WBD347 Audio Transcription
The Indy500 Bitcoin Car with Jack Mallers & Ed Carpenter
Interview date: Wednesday 12th May
Note: the following is a transcription of my interview with Jack Mallers & Ed Carpenter. I have reviewed the transcription but if you find any mistakes, please feel free to email me. You can listen to the original recording here.
In this interview, I talk to Jack Mallers and IndyCar driver Ed Carpenter. We discuss Ed’s racing aspirations, entering a Bitcoin car into the Indy500 and supporting open source development and Bitcoin.
That’s how I think about the bitcoin community, we wear hoodies, we’re weird, we’re nerdy, we don’t have girlfriends, all of the memes. But, you know what you can’t say is that these guys don’t fucking care. We care a lot.”
— Jack Mallers
Interview Transcription
Peter McCormack: Jack, how are you doing, mate?
Jack Mallers: Yo, Pete, I'm good man, how are you?
Peter McCormack: Good, man. Ed, nice to meet you, how are you?
Ed Carpenter: Good, nice to meet you, happy to be here.
Peter McCormack: Good. Thanks for coming on my show. Jack's been getting me pretty pumped about this for the last week telling me all about the story. I don't know a lot about Indy. I'm going to try and come to the race; I don't know a lot about the Indy 500. I've been watching some today. It looks crazy; it looks like you have to be slightly lunatic to want to drive those cars at those speeds. Can you tell me a bit about it?
Ed Carpenter: Man, where do you want me to start? I figured you might be an F1 fan and maybe had heard of Indy 500, but not necessarily much about IndyCar, but I've wanted to be an IndyCar drive my whole life and I'm kind of an old man now in this game. I'm 40; I ran my first Indy 500 in 2004, started racing long before that and like most drivers, I started when I was eight. So, yeah, I started in 1989, finally made it to IndyCar in 2004, which was my dream. I always just wanted to make it to the Indy 500 and now, I think this will be number 18 for me, which is wild.
The only reason I wanted to get to IndyCar was to win the Indy 500 and I'm still chasing that dream. I finished second back in 2018, I've been the fastest qualifier three different times for the event and just still chasing that first win; it's such a hard race to win. 500-mile races, they're difficult, but I've got a great team behind me, which I happen to own, which is cool. I started my own team in 2012 and it's a unique challenge relative to other drivers, but it's a fun ride. I love what I'm doing. Sometimes I question what I'm doing on a hard day, but it's all worth it.
Peter McCormack: I do know a little bit about F1. One of my friends is Max Verstappen's race engineer.
Ed Carpenter: Oh, nice.
Peter McCormack: Yeah, so I kind of have a little bit of interest. I don't know if you know those teams or if you know the race engineers?
Ed Carpenter: I know some. A guy who I used to work with is one of the Haas team's aerodynamicists. I don't know that I know the guy you're talking about, but it's a pretty small world. There are people that travel across the pond working in both series; but as different as they are, there are a lot of similarities too.
Peter McCormack: Well, the main difference that it seems to me is that, in Formula 1, the track tends to have a lot more corners which are slowing down for; whereas when I watched the Indy earlier, it just seems like you're racing as fast as shit for 500 miles and the speed seems incredible! I watched some of the crashes; they're insane. It seems like you've got to be pretty brave to live on that edge?
Ed Carpenter: Yeah, and that's one of the big things. In F1, they race on permanent road courses and now they have a few temporary street courses as well. I'm assuming when you're looking at IndyCar, you're looking at Indy 500 stuff? So, we race on ovals, which is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but we also race on road courses and street courses, like what you'd see more in Formula 1, but it's just a bigger, more versatile schedule that we run on.
But for sure, the Speedway's as fast as it gets. We'll be coming close to 250 miles an hour at the end of the straightaway there in qualifying. I don't know how to convert that to kilometres for you. I'm not that good at maths; I rely on my engineers for that.
Peter McCormack: No, we use miles per hour.
Ed Carpenter: Perfect.
Peter McCormack: I get that. And how long does a 500-mile race take?
Ed Carpenter: Well, at Indy, it's 200 laps, which lasts 2.5 miles. It can be anywhere from two hours, three hours. A lot of it depends on how many caution laps there are, what the average speed of the race is; but between two and three hours near typical Indy 500. Sometimes, there's a weather delay, it may take several days to get it in.
Peter McCormack: Right, okay. Well, listen, how did you get in touch with my boy, Jack Mallers here?
Ed Carpenter: All this stuff has happened so quick and has been so crazy, but a really good friend of mine here in Indy actually, I knew him when we were kids and then we kind of reconnected as parents; both of our boys play hockey together. And, he's been just pumping me on Bitcoin for a couple of years now. As we've gotten closer, I talked to him, just as friends do, about my business and challenges and things that we're facing and hurdles we're trying to overcome; and one of my tyres for the 500 didn't have a sponsor yet and IndyCar is no different, or Formula 1, or any form of motorsport, it's all sponsorship-driven and he came up with this idea of trying to figure out how to do something around Bitcoin.
Over the time, I'd gotten involved personally and I don't even know if Jack knows this, but he essentially is a big follower of you, Peter, and you, Jack; he had been before me. But, he just guessed Jack's email to be fully transparent; and Jack, being the amazing guy that he is, responded a day later and my friend, David, called me and he was practically shitting his pants, he was so excited with the response he got from Jack!
We set up a phone call a couple of days later and from then to where we are now, every time we talk, I feel like there's a new idea and something cooler to do than we already thought we were going to do. And, it's been a lot of fun. I can't wait for the world to see it and to see the car on track and see where this thing's fully going to go, because I don't think any of us really know exactly what's going to happen, but it's pretty wild.
Peter McCormack: All right, Jack, you've got to tell your side now?
Ed Carpenter: Did you know that he guessed your email, Jack?
Jack Mallers: Yeah! I'll never forget that email. So, a preface for all the listeners, I'm really fired up about this, so I'm going to come in here with a lot of energy! Yeah, I got the email and I pinged Strike, our CBO, Bob, and I said, "Hey, I just got hit up by --", I think Ed's a future hall of famer! I mean, I've never been super passionate about any racing. I grew up playing football, basketball, baseball, but of course I know the Indy 500; it's one of America's pastimes; it's one of the biggest events in the United States every single year.
I pinged him and I was like, "Holy shit, I think that these guys are bitcoiners" and some other contacts I've been getting contacted by: NFL teams, MBA teams, Euro League soccer players and I pinged Bob and I said, "I've got an idea of how this is going to work. I'm going to schedule a call with these guys and just lay it all out on the line and we're not going to put a little Strike logo onto his tyre or anything; I'm a go big or go home kind of guy".
We hopped on the phone and I'm happy to tell my version of it, but no, I'll never forget that email, I really won't; especially after what we've accomplished so far and what I think we're going to accomplish. That will be something that I remember forever.
Peter McCormack: Do you remember what the email said; was it just a brief, casual email; was it a big thing?
Jack Mallers: No, it was like a novel! It was about, from what I remember and I can pull it up right now, but it was that COVID's been a weird year for sports, for every business and at the end of the day, Ed runs a business. And it was trying times, a weird year, no one knew how this event was going to go, if vaccines were going to be here before the event, if anyone was going to be in attendance, if sponsors were going to value the car the same way.
But at the end of the day, these guys are bitcoiners, they're Bitcoin maximalists. Like Ed said, they're fans of mine, they're fans of a lot of us and as soon as I read it my take was, Ed and these guys don't want to drive for potato chips, they don't want to drive for energy drinks, and that they're bitcoiners and that Bitcoin represents something bigger; and that they wanted to race for human freedoms, they wanted to race for financial literacy, they wanted to race for financial inclusion, they wanted to race for savings technology and financial opportunity and race for something bigger than themselves and exceed the profession of just driving a car, and grow into a legacy that's ultimately pushing humanity forward.
It's the same thing I help these football players with, or basketball or hockey or soccer, is that Ed wanted to put on for humanity, not put on for Monster energy drink, not put on for Cheetos, not put on for Goodspeed tyres, or whatever. He wanted to race for the biggest project that humanity's got going for it and that's Bitcoin; Bitcoin's ultimate hope that it exceeds just tech. It's like an attitude; it's a way to look at the world, and that was my perception of reading that email.
I was all in as soon as -- I was like, "I've got to talk to these guys, because I know how big the Indy 500 is and I know Ed's worked his entire life for this stage". And for him to even entertain the idea of donating that stage and that car to the Bitcoin community, I was like, "I can get the Bitcoin community to rally and get his back and we can put on a show for the world and we can win this race whether we come in first place or not. We're going to sponsor Bitcoin and show humanity what we're all about as a community", and that's what it was and that's what I told him on the phone.
Peter McCormack: So you heard the pitch, Ed?
Ed Carpenter: That's fairly accurate. I think that was maybe a summarisation of a couple of phone calls merged into one, but yeah, the way the world is going now in sports, especially with everything that we've all had to deal with over the past year-plus now. What racing is is still a very traditional model of sponsorship and branding and you see it in all sports, with a few exceptions that are still somewhat immune to it, but even they feel it. TV models are changing; how people consume entertainment are changing; and we're just like, we need to try to do something different.
We need to figure out a way to make sure our business is more sustainable long term and that's where this idea came from. We were kind of at a tipping point and like I said before, it all happened so fast and Jack was like, "How are we going do this; am I commit my time; I've got a ton of things going on; whole lot of things to manage?" He's at El Salvador, he's all over the place, building his own business and I was like, "I believe in you. I have trust in what we're going to do and we're going to do this. I'm committing one of my cars to this project and we're going to be in it together".
I think we're all super optimistic that, as Jack always says, it's going to be historic. And along the way, we're going to have a ton of fun but more importantly, be making history. For me, doing something different in my sport relative to how other teams have solved this ever more complex riddle of funding a race team and finding partners and pushing that into your world and being a bitcoiner, bringing two fashions into one; it's super exciting.
Like I said, every time that we have a call with Jack, or we're talking to Bob at Strike, we come up with something different to add onto the programme. So, we're sitting here today and I think if we do this podcast in another week, we're probably going to have even more things to talk about, because it's all happening so fast. But, I really can't wait to see where we end up from now until we're all in Miami at the Bitcoin Conference.
Peter McCormack: You're coming to Miami?
Ed Carpenter: I think so.
Peter McCormack: Sweet.
Ed Carpenter: I think I'm going to be there. We've got some stuff cooking that we're working on that I think will require my attendance, I hope.
Peter McCormack: Nice. Well, I'm hoping to come to Indianapolis. I'm actually here in El Salvador with Jack, we're just in different rooms so we can record this. He's been so fucking pumped about this, every day hearing about it. I'm pumped about it, dude.
Okay, just so people understand, can you just talk a little bit to the challenges of running a race team; you say how much sponsorship drives it, but I've got no idea how expensive it is to run a race team, how many cars you have to have; do you have to have a back-up car in case you have a -- how challenging is it?
Ed Carpenter: I mean, it's definitely challenging. As I said earlier, we're essentially a sponsorship-funded sport. With my team, we have about 40 people, we run two cars full time. We'll actually have three cars competing at the Indianapolis 500 and we have to raise, to run with our team as we have over the past few years, we're looking at having to raise $12 million to $14 million annually through partnerships, investments, business to business deals with partners we have, etc. I have two partners in the business: myself, my father and another local guy in Indianapolis, who's supported us through the team.
When we started, we had a Vodka company that partnered with us for a long time. They were with us for seven years with the team. Then, that business went in a different direction and we had to pivot and find new ways. And especially in a year like we just went through, it's even harder because everyone doesn't know what the next challenge is going to be; doesn't know what the next curveball's going to be; and we're just trying to find a different way to operate our business and be successful and be able to keep our people employed and ultimately, go chase the dream of winning the Indy 500 for me, personally.
This opportunity is a totally different and unique way to do that, that not only allows us to do something cool, but also allows us to promote Bitcoin, promote the Bitcoin Network and empower people in your world to continue doing the great work that you all are doing already.
Peter McCormack: All right, so Jack, what is the structure of this; what do people need to know; how do bitcoiners get behind it; how the fuck do we get a number one race car across the line with a Bitcoin logo on it?
Ed Carpenter: Well, it's car number 21 first of all, which is important, right?
Peter McCormack: I mean number one as in, it comes first.
Ed Carpenter: Yeah, I know what you meant, but I just had to throw that out there!
Peter McCormack: Is that 21 just a coincidence?
Ed Carpenter: Yeah. So, I drive car number 20 and when we were first talking, I really wanted to be the driver of the Bitcoin car and Jack's like, "We need to have car number 21", that's driven by another one of my drivers, Rinus Veekay, from the Netherlands. And so I had to kind of take one for the team and move some of our sponsorship around and move Rinus's sponsors onto my car, because I saw the importance of having this programme on the car number 21. But, it was a coincidence; we already competed with 21. It's just one of the many things that happened that made this opportunity seem so perfect.
Peter McCormack: Ed, none of this is coincidence, man; this is written.
Ed Carpenter: Well, I believe that too.
Peter McCormack: You're going to win the Indy 500 in the number 21 car racing for Bitcoin.
Ed Carpenter: The only way that I hope I can mess that up is, there's only one person that I'd be okay with beating the Bitcoin car; that's me. But either way, whether I win or the Bitcoin car wins, I win in both directions since they're both my cars.
Peter McCormack: That's amazing; it's amazing that it's car 21! All right, Jack, so listen, what's the structure of this; what are we going to do; what do we want from bitcoiners?
Jack Mallers: So, okay, I get on the phone to them; I get the email and I schedule a call; I get on the phone and I basically am super forward with them. I'm like, "Listen, you guys are talking to the right guy. I will die on this hill; I go to war for this asset class and for bitcoiners. My whole life, it's been my entire life I've worked for this asset. And when the NFL sent me a cease and desist letter, when I helped Russell get his paycheque, I told them I ripped it apart; I told them to suck my dick. I've got anyone's back that's willing to take the platform they've earned and promote Bitcoin, promote human freedom, promote financial inclusivity, promote savings technology; I'm all for it. So, you guys, what's your number; what have you got to hit?"
The first thing I told Ed is, "This is not going to be the Strike car, this is not going to be the Coinbase car. Nobody wants to cheer for that shit. This is about Bitcoin and this is about the wider message that Bitcoin is hope right now in a really uncertain time for humanity". He gave me his number of like, "This would be breakeven of funding the car". I told him, "Okay, here's the deal and if you don't want to do it, you don't have to do it; you just call Coinbase. But, here's how we get the Bitcoin community behind this; this is how we rally the world behind this; this is how we transcend racing, we transcend money, we transcend advertising and we make history.
"First, I'm designing the car. All this legacy bullshit, all these cars look the same since 1970. This thing's going to look like fucking Batmobile. It's going to be hip, it's going to be futuristic, it's going to be forward-thinking. It's also going to be legacy, like Bitcoin is the gold standard; it's the blue chip. So, I'm designing not only the car, I'm designing the pit crew uniforms, I'm designing the umbrellas, I'm designing the bench, I'm designing everything and it's all only Bitcoin. Fuck the Strike car; this is the Bitcoin car.
"Second, the number you just gave me; those are rookie numbers. This community has made a ton of money, this community has memed a trillion-dollar asset class from zero. We can put up these numbers, so here's how it's going to work. 70% of all incoming money is going to go to open-source Bitcoin development and privacy research around the asset class. 30% will then go to the car to make sure that Ed is breakeven at least and can fund his business and is not taking a loss for the sacrifice he's making on behalf of the community, on behalf of Bitcoin, on behalf of humanity. Then, once we get Ed funded, then of that 30% pool, he has Indianapolis local charities in mind, like Children's Hospital, that the capital will start to flow into".
But I told him, "Here's the deal, man. We're either going to raise $0 and this is going to be a dud, or we're going to raise something like $10 million and we're going to get the whole, Bitcoin transcends borders, races, cultures; this is a global phenomenon that I don't give a fuck what walk of life you're from, you relate to, you view it as hope, it's a guiding light; it's like a lighthouse of the future of humanity and we're going to do this the right way. No one's in this for money, no one's making a paycheque out of this, no one's buying a Lambo.
"This is supporting the open-source developers that got us here, the open-source developers that changed the world with nothing, and we're going to use this platform that Ed's got and we're going to make the biggest Bitcoin event of all time. This is pop culture meets cypherpunks; this is the event we've all been waiting for as plebs" and that's what I told him on the phone. It was like, "If you're willing, if you've got the cajones, go tell your advertisers to fuck off this year. We've got this one as a community; we can do it".
I think in less than 24 hours, they were like "Let's go". So now, if we raise the $10 million, let's say, and yeah, I know $10 million is a crazy number and everyone's like, "God, you're crazy". I'm like, "Yeah, you're damn right I'm fucking crazy; the same amount of crazy where Bitcoin went from zero to a trillion-dollar asset and changed the world. That's the type of crazy". Sometimes, you've just got to be crazy enough to think you can, and that's all it takes to do it.
So, let's say we do put up a number like $10 million, we'd have $7 million to fund Bitcoin open-source development, privacy research, scaling research; Ed would be funding his car and then we'd bleed a bunch of capital into charitable efforts like Children's Hospital. It would be the biggest thing that could ever happen to this asset class, the biggest stage. So, to all the Geminis, all the Coinbases, Krakens, Blockstreams, what are you waiting for?
Bitcoin's at all-time highs, we're doing so well and this is our time to put on and promote Bitcoin awareness as a car at the Indy 500 and then support the Bitcoin open-source developers that put all you guys into retirement, that got your business the billion-dollar valuations, got you public. Let's get back to our roots, take pride in this shit and yeah, I told Ed, I got his back, "I got your back. I will die for this project; I'll die for Bitcoin". And so, I'm fired up; that's what it's all about; that was the story right there.
Ed Carpenter: You didn't even mention that we're racing against a PNC Bank car, a Fifth Third car, so there are so many things happening that are just going to make this story and the journey that much more fun.
Jack Mallers: He's like, "What car do you want; do you want both cars; do you want half of one?" I was like, "What cars?" He's like, "I've got the car number 20 and car number 21". So I said, "Whoever wants to advertise on car number 21, tell them we don't need them. Tell them to kick rocks, kiss arse; goodbye". He's like, "All right. Just so you know, there's a PNC Bank car, there's this bank, this bank". I was like, "All right". I turned around and within 24 hours, the car looks like a Batmobile. It's the coolest fucking thing. It's going to stand next to these legacy bankers and we've got the car number 21. You can't write a script better than this and this is the biggest stage in America.
The only thing that could top this is if someone in the Superbowl wanted to wear a Bitcoin jersey. I mean, this is it, man. To all the plebs out there, we memed this thing to existence; let's support our Bitcoin Core developers, let's support our privacy research and let's support Bitcoin awareness and human freedoms and show the world what this community's all about.
Peter McCormack: Well firstly, Jack Mallers, I fucking love you. Secondly, Ed, who the fuck is this kid; listen to him?! I'm surprised he didn't turn round to you and say, "Oh, and I'm fucking driving that car and I'm winning the race!"
Ed Carpenter: I would have had to draw a line somewhere, but I've been thinking about all this, I've been as excited as him; but the number one I've been thinking about since we've been on this call, since he said it is, what was the NFL's response when you gave them your response? But we don't need to go into that!
But, it's unreal. The fact that Jack took the time and took us serious in our initial email to him, it blew me away. And the amount of energy and focus that he's putting into this; I already believe in everything, but his passion is so infectious and it's an honour for me to be a part of it and to be working with this guy now.
Peter McCormack: So, this must feel very different from… Actually, let me ask you another question: is this for one race, or for a season?
Ed Carpenter: It's for the Indy 500, is what we're looking at. With everything we've been talking about, we don't know how big this is going to be and if we can reach some of these goals that we're talking about, which seem crazy, but on the other hand, don't seem that crazy, it's something that I'm prepared to carry on, because if we blow this thing out of the water and the community gets as excited about it as we are, why would we want to stop?
But, the focus is Indy 500. We're going to start there. After that, who knows where we're going to go or what we're going to do. It's evolved so quickly from that first email to now; who knows?
Jack Mallers: Yeah, Pete, just a quick update on that though. So, I haven't been able to really market this, because it's been a secret. A lot has happened so fast, it's kind of unclear. But in the short few days that I've been able to make a few phone calls, we already have $1 million pledged. And, Ed's number he gave to me was, "Hey, if we get $0.5 million to fund the car, something like that, I should be able to breakeven on the Indy 500".
So, if you do the $0.5 million; 30%, so we're talking about $1.5 million, $2 million, $3 million should cover Ed in his sacrifice for what he's doing for the Bitcoin community. So I remember telling him on the phone, "Those are rookie numbers. I know this community so well. This community's responsible for bringing the biggest change to humanity since I've been alive, since a lot of us have been alive, so fuck that". So, we're already almost there.
But, if we can post some big numbers and I know all the businesses; this is your chance to support Bitcoin development, support the open-source community, support the ground roots, the nucleus that got us all into the position we are today, this is it and this is the guy that has the biggest stage in America. He's willing to promote and sacrifice for that. I think we can post bigger numbers and then if we do, Ed's just going to continue racing the Bitcoin car and I think we can show up PNC Bank and all these fucking arseholes. So anyway, that's the progress; progress update.
This announcement will come out the 12th, which is Wednesday, so will this podcast and I'm going to go after everyone in the community that I think needs to support Bitcoin development, support Bitcoin awareness at the Indy 500 and I think we can post some huge numbers and keep this thing going long past the Indy 500, in my opinion.
Peter McCormack: Ed, how is this different for you, though, as a team? Obviously, you must be pumped to be working with Jack and on this. I am; I'm pumped and I know nothing about Indy 500. Now I'm excited; obviously I care about this. But it must be a very different way to approach this?
Ed Carpenter: Yeah, it totally is and there's a certain level of risk from my end, because we're choosing to do it a different way and break the norms. And even for me, with my business partners and Ed Carpenter Racing, one of them is my dad and our other partner, they're both around 60 years old, neither of them really know much about Bitcoin at all. So, I'd essentially committed ourselves to do this and then I had to turn around and sell them on why it was a good idea and how it was going to be successful.
My partner, Stuart, I sent him as much research as I could get quickly that I felt like he would understand, sent him some videos of Jack speaking, a couple of podcasts and he has two boys that are younger and he's like, "Man, they've been bugging me about this for a while now". So, it woke him up to start doing research and he's an old-school, old-fashioned guy; and just through this process, he's now getting educated and getting super excited about it. He was at the office the other day and he was talking to me about the Lightning Network and I was, "Woah, man, you've really been digging in, going from nothing to now!" and that's exciting.
That's part of why we're doing this, to take it mainstream. When we run the Indy 500 at the end of May, Memorial weekend, it's going to be the largest sporting event that's taken place since the pandemic start. There are going to be 140,000 people there in attendance, let alone the millions watching around the world. And to be able to have a Bitcoin car on track and to be able to use our platform to tell that story; it's amazing.
The fact that I've been able to get my partner, who knew nothing, excited about this and onboard with it and seeing the potential just after a couple of conversations; that's what it's all about. It's one thing to have everyone excited about it that gets it; but then to bring new people into the fold that will now understand it from this concept and email that started it all; it's wild; it's great.
Peter McCormack: Jack, one of the interesting things that's going on here, Bitcoin was built by cypherpunks and nerds and geeks, up in their bedrooms, hidden away; no one took them seriously to begin with. It's been defended by maximalists and plebs and hardcore bitcoiners. But there is this thing and I'm seeing it, hanging around with you this last week, Bitcoin is crossing into pop culture, into sports. It's becoming part of the mainstream now, and that's a good thing, right?
Jack Mallers: Yeah, of course it is. I think it's fascinating and I think it carries a much deeper meaning; not to get all philosophical on everybody, but I think as a human being, you ultimately want two things inherently by being alive. You want to be a part of something bigger than yourself and you want to work towards something that's going to last longer than you will. I think fundamentally, if you can do those two things as a human, you'll live an amazing life.
Being part of something bigger than yourself could be a marriage, could be building your own family, could be building your own company, could be working for someone else; something that exceeds just you as an individual. And then, working towards something that's going to be here when you die; and that's leaving a legacy and that's leaving a footprint on the world and pushing humanity forward in what you hope is the right direction.
Everyone has various opinions on that and what I think Bitcoin has become is, it's exceeded a piece of tech; it's exceeded a cypherpunks, hackathon project; it's exceeded a hedge against inflation. Bitcoin is a cultural phenomenon; Bitcoin is an attitude; Bitcoin is a belief system; Bitcoin is a way to look at the world and a way to contribute to humanity in just a little way.
Ed doesn’t consider himself Satoshi; Ed doesn't think he's doing more for Bitcoin than what Bitcoin can do for him and no one can say that; no one can say they can do more for Bitcoin than what Bitcoin can do for them, and that's the beautiful thing about it. So, whether you're in the NFL, whether you're in the Premier League, whether you're a Hollywood actor, whether you're a singer on the Billboard charts, or whether you're an Indy driver, this is a way to exceed your profession and be part of something that's going to be here when you die and something that's going to push humanity forwards, something your kids will use and their kids will use.
I think it's amazing and I think it's amazing and I'm just humbled to play that role where people can call me and know that I'm going to go to war for them and I've got their back; and finding a way to bridge pop culture and sports and acting and music and this cypherpunks ethos. And cypherpunks write code and getting these open-source developers funded, that's what this is all about and I think it's beautiful, man. Bitcoin is hope.
Peter McCormack: We should cover that just a bit more, Jack, because there may be some people who will check this episode out, haven't heard the podcast before, maybe they're not bitcoiners, maybe Ed's sent some people our way to listen to this who maybe are just people who are fans of IndyCar driving. When you talk about Bitcoin and human freedom and supporting open-source devs, that might be a whole new world. You should probably just give a little bit of an explanation of that and why it's so important.
Jack Mallers: Yeah. Well, one of the coolest properties of Bitcoin is that it's not run by any central party, it's not governed by any central party; there's an inability to change the rule set, to pause it, to freeze it, to do anything to it. Bitcoin simply exists and as soon as the code was deployed, the monetary policy was set in stone and the network operates in compatibility to ten years ago that it does today and that's a beautiful thing. It's a network that's inherently global; it's a network that runs 24/7; so, it's the first monetary network that has such openness. It acts on behalf of the individual, as opposed to the state or to the corporation.
So, what you're seeing is, a story I like to tell is here in El Salvador, Bitcoin hodlers here, they make the same percent gains when Bitcoin has a 10% rally as Michael Saylor, this billionaire man. They scan the same QR codes as everyone else. This is about human freedom, financial opportunity, financial inclusivity. This is a technology that gives humanity something to look forward to and something to strive towards.
So, we had the 2008 Financial Crisis and who knows what we're in for now with COVID and all the stimulus cheques and the M2 supplies going crazy. And people are rallying behind a technology that they know they can trust and that they know that they can believe in and rely on. And it's backed by people that care.
Sometimes all it takes to change the world is just to care enough and that's how I think about the Bitcoin community. We wear hoodies, we're weird, we're nerdy, we don't have girlfriends, all of the memes; but you know what you can't say; it's that these guys don't fucking care. We care a lot and we care enough to think that we can engineer a new economic system that we don't have to rely on anyone but our own node. And we're that crazy and we care that much to risk our life for all of that. That's what that's all about.
Peter McCormack: But, talk about the open-source devs though as well, Jack, because this is what we also want to raise money for.
Jack Mallers: Yeah. So, Bitcoin's an open-source project. The actual source code, the implementation on the Bitcoin protocol, you can go find it on the internet; just google it; it's free to download. And the people that write code, there are no rules. There's no Bitcoin company; there's no Bitcoin CEO. People that contribute to this project are far and in between; kids, adults, men, women, different religions, different races, different countries; and open-source software is critical and underpins every function of everyone's life, no matter what you use: the internet, Bitcoin, your phone, all built on open-source technology.
So, in my opinion, you're seeing Coinbase post these crazy valuations, BitGo has sold for $1 billion. A lot of us have made a lot of money in this industry and there's been a lot of change in the world; but at the core nucleus, this is just an open-source software project at the end of the day, plain vanilla, and we need to support the people that are writing the code. There's no commercial interest in this project. Strike: I'm not making a fucking dime. None of this money's going towards what I'm doing.
This is about pushing Bitcoin forward and ensuring that now we have a trillion-dollar asset class that a lot of corporations, a lot of businesses, a lot of individuals are relying for to protect their purchasing power, to save wealth, protect wealth, hedge against inflation; countries interestrf in looking at it as a reserve asset. I mean, we need to support the people that are doing the research to ensure this thing's going to be around for the next century, and that's what that's about.
Peter McCormack: Nice. Ed, what's the timetable now; what are we looking at?
Ed Carpenter: Yeah, so like I said, this thing came together at lightning speed, but the car came out of paint yesterday, Friday the 7th; I hope I'm not messing up the podcast by talking days, but I tried Facetiming Jack yesterday to show him real-time the thing coming out of the paint booth. But literally, we designed the thing, brought it to life, painted it, the guys will be building the car on Monday. We'll move everything over to the Speedway on Thursday.
We have a race next weekend on their road course of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and then, the Bitcoin will be on track Tuesday the 11th. So, this whole thing went from an idea to reality really in about three weeks; it all just came together so fast.
Jack Mallers: Just to colour in for the Bitcoin community, we're going to do a press release and announcements and everything 12 May, and that's when I'm going to get real public with, "Hey, I've got a list sitting right in front of me". I don't know: OKCoin, Bitfinex, Kraken, Coinbase, Gemini, MicroStrategy and Michael Saylor, people that rely on this asset class for their careers, for their quality of life. It's time to chest bump, time to show up, show up to the plate and support a guy who sacrificed his car for the biggest stage that he's worked his whole life for and rally behind him as a bitcoiner and promote Bitcoin awareness and Bitcoin open-source development.
So, that train starts 12 May and the race is 30 May. And, Pete, by the way, we're not just going to go, show up and watch these guys drive; we're showing up like the bosses that we are as a Bitcoin community. I'm getting helicoptered in wearing a fucking full Bitcoin suit; I'm taking a photoshoot with the Bitcoin umbrella in my boxers holding a Budweiser Heavy.
So, any big donors or any bitcoiners that want to come to the race with me, show up for this asset class, show up for the way we view the world, there's a Bitcoin QR code on the car, so you can pause your TV at any point and scan the QR code and donate to the car in real time. This is full-on, Bitcoin maximalist, leave nothing behind.
So, we start the 12th and then we've got two and a half weeks to fund this thing and really get some energy behind it and show the world what we're all about. And, 30 May is our day.
Peter McCormack: All right, well I've got your back. I'm going to take out the ads on this show when we release this one. We'll just do an ad fully for this and we'll do that mid-roll and pre-roll, so we'll just focus on trying to help you raise the money for this and I'll pester a few people as well, Jack, and we'll do our best in my little, small part of the world. But, I think Jack will hammer down the doors well himself for this.
But, Ed, a good place to finish on is, how much of a chance have, well, I say "we"; how much of a chance have you got of winning this and getting that car over the line in first place?
Ed Carpenter: I feel confident always. My team has performed so well at Indy. I think we've had -- I've had three poles, we've had a car on the front row, meaning top-three qualifier, six times out of the past seven or eight years. Rinus Veekay, that will be driving the Bitcoin car, he was Rookie of the Year last year in the race and was the fastest Chevrolet-qualified driver, we're a Chevrolet-powered team. And he's a stud, he's great at that track. I've led the most laps; finished second. It's a place that we excel, that my team thrives on.
I like to think our odds are pretty good, but especially having the power of the Bitcoin community behind us; it's going to motivate us that much more to go out and deliver on our end of this programme, just like Jack is making us all believe that the community is going to deliver on their end to fund this project and to fund open-source development. So, I feel great. I can't wait to get on the track. I'm ready, I know Rinus is ready. The car looks great and it's going to be fast.
Peter McCormack: I can't wait to get into Indy myself and see this. I don't now what I'm going to be more pumped about: just with Jack going wild beforehand; or watching the race itself. I think both will be thrilling to watch. Jack, you've got to finish it out, man; you're pumped!
Jack Mallers: No, I just say, listen, to the community, to the Brian Armstrongs, the Jesse Powells, the Michael Saylors, the Sam Bankman-Frieds, everyone and all in between; donate a fucking dollar if that's all you've got. But, what has Bitcoin done for you? This is a perfect opportunity that Ed is, really, I'm so thankful for what he's doing for the community and it's an event; it's your best excuse to support Bitcoin development; it's your best excuse to support Bitcoin awareness.
It's going to be all over ESPN, SportsCenter, it's nationally televised and think about it: every $1 million that comes in, that's $700,000 that's going to go to supporting Bitcoin development, supporting privacy research, supporting CoinJoin, supporting research on top of Lightning. And then we're also going to get money to Children's Hospital.
This is our chance as a community to show out, show what we're all about and to all the plebs out there, hold these companies accountable, man. I mean, we're all here. Some of these people got put into retirement, companies going public, talking about building generational wealth on the back of open-source tech. It's great and it's a beautiful thing, but let's give back. Let's support these guys. These guys are modern-day heroes that hide behind these anonymous GitHub usernames and I would love to take this opportunity and support them.
So, I'm putting my name on the line here and I need the community to rally. We're at all-time highs, we really should show out as an asset class, as a community, as cypherpunks and support Bitcoin awareness and open-source technology; let's do it.
Peter McCormack: Do we know where we're sending them to to make the donations yet?
Jack Mallers: Yeah, so Ed will have a Strike account for all Lightning donations and smaller donations. We'll have a public Bitcoin address. Then, if you would like to make an outsized donation via Wire or something like that, you can reach out to me at jack@strike.me. We're facilitating it all; we have a charitable entity that we spun up; and so, I'm going to be publishing all of this in my own blog post and in the press release. It will not be hard to find out where to donate the money to.
Also, by the way, there'll be all this Indy 500 Bitcoin gear that Ed and his team are going to be listing on their shop and we have some partnerships that I don't want to announce quite yet on the podcast, but will be announced in the coming weeks, of really limited edition stuff. And, we'll have the Bitcoin car, the actual Indy 500 Bitcoin car, at Bitcoin 2021. And, at Bitcoin 2021, which is the week following the race, we'll announce where all of the capital is going.
I hope that I'll have millions of dollars. I'm working with Alex Gladstein and the Human Rights Foundation, MIT, Square Crypto. We're working with all the right people to ensure that all the best open-source development, privacy research and things that are supporting the Bitcoin Network and the Bitcoin community get funded. I hope we've got millions of dollars to give out and hand out at Bitcoin 2021 on the back half of this.
Peter McCormack: Great, nice one, Jack. Well listen, look, I will put all of that in the show notes. Anyone listening, all the links will be in the show notes; make sure you check them out; make sure you support this. Ed, I wish you the best, man. I fucking hope you win. I'll be there cheering you on. I hope we all get to just jump around like you see at the end of the race because the Bitcoin car's gone over the finish line in first place.
I'm really grateful, Jack, for you asking me to do this and it's great to meet you here, Ed and just all best, both of you, and just fingers crossed we have a winner here.
Ed Carpenter: Yeah, thanks for having me and see you both in a couple of weeks and we're going to have a hell of a good time.
Jack Mallers: Yeah, thank you, Pete. And, plebs, Bitcoin community, let's fucking go! It's what it's all about! We meme shit to existence; it's our time; here we go, baby!
