A Gen Z's Journey with Bitcoin - Part 5

Tali: 00:00:00

Hi everybody, welcome to Orange Hatter.

Tali: 00:00:02

Today you're listening to part five of my conversation with Ella.

Tali: 00:00:07

When you try to talk to people in general about Bitcoin, you, you mentioned

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that you're mostly talking to people of your own age, um, Gen Z students.

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Have you had experience trying to explain Bitcoin or even

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trying to talk about Bitcoin with people outside that age group?

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And what is your experience with, uh, those people?

Ella: 00:00:29

Yes, absolutely.

Ella: 00:00:30

Actually, just the other day, Uber...

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like if I'm in an Uber, normally, sometimes we talk about Bitcoin.

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But the other day I think I was, maybe it was on the bus or somewhere,

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um, but this woman was maybe 30.

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She's from Venezuela, and so we were just talking about Bitcoin.

Ella: 00:00:48

Again, with the mindset of the university guide, just whatever I think their

Ella: 00:00:54

interest is, their hook might be, that's where maybe I try to come at it from.

Ella: 00:00:59

My grandparents...

Ella: 00:01:00

so yes, it's predominantly Gen Z, but you know, I still talk to other

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people of different ages and you just have to make it easy for people.

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You just have to try to speak in a language that they might

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understand, or from a viewpoint that might resonate with them.

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So for instance, the woman from Venezuela.

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I more emphasized the fact that with Bitcoin, you can walk anywhere in

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the world with all of your wealth in your head because of 12 words.

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So that was more powerful for her than maybe the energy narrative of Bitcoin.

Ella: 00:01:37

So just try to guess, and then the conversation just goes where it goes.

Tali: 00:01:42

That is so true.

Tali: 00:01:43

I think that's, that's something that we can all try to remember when we talk to

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people about Bitcoin, because we're so excited about it and we just want to fire

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hose them with all the amazing properties of Bitcoin and the benefits and, and we

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forget that the other person might have already drifted off somewhere because they

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can't relate to what you're saying at all.

Tali: 00:02:06

So rule number one, relate to them first.

Ella: 00:02:09

Yeah.

Ella: 00:02:10

It's not about me, it's about them.

Ella: 00:02:11

And you know, I'm just trying to just be of service to them

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and provide value to them.

Tali: 00:02:16

Yeah.

Tali: 00:02:17

So you have two more years at Cornell, and you're trying to get your major approved.

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Do you have any other, uh, major projects that you can, um, share with

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us that you want to make happen over the next two years before you graduate?

Ella: 00:02:32

So I guess I have the Stats Chat, I have the major, Gen B...

Ella: 00:02:36

those take up a lot of time.

Ella: 00:02:38

But then on campus, I am a part, we don't have a Bitcoin club, but we have

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a really well established blockchain club that's called Cornell Blockchain.

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The people in it are, they're really amazing.

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It's, I've been very grateful to know them and be a part of it.

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But I'm also really trying to orange pill them and be that Bitcoin voice,

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because, you know, people, freshmen, sophomore, when you're first looking

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for clubs on campus and you, if you wanna know about Bitcoin or

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blockchain, you'll probably go there.

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And so within that, I'm really just trying to make Bitcoin have more of a presence.

Ella: 00:03:12

It's very blockchain focused, which is, as the name would imply, Cornell has

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had a very close history with Avalanche, which is another crypto out there.

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And so I teach, or I'm a TA for one of our courses, Intro to Blockchain.

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I'm also in charge of the new member education.

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And so I'm, like I said, really trying to give Bitcoin a place

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there and really emphasize it there.

Ella: 00:03:40

So I'd say that's another large project that I'm focused on there as well.

Tali: 00:03:45

So it sounds like you're absolutely committed to Bitcoin with

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your whole, your whole life, like your...

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not your whole life, but, like, you're so committed to Bitcoin.

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That conviction is so deep and you can hear it literally in every

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word that comes out of your mouth.

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So my question for you is, from 2021, when you first started looking at just

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cryptocurrencies in general to, to now, 2023, it's only been two years.

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That conviction is so deep, and I just wonder if you can tell us the emotional

Tali: 00:04:26

journey that you went through, not necessarily the learning part of it,

Tali: 00:04:30

but just sort of the emotional journey.

Ella: 00:04:33

So I think it goes back just again to the values thing.

Ella: 00:04:36

You know, if you just look at...

Ella: 00:04:38

i, I mean, I'm at the start of my career, I'm at the start of my, I guess, adult

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life, and it's just self-reflection on who's the person that I wanna

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be, how do I wanna spend my time?

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What do I wanna accomplish in my life?

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And I, you know, I just wanna be a good human.

Ella: 00:04:55

I just wanna wake up each day and have my "why" for, you know,

Ella: 00:04:59

why am I getting out of bed?..

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is just do something for someone else.

Ella: 00:05:04

My freshman year of college, I spent it pretty much entirely

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online from home by myself.

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And for the first, the fall of that, I just didn't feel like myself.

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And until Halloween, I couldn't figure out why.

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And it's because every single day I was waking up to serve myself.

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I wasn't...

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I lived in a really, kind of small place, and I wasn't opening the door for someone.

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I wasn't making my roommate, you know, lunch or just anything for any...

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wasn't walking a neighbor's dog.

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And then Halloween came.

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And then I was like, oh yes, I can buy Halloween candy for trick or treaters.

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And that was the first day where I felt like, oh, you know,

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I, I feel more like myself.

Ella: 00:05:52

So, very small example, but Bitcoin, and this is a very common, um,

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phrase, but it's just, it's a Trojan horse for so much, but for good.

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And I think it embeds in everyone that interacts with it, just values

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of empathy, trust, truth, inclusion, peace, hope, gratitude, humility.

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It's, it's really transformational on the self, the more time you

Ella: 00:06:17

just spend in the space, the more time you spend learning on it.

Ella: 00:06:21

And that's the aspect that I think has the biggest, um, emotional tie to it...

Ella: 00:06:27

has, you know, nothing to do with the value.

Ella: 00:06:31

I, I don't even check really what the price is on a daily

Ella: 00:06:34

basis or, I mean, anything else.

Ella: 00:06:37

I think it's just who it makes you as a person and how you start orienting all

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of your decisions and how you, yeah...

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all your decisions of how you, who you are, how you spend your time.

Ella: 00:06:50

I think it's something you can't escape either, the more you learn about it.

Ella: 00:06:54

And everything Bitcoin stands for just resonated with me as compared to fiat

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or crypto, which is, I think, just more of greed and a scam than just...

Ella: 00:07:05

exclusion, dishonesty, all of the values that I, I don't wanna be a part of.

Ella: 00:07:11

So I just, I like the person that I am with Bitcoin in my life and how, just

Ella: 00:07:16

how it makes me conscious of different decisions, and, I don't know, everything.

Ella: 00:07:21

It, it's kind of a Trojan horse for good in, in every aspect of your life.

Ella: 00:07:25

So that's, that's where the emotional tie comes from.

Ella: 00:07:28

I certainly have so many blind spots and there's so much that

Ella: 00:07:32

I don't know, but, um, I...

Ella: 00:07:34

you know what, what can you...

Ella: 00:07:36

wait, how do I say it?

Ella: 00:07:37

What can you not not do?

Ella: 00:07:39

And Bitcoin is that.

Ella: 00:07:41

So, you know, I, I'm learning, trying each day to get better and, um, learn more.

Ella: 00:07:46

But it, it's...

Ella: 00:07:47

I'm grateful to be able to have Bitcoin and to, you know, to know about it.

Ella: 00:07:51

I mean, as I kind of mentioned, I feel like I'm trying to straddle both worlds.

Ella: 00:07:55

I know where Bitcoin, I know Bitcoin is the future.

Ella: 00:07:58

I know where, that's when I, where I wanna end up.

Ella: 00:08:01

But it's, it's hard 'cause I feel like we're right on the cusp of everything

Ella: 00:08:05

changing and it's kind of like, I don't even know how to put it into words, but,

Ella: 00:08:11

um, you, you know, you just wanna prepare yourself as best you can for the future.

Ella: 00:08:16

And so I feel like right now I'm trying to juggle all sorts of different things, but

Ella: 00:08:21

give most of my energy to Bitcoin, 'cause that's just, that's what matters the most.

Ella: 00:08:25

Because a lot of people at school think I'm in a cult sometimes.

Ella: 00:08:29

And it's, it's hard, you know, when you talk about Bitcoin and all the values,

Ella: 00:08:33

I, I understand how that can come off a little bit cultish, but it's, it's

Ella: 00:08:38

just true, once you learn enough so...

Ella: 00:08:41

I do think Bitcoin is divine.

Ella: 00:08:43

And there's also, I mean you maybe know this, but the time span of

Ella: 00:08:49

Bitcoin, all Bitcoin being mined, 131 years is the exact same time

Ella: 00:08:54

span as the Protestant Reformation.

Ella: 00:08:56

So if you dive into the symbolism of a lot of numbers in Bitcoin, there's...

Ella: 00:09:03

I mean, I don't believe in coincidences...

Ella: 00:09:04

there's just, there's just so much.

Ella: 00:09:06

Bitcoin is incredibly purposeful, and it was created with so

Ella: 00:09:11

much purpose and thought.

Ella: 00:09:13

So yeah, the, the white paper was published same day that Martin Luther

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tacked up the 95 thesis, and from 2009 to 2140, I have all the numbers

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going in my head as I'm thinking...

Ella: 00:09:28

131 years is when all of Bitcoin will be mined, and that is the same length

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that the Protestant Reformation lasted.

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So there we had kind of a, a religious revolution and now we kind of have

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an economic revolution happening...

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and so much more.

Ella: 00:09:45

Bitcoin's not just money.

Tali: 00:09:47

I think it's been absolutely incredible and I cannot wait to

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see what else you get involved with going forward because this...

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I can sense the fire in you, and it's just absolutely wonderful to see, and

Tali: 00:10:00

I know you're going to make such a huge difference in so many people's lives.

Tali: 00:10:04

So I thank you so much for sharing your stories.

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It's been absolutely incredible to hear from you directly all of your

Tali: 00:10:12

amazing projects and, um, you know, come back, and keep us posted with

Tali: 00:10:18

the results you are getting, newest initiatives, any pivoting points.

Tali: 00:10:23

You know, that will be really amazing.

Ella: 00:10:25

Yes.

Ella: 00:10:25

No, and thank you so much for the space, and it was amazing to spend time with

Ella: 00:10:29

you and really enjoyed being here.

Ella: 00:10:30

So thank you.

Tali: 00:10:31

Thank you.

Tali: 00:10:32

Thanks for joining us today and learning with us today.

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If the discussion with our guest resonated with you and you would

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like to dive deeper into the world of Bitcoin, don't miss out on joining the

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Orange Hatter Women's Reading Club.

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The meetup link is in the show notes.

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Also, if there are women in your life whom you think will both enjoy and

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benefit from learning more about Bitcoin, please share Orange Hatter with them.