Bringing Bitcoin to Tonga with Lord Fusitu’a

 
 

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“The economy will first benefit by every customer having a disposable income increase by 30% and... simultaneously with that extra 30%, there are some who are going to be saving it rather than putting it into the economy and stacking sats.”
— Lord Fusitu’a

SHOW DESCRIPTION

Location: Zoom
Date: Saturday 27th June
Project: Tonga
Role: Tongan Politician & Noble of the Realm.

Following El Salvador's groundbreaking decision to make bitcoin legal tender, politicians from all over Central & South America, Africa and the Pacific Islands began putting laser eyes in their Twitter bios and publicly endorsing bitcoin. One of these politicians was Lord Fusituʻa, a Tongan politician.

Tonga is a small country in the South Pacific. Their economy relies heavily on remittances, most notably from Australia, New Zealand and the United States. With close to 41% of their GDP coming from remittance and fees, sometimes as high as 50%, the Polynesian country would benefit greatly from removing these middle-man fees.

After seeing Strike's success in El Salvador and their government's steps to legalise bitcoin, Lord Fusituʻa wants to bring bitcoin to Tonga.

In this episode, I talk to Tongan Politician and Noble of the Realm, Lord Fusituʻa. We discuss the history of Tonga, why the country relies so heavily on remittance payments and the steps he is taking to bring Bitcoin to the Tongan people.

TIMESTAMPS

00:05:14: Introductions
00:06:52: All about Tonga…
00:08:32: … Lord Fusitu'a
00:10:47: … COVID
00:13:52: … exports
00:14:55: … economy
00:17:16: … migration
00:20:57: … family culture
00:23:49: … tattoos
00:26:00: … politics
00:34:03: Lord Fusitu'a and the BTC rabbit hole
00:42:41: Multiple currencies
00:44:33: Chinese migration to Tonga
00:50:32: Fees on remittances
00:52:05: Access to Bitcoin
01:01:37: Bitcoin legislation and market solutions
01:04:07: Bitcoin adoption in Tonga
01:10:33: Green energy mining
01:12:08: Final comments

 

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SHOW NOTES

PodcastPeter McCormack