file within your timeframe, you can be charged $500 per day that you do not file or that you file incorrectly. That’s number one. Number 2, if they find you criminally liable for not filing, you can pay $10,000 or spend 2 years in jail. So my advice is to make sure if you own an LLC, C-Corp, S-Corp, or DBA, to go online, go to FinCEN and file as soon as you can.
6:02Eric GuthrieAnd if you’re going to file a DBA or any kind of corporation, make sure you file it before January 1st, 2024. So you can have that extra year. If you file January 2nd, 2024, you’ve got 30 days. Wow.
8:50Kamal HubbardSo that’s real crucial information. And, uh, any business, right? If someone says, hey, you know, I’m just a sketch artist who does this on Venice Beach every now and then, I got incorporated because the police kept busting me, right? Now they have to do this.
9:09Eric GuthrieIf they’re filed with their state, yes.
9:11Kamal HubbardWell, so that’s some news everyone can use right about now. And, you know, As I mentioned earlier on in the program, I’m here with the Internet Computer Protocol, with the ICP hub in North America. A little bit earlier, I believe that we had a conversation about ICP. You had some pretty positive things to say, did you not?
9:35Eric GuthrieI did.
9:36Kamal HubbardAll right, so why don’t you share maybe some of your thoughts with the audience at home about your thoughts on ICP?
9:42Eric GuthrieWell, any organization that puts out information about technology to the community, in my mind, is a fantastic organization. Why? Because education and training is so important, and that knowledge, that information, could be used to change lives. It could be used to make lives better, especially for our community. So ICP definitely ticks all those boxes, not to only mention the fact that -- I’m sorry, I’m sorry. you know, putting out the coding components and the components of the more advanced technology, which we’re even more sorely missing in, is extremely important. So, you know, again, it ticks those boxes as well. So in my mind, it’s something that everyone should at least know about.
9:42Eric GuthrieIf not, they should be using it in some way because there’s only positive benefit. And, you know, not only from a knowledge standpoint, but if you use it properly, Monetization also is a major component it could be used for. A lot of folks that are in the blockchain space, quite frankly, they haven’t figured out how to monetize it yet. Well, I’ll tell you what, coders are one way, and programmers are one way that you can monetize your, your blockchain crypto efforts because they’re in high demand, extremely high demand. They are paid more than coders that don’t know the coding for blockchain and cryptocurrency platforms. So, you know, get in now, and 10 years from now, you know, the sky’s the limit for you when it comes to being able to get a job and get an extremely high-paying job.
11:19Kamal HubbardAbsolutely. Yet another reason why people who look like us in our community should be embracing blockchain technology, not so they can trade crypto, become a crypto millionaire, but to actually have a career path on the technical end of all this. And so I know there’s a lot of people who have -- who are technically inclined, and this is a pathway. In fact, with the Internet Computer Protocol, they have a self-taught, self-driven course where you can learn how to build smart contracts on the ICP network. I will put that information in our description. But something else I wanted to ask you, Eric, you’re a leader with the Government Blockchain Association, correct? GBA. Can you tell folks at home what GBA is and what their objectives are?
12:07Eric GuthrieSo the Government Blockchain Association is a 501 organization here in the Virginia, D.C. area. And what we do is we align private sector and government/public sector to try and create arrangements, trainings, communications so they can understand each other. Blockchain technology will not achieve full user adoption, user interface until governments use it. And why is that? Because so many things we do with the government controls so much of our lives that it only be one portion unless governments adopt it. So for example, nowadays you can go online and pay your taxes online, and that’s a yearly thing. You can actually register your car online, and California is looking to do a blockchain car registration platform.
12:07Eric GuthrieOther things you could do online, get marriage licenses. You could apply for your -- for any aid if you need any aid for Social Security or Medicaid or Medicare. A lot of that has an online component. So Government Blockchain Association is providing the education and the communication and the partnership, not just with the US government, global governments. Okay. I mean, I’ve been on calls with governments from all over the world, from Europe to the Middle East to Africa. And we provide that service. We provide that option. So that way, when they do decide to do something with blockchain technology, they have the experts you know, at their fingertips and they can make the better decisions.
12:07Eric GuthrieBecause the worst thing a government can do is make a bad blockchain product or service. No one uses it and fails miserably. And then they have a sour taste in their mouth and never try again. Where if they did it properly the first time and it was successful the first time, it would be a great benefit to the government and those citizens.
14:06Kamal HubbardYeah, well, that’s great. I mean, what we -- we need more blockchain integration. on with the public sector. Personally, I mean, you know, where I see a use case is with government contracts, right? Prompt pay. How do we know if contractors are getting paid promptly from the government side? And then their subcontractors who rely on those payments to keep their businesses alive, right? Why not? Why not use a blockchain for something like that?
14:38Eric GuthrieThey should. The government contracting system is a red tape menagerie. It is so much, and there’s so many people employed, right, to do that, where you can just put it in a blockchain with a smart contract system, right, and have it streamlined and much easier, and it’s much more verifiable and it’s much more transparent. Absolutely.
15:00Kamal HubbardI can’t say too much more about that because, you know, that’s what I do in my 9-to-5 job, and I want to keep my 9-to-5 job even though, you know, I enjoy crypto, but, uh, I enjoy having a 9-to-5 job too, especially after 2018. You gotta pay the bills, right? Full-time crypto ain’t cutting it anymore, but, uh, things can change. Who knows? But I still like working for the people, doing regulatory compliance work. But I do like the idea of what the GBA is doing and raising awareness and trying to really break down that wall. I think, you know, really the only people in government are for a long time at one point were the regulators who were dealing with crypto, and they’re obviously taking a certain approach towards it, right? And now this is a way where -- excuse me, not so much crypto, but blockchain -- can work with the public sector kind of hand in glove for the common good and for efficiency, right? For transparency. And, um, that’s what I’m looking forward to. But That said, I’m going to leave you with the last word, Eric, here. Anything you’d like to share with the viewers at home? I’ll let you take us home here.
16:13Eric GuthrieThank you, Kamal. So here’s the message I have for everyone that’s watching this. Get engaged, get involved. The longer you sit on the sidelines, the longer it’s going to pass you by, and it just becomes more difficult to get involved at that point in time. There’s plenty of material out there. You’ve got 2 books right here that you can start with, right? Join organizations. Doesn’t have to be GBA. There’s other organizations you can join. I know there’s some Black organizations, there’s Latino organizations, there’s women organizations, all of them in the blockchain space. So you can join and get involved and learn.
16:52Kamal HubbardYeah.
16:52Eric GuthrieI will give 2 pieces of advice. If we think about investing in cryptocurrencies, the first one is never invest in anything you do not understand. If you don’t understand it, then don’t invest in it. Read, understand, research, network, become involved until you understand it. And the second piece is never invest in anything you cannot afford to lose. Okay, there have been plenty of stories And I’ve known some people that invested way too much money before the 2001 crypto crash. And what happened? They lost a lot of money they needed. Some of that was retirement money. Some of it was college education money. Don’t go down that path. That’s a gamble that you should not -- you should not be taking. Invest what you can afford to lose. If it does great, fantastic. You’ve done really well. If it doesn’t, Life will continue to go on, and hopefully your quality of life will not be impacted. So those are my 2 pieces of advice to you. Thanks again, Kamal, for having me on this program. I appreciate it.
17:59Kamal HubbardThank you very much, Eric. Appreciate all you’re doing too. I’m looking forward to reading your book. With that said, don’t just make it a good day, make it a great day. A great day with crypto. Crypto with Kamal, and we’ll see you on the next one.
18:21Eric GuthrieAll right.
18:23Kamal HubbardOh, man.
