T.T. 49: mission accomplished?
I'm still kinda shocked by how well Economía Bitcoin went last week
Hola amigos,
Greetings from Berlín, El Salvador!
Last Monday, we did it.
Months in the making… brought to life.
Economía Bitcoin.
From just an idea… to 223 total attendees!
Including 120 local Berlíneses :)
Sorry for the delay… missing last Thursday’s post, and now posting yesterday’s a day late.
I needed a bit of time off.
The event was a huge success — I got some unbelievably kind feedback, which I’ll share in future posts — but I’m not gonna lie… it was stressful and chaotic manifesting this idea into existence in such a short time frame, from January announcement to April 8th event.
I wasn’t ready to write about it yet.
And even now…
Today is Friday, April 19th.
The Bitcoin Halving.
It only comes once every four years…
I could write a longer post to explain.
However, there’s a lot of stuff still left to figure out here on my end — I’ll be flying back to the U.S. at the end of the month to renew my passport, spend time with family/friends, etc. for about two months — so I’ll keep this post short.
In honor of today’s holiday, I’ll briefly start with this link to my favorite video explaining how Bitcoin actually works:
And now…
Here’s my intro talk from the April 8th mini-conference. 10 minutes on stage alongside the other 50/50 organizer, Charlie Stevens.
“The Why of Economía Bitcoin”:
There’s a LOT of reflection left to do.
A huge part of the story left to write.
But most of that can wait.
For now…
Here’s a link to all of the morning talks:
Also, stay tuned…
The file size for the afternoon panels is too big for my laptop to handle downloading from the cloud. That being said, I do have access to the full recording from our production team (who did a phenomenal job btw!)
I’ll post those videos soon as well on YouTube, once I get around the technical limitations of my current context. Among other things, I should probably buy a new laptop soon, and an external hard drive. But one day at a time…
Separate tangent:
During my days off, I finally got to listen to some of my old favorite podcasts while walking around town, completely unrelated to my laser-eyed focus over the previous three months on preparing for the April 8th event.
Specifically, here’s one other non-Bitcoiner/libertarian podcast episode that rocked my world a bit… a blast from the past, with my new perspective. Nice to have back in the rotation.
I’ll elaborate more in future posts.
For now, I’ll just say this…
It ties back with my old strengths:
Data Analytics + Public Speaking
Analytics Power Hour ep. 242:
The Rise and Fall of Data Communities
An overly dramatic episode title, but with useful insights nonetheless.
I find it interesting to hear this perspective from a Silicon Valley-driven industry that I used to work in… especially now that I’ve gotten involved in a similarly growing technology community in a country with similar Silicon Valley ambitions.
To be clear, I’m not passive-aggressively implying anything by linking that episode title here. I’m optimistic about the potential for El Salvador’s economy to boom.
I’m NOT worried about a “fall” anytime soon. Even despite A.I. and the dramatic episode title, Data Analytics is still growing, just like Bitcoin. Both have only been around for about 15 years, and neither is going away anytime soon.
The thing that the hosts of that podcast are complaining about in the title — the “fall” of the data communities — is actually that those communities got too BIG.
Scaling inevitably comes with challenges. That’s self-evidently true with engineering systems — both physical and virtual (data architecture) — but it’s even more true when you’re dealing with human beings.
I hope Bitcoin enables the boom here in El Salvador to continue without being undermined by the same fiat incentives that corrupted the original Silicon Valley.
I’m optimistic that it’s possible to learn from the undeniably brilliant innovation produced over the past several decades in Silicon Valley — optimizing business practices in addition to pioneering new technologies and scientific discoveries — while leaving out most negative influences.
I’m still optimistic about a brighter future for a sane economy here in President Bukele’s (early stage?) startup Bitcoin Country.
A nation which changed the world with its first Bitcoin Circular Economy five years ago… a nation which now has a second Circular Economy. With a second Bitcoin Conference.
You can see all of the morning talks from our event here!
That’s all for this Friday post.
Sorry not sorry about missing last Thursday.
A little more sorry about missing yesterday’s…
Sleep matters.
Reflection time matters.
But, setting aside excuses, I also have room to improve myself, regaining the discipline of this weekly writing habit… especially now that the craziness of organizing an event for my first time ever professionally has ended successfully.
Last week was something special. Something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I’m still processing it…
But I also literally still need to process it, in terms of posting the recording of each talk and every panel individually.
Back to work soon.
First though…
Today is a special Bitcoin holiday.
It only comes once every four years.
The Halving happens in just a few hours.
Coincidentally a Friday night anyway.
So before I do that other work… before I finalize my plans tomorrow to leave town at the end of the month… I’m gonna celebrate tonight with mi amigos in this awesome new community that’s growing here in Berlín!
That’s all for now.
Stay tuned for more updates soon!
Edit:
I’m also gonna link to two other recent podcast episodes.
Tucker Carlson on Joe Rogan.
Just dropped today!!!
The two most influential media commentators alive… the first half an hour or so is about aliens, but it starts to become more genuinely insightful about 40 minutes in.
I’ll listen to more of it later, but I wanted to include that in the timestamp of this post.
Also released this week:
Nomad Capitalist on Stephan Livera:
“Going Where You’re Treated Best”
Also huge:
Dave Smith vs Dennis Prager on Zero Hedge
And on a more wholesome note…
Shoutout to Peter McCormack’s successful Bitcoin + soccer overlap, having a conference in his hometown AND winning the league last weekend.
Also, on a “toxic maxi” note:
Shoutout to Natalie Brunell for crushing Peter Schiff in a debate on Fox Business… even though I don’t mind gold bugs, that was pretty satisfying to see after Schiff’s stubborn Bitcoin FUD, honestly.
Anyway, that’s it for the edit of this post.
As I get settled into a routine for my next two months, I plan for my weekly posts to revert more to this sort of thing… updates about the world of podcasts related to Bitcoin and adjacent topics that interest me.
But that’s it for now.
Time for our Berlín community’s Bitcoin Halving party soon!
And here’s the link one more time to all of the morning talks from Economía Bitcoin last Monday: