0:07B: Yes, a sophomore.
0:08A: Okay, and what are you studying?
0:10B: Computer science.
0:11A: Okay, so I’m talking to the perfect guy. Excellent, excellent. So I’m out here talking to people about blockchain. I’m here for the Black Blockchain Summit at Howard University organized by I Love Black People, um, and I have a mission to interview 300 people and educate them about crypto, hear where they’re at, um, so the world can know. All right, man. So what do you know about crypto? Um, I wouldn’t -- I don’t know much.
0:30B: I would say it’s like a source of money. I know. So, yeah. Okay.
0:34A: What do you know about money?
0:35B: Um, you know, it’s valuable. A lot of people want it. So that’s what we work for.
0:39A: You know where the value comes from?
0:41B: The government, I would say.
0:44A: Yeah, that’s cool. I mean, you don’t have to know. It’s all good, man. And if you were going to ask me a question about crypto, what would be your first question?
0:52B: I guess, how is crypto kind of valued, I guess, compared to money?
0:56A: Okay, so that’s an excellent question. He asked, how is crypto valued compared to the normal money we use, right? Which a lot of people just call fiat. And so crypto’s value, it’s like really a casino. All money, in my opinion, in my perspective, is really a casino, to my understanding. You know, the dollar has value because people around the globe, they ascribe it value. They believe it’s going to have value a year from now, a day from now.
1:21B: Mm-hmm.
1:21A: Um, and Bitcoin in particular is one crypto I’ll talk about, um, because really with all money, with that vision that the money’s gonna hold value a year or 10 years, 100 years from now, they’re speculating.
1:32B: Mm-hmm.
1:32A: But we don’t -- but the, the risk is so low, right? Like, you’re not worried really your dollars aren’t gonna be worth money tomorrow.
1:36B: Mm-hmm.
1:37A: And so there are people though who around the world have experienced hyperinflation, which means, right, that their work has become essentially worth nothing. They could work 100 hours this week and still not have enough money to feed their kids, you know? And at that point, you didn’t have time to be a parent to your kids, right? And so people see Bitcoin as an opportunity to have a kind of money that can’t be printed infinitely, which is really what happens with the dollar. And so, you know about the gold standard?
2:00B: Oh, no.
2:01A: So the gold standard is before the global reserve used to be gold, like every currency could be redeemed for gold. And sometime in the 20th century, that changed and the dollar became the primary reserve currency around the globe. But people have been losing confidence in the dollar over the last 20 years. And, uh, well, there’s this big conversation now called de-dollarization where people want Bitcoin to replace the dollar as a global reserve currency. And so a lot of people wonder, oh, is Bitcoin a gamble? Is it going to go up or down? But most people actually are buying Bitcoin because they’re concerned that their actual local money could become worthless one day, or they’ve already experienced it. And so they’re, they’re trying to make sure they can save money if things get worse. And so what did you hear from that?
2:41B: That Bitcoin can’t be printed or kind of changed, like the, like a dollar value, I was gonna say. And that like some people are kind of using that to kind of not make like their money kind of go down, I guess.
2:59A: Yeah, they call it hedging.
3:00B: Hedging, okay.
3:01A: And people hold stocks, right, to hedge against like inflation. Like people say if you have money in your bank account, it’ll lose value. And people put money in the stock market so they can keep up with the economy, per se. But people who are concerned that the dollar could lose value, like myself, you know, I went to Nigeria. There they have hyperinflation. You know, people there, they literally say hard work is worth nothing.
3:18B: Yeah.
3:18A: You know, and people feel like they literally can’t transcend poverty. Like, their parents don’t have retirement. They’re the child now. Like, oh, I got to make it. And, you know, the odds are 10 times, 100 times harder, maybe even right here, right? People are choosing between food, electricity, internet, you know, and then you’re supposed to thrive. And it might be 110 degrees. Thrive, bro. And people do, right? That’s the crazy thing, right?
3:38B: Yeah.
3:39A: And so, but if that were to happen here in America, right, we saw hyperinflation, uh, how do you think that would impact working-class Americans, people already living in what we consider to be poverty?
3:47B: Um, it should be even worse, I think, for the middle class, working class, and just everyone.
3:51A: Yeah, man. And that’s really what I’m out here to talk about, right? That if Bitcoin does succeed, it actually could be a major disadvantage to working-class Americans who don’t understand The money they’re working for every day right now could potentially be devalued overnight, exponentially.
4:05B: Yeah. And there’s no safety net. That makes sense.
4:09A: So do you have any more questions?
4:11B: Um, I mean, I think you covered like the basics. Yeah.
4:17A: Okay. And so what would you want to leave people with about crypto that you feel like is important after this conversation?
4:20B: Um, I would just say like to do your research and to know where your money’s going. And yeah, I like that.
4:28A: Don’t let them print you into poverty.
4:30B: Yeah.
4:31A: And if you could ask people around the world one question, what would you ask them?
4:33B: Just about like anything? Yeah.
4:40A: And the braids look clean.
4:41B: Oh, thank you. Thank you.
4:42A: Fly guy out here. Let me see.
4:44B: Let me see. I guess, who’s your favorite artist?
4:50A: Oh, okay. I love that.
4:51B: Yes.
4:51A: You make music?
4:52B: Oh no, I just like music.
4:54A: Who’s your favorite artist?
4:55B: Uh, his name is Lil Tecca.
4:56A: Okay. I got black, I got white, what you want? Hop outside a ghost and hop up in a Phantom.
5:02B: Yep, yep.
5:03A: I like Did It Again. I, I like, uh, what it be called? He got a song with like Gunna I’ve been playing a lot recently. I can’t think of the name. What’s your Lil Tecca song?
5:17B: Dark thoughts, dark thoughts.
5:19A: Okay.
5:19B: It’s a newer song.
5:20A: Okay. I got to tap in with the new song. Okay. And then last question. I used to have a podcast called We Them Niggas. My first money I made in crypto, I made $8K because I got this essentially address. It’s called the ENS, Ethereum Name Service. This is .eth, my hat. Ethereum is the biggest, second biggest crypto. And wethemniggas.eth got me $8K. And that’s what got me into crypto. I was like, fuck it. I’m here. I got to learn. So my question for you is, we them niggas or nah?
5:43B: Yeah. Yeah.
5:45A: All right, man. Appreciate you.
5:46B: Of course. Of course. Booyah.
