Texas is Bitcoin Country with Will Cole
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Will Cole is Chief Product Officer at Unchained Capital. In this interview, we discuss Texas and Austin as ideological centres for Bitcoin, the undervalued importance of state sovereignty in the US, CBDCs being the greatest disaster for liberty and personal freedom, and toxicity on Twitter.
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Something is happening in Texas. It has always had an independent streak, rooted in its rich history. The state was born of revolution, and it was initially a republic in the mid 19th century before the Mexican-American War. That thirst for freedom is hard-wired into the Texan psyche. Now it is a beacon to Americans from other states seeking increasingly elusive sovereignty.
It is therefore not surprising then that Bitcoin has been adopted and fostered in Texas.
From very early in it’s history, a strong community of maximalists united and sought to safeguard Bitcoin in this part of the US. That effort is now starting to pay off. The strong affinity for Bitcoin by Texans has evolved such that the state is fast becoming the centre of groundbreaking efforts to integrate Bitcoin and energy grids.
The state is arguably spearheading a new adoption wave within the US that includes serious politicians. Could Texas take the next step and create the conditions to orange pill a nation?
Those Bitcoiners in the state aren’t waiting to find out. They’re moving at pace to help Texas and other states continue the outreach, policy drafting and technical buildout to realise the benefits of what is a keenly American innovation. They’re also keenly focused on the attack vectors on the horizon, be it CBDCs or divisions within the community.
00:04:10: Introductions
00:05:04: Life in Austin, Texas
00:10:18: College sports and the Austin people's values
00:17:38: Why Austin fits with Bitcoin
00:23:57: Being a politician in Texas, and the energy grid
00:31:30: State sovereignty in the US
00:41:05: CBDCs, and the value of private property
01:02:50: Europeans, Bitcoin and the ESG narrative
01:11:50: Finding a common narrative to educate new bitcoiners
01:21:15: Dealing with toxicity on Twitter, and Bitcoin intersectionality
01:34:03: Rock, paper, scissors and hold your own keys
01:37:53: Final comments
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Mentioned in the interview:
Which parts of the Eurozone are being hardest hit by record inflation? - Euronews, May 12th 2022
Ted Cruz, Bitcoin Booster, Bought a Bunch of Bitcoin - VICE, Feb 7th 2022
Texas city becomes first in country to mine bitcoin in pilot program - Yahoo Finance, Apr 26th 2022
Wyoming Wants to Be the Crypto Capital of the U.S. - Slate, Jun 2021
Net Domestic Migration Increased in Many U.S. Counties in 2021 - US Census Bureau, Mar 24th 2022
Apple has €13bn Irish tax bill overturned - BBC News, July 2020
The Swiss National Bank Owns $80 Billion In US Stocks - Forbes, Jun 2017
Britcoin is Coming. The Treasury is Woefully Underprepared - Wired, Feb 1st 2022
1780 - Maajid Nawaz - The Joe Rogan Experience - Spotify, Feb 19th 2022
Tucker Carlson hosts Marty Bent to discuss Bitcoin & censorship - YouTube, Feb 19th 2022
Bitcoin - Net Zero - NYDIG, Nic Carter & Ross Stephens, Sep 2021
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