From Law to Bitcoin with Jacqui: "Bitcoin is not a scam. It's... legit." - Part 1

Tali: 00:00:00

Hi everybody.

Tali: 00:00:01

Welcome to Orange Hatter.

Tali: 00:00:02

Today you're listening to a conversation with Jacqui.

Tali: 00:00:05

Jacqui, welcome to Orange Hatter.

Tali: 00:00:08

I'm so excited to be having this conversation with you.

Tali: 00:00:11

I'd love for you to tell our audience a little bit about your background.

Jacqui: 00:00:14

I really am excited to be here.

Jacqui: 00:00:16

I, uh, you and I have been chatting for a while, and we both have a similar

Jacqui: 00:00:21

vision to empower women to learn more about Bitcoin, to kind of help

Jacqui: 00:00:26

everyone on their personal journey.

Jacqui: 00:00:28

And that kind of relates to, to me and what I've been doing.

Jacqui: 00:00:31

I'm a single mom, and my daughter's 26 now.

Jacqui: 00:00:34

And I learned about blockchain and Bitcoin about five or six years ago.

Jacqui: 00:00:40

And my background's law, and uh, but I, I didn't know a lot about finance.

Jacqui: 00:00:45

I wasn't interested in finance until I kind of, you know, learned

Jacqui: 00:00:48

about Bitcoin and, and this area.

Jacqui: 00:00:51

But I'm in the education space, so I definitely believe in asking

Jacqui: 00:00:55

questions and finding resources.

Jacqui: 00:00:58

And so, you know, I also have a talk show called CryptoMom2, and

Jacqui: 00:01:05

I learned about Bitcoin by talking to others in the community, and

Jacqui: 00:01:09

it's been a, a fascinating journey, and I'm really excited to be here.

Jacqui: 00:01:14

So, yeah, so that's a quick overview as to what I'm doing, which is just a little.

Tali: 00:01:19

Yeah, that sounds like there are a lot of stories behind

Tali: 00:01:22

the summary that you gave us.

Tali: 00:01:23

So I'm gonna start, kind of, poking around and getting more details.

Tali: 00:01:26

So can you bring us back to the moment, you said you've been in the space for

Tali: 00:01:30

about four or five years, so if you can bring yourself back to four or five

Tali: 00:01:33

years ago, what were you doing then and how did you come across Bitcoin?

Jacqui: 00:01:38

I was, I was basically searching for more information

Jacqui: 00:01:43

about what cryptocurrency meant.

Jacqui: 00:01:44

And I met a woman overseas in, in Scotland and she helped me open up my first wallet.

Jacqui: 00:01:50

I needed help, even though I'm highly educated.

Jacqui: 00:01:53

I, I still needed a mentor, and...

Jacqui: 00:01:55

but it was, it wasn't as difficult as I thought.

Jacqui: 00:01:58

And it, it was nice to have a guiding hand.

Jacqui: 00:02:00

And I think that that's one of the things that I've learned about people

Jacqui: 00:02:03

in, in the Bitcoin community is everyone is, open to helping each other.

Jacqui: 00:02:07

So that's been really nice.

Jacqui: 00:02:09

I had heard about Bitcoin for a while, but I had not thought about it.

Jacqui: 00:02:15

And once I, I, I read a little bit more about it, I, I realized that it

Jacqui: 00:02:21

would be a great way for me, and again, I know our shows are not investment

Jacqui: 00:02:25

shows, um, you know, not legal advice, they're educational, but I, I realized

Jacqui: 00:02:29

that this would be a great way for me to put some funds in for my retirement.

Jacqui: 00:02:35

And so I started to learn a little bit more.

Jacqui: 00:02:37

And, um, one thing led to another ,and, you know, again, I became a Bitcoin miner.

Jacqui: 00:02:42

I've done a lot of different things in the space.

Jacqui: 00:02:45

So I'm, I am...

Jacqui: 00:02:47

you know, it was, it's been an exciting journey as I've kind

Jacqui: 00:02:50

of tried to educate myself and then help educate others as well.

Tali: 00:02:54

Right.

Tali: 00:02:54

So you mentioned that someone from Scotland held your hand through

Tali: 00:02:58

creating your first wallet.

Tali: 00:03:00

So how did you connect with someone in Scotland the first place?

Jacqui: 00:03:04

It had nothing to do with my Bitcoin journey, actually.

Jacqui: 00:03:08

It had, it had to do with the fact that I love to travel the world.

Jacqui: 00:03:11

I had met her through travel.

Jacqui: 00:03:13

And then we started to have conversation about our other mutual interests.

Jacqui: 00:03:18

And one thing led to another, and I found out that she had been

Jacqui: 00:03:21

in the cryptocurrency, in the Bitcoin space for a short while.

Jacqui: 00:03:25

And she had knowledge, and she was open to helping me understand,

Jacqui: 00:03:30

you know, the ins and outs.

Tali: 00:03:32

So you're actually very lucky, because I, I imagine there are a lot

Tali: 00:03:35

of people out there who are curious, but in their immediate friend circle

Tali: 00:03:39

or family circle, they don't really have someone that they can reach

Tali: 00:03:42

out to that they already trust.

Tali: 00:03:44

So I, I feel like you were very, very lucky in that regard.

Jacqui: 00:03:48

Five or six years ago is different than how it is now.

Jacqui: 00:03:51

How it is now is so much easier to create a wallet and to navigate.

Jacqui: 00:03:56

I mean, you do have to remember that there are exchanges and

Jacqui: 00:04:01

then there, you know, there...

Jacqui: 00:04:03

public exchanges and other...

Jacqui: 00:04:05

and I don't wanna get into too many details, but the...

Jacqui: 00:04:07

it is, it's a lot simpler these days, the, you know, to

Jacqui: 00:04:11

actually to own Bitcoin, so...

Jacqui: 00:04:13

than it was a number of years ago.

Tali: 00:04:16

I absolutely agree with you that today is so much easier, because

Tali: 00:04:19

four years ago when my husband and I first came into the space, we

Tali: 00:04:22

literally didn't even know what to do, because neither one of us has any

Tali: 00:04:27

background in cryptography or really computer science, IT, none of those.

Tali: 00:04:31

So I agree with you that it is so much easier today, and there's so much

Tali: 00:04:36

educational material out there that can even, just, guide you through the process.

Tali: 00:04:40

So definitely agree with you on that.

Tali: 00:04:42

Addressing some of the doubts that, uh, women out there have

Tali: 00:04:46

about Bitcoin being a scam...

Tali: 00:04:47

'cause I, I've heard people say, like, they literally ask me outright, do

Tali: 00:04:50

you think Bitcoin's gonna go to zero?

Tali: 00:04:53

Do you think the government's gonna shut it down?

Tali: 00:04:55

So since you have a legal background, I think that's a really

Tali: 00:04:57

interesting question to pose you.

Tali: 00:04:59

Did you, in those early years, did you, ever consider that maybe this

Tali: 00:05:05

is just a big hoax, and wonder if this is something that the government

Tali: 00:05:11

is going to continue to allow?

Jacqui: 00:05:12

So I'm gonna break out that question to a few parts, because I

Jacqui: 00:05:17

think it's important for our listeners to realize that there is Bitcoin, and

Jacqui: 00:05:24

then there are tokens or cryptocurrency.

Jacqui: 00:05:26

There's a big difference between the two.

Jacqui: 00:05:29

Bitcoin is one of the original blockchains, uh, the original coin.

Jacqui: 00:05:34

And um, blockchain is just a fancy term for the platform

Jacqui: 00:05:38

on which it's built, created.

Jacqui: 00:05:40

Cryptocurrency is also built on blockchain, but it's not

Jacqui: 00:05:43

built on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Jacqui: 00:05:45

So when, if someone's listening, if they're hearing about other tokens

Jacqui: 00:05:50

or cryptocurrencies, they, those are created by companies, unlike Bitcoin,

Jacqui: 00:05:55

which is not created by a company.

Jacqui: 00:05:58

So as I learned more, I realized that Bitcoin is independent.

Jacqui: 00:06:03

It's really person-to-person, while with some of these other cryptocurrencies...

Jacqui: 00:06:09

that's where the problems come sometimes...

Jacqui: 00:06:11

and not knowing if there's enough, I'll use a financial word, liquidity behind it.

Jacqui: 00:06:17

You know?

Jacqui: 00:06:18

And so it's the, that's where the challenges come.

Jacqui: 00:06:21

So as I was learning more, I realized Bitcoin is not a scam.

Jacqui: 00:06:26

It's, it's legit.

Jacqui: 00:06:28

Again, it's personal opinion, but you know, again, from

Jacqui: 00:06:31

everything it is because...

Jacqui: 00:06:33

and I'm a Bitcoin miner, so I started to...

Jacqui: 00:06:36

that means that there's a, a computer, a rig, which actually creates the coin

Jacqui: 00:06:41

by solving a mathematical problem, and then the miners get rewards

Jacqui: 00:06:45

and they earn from the solving.

Jacqui: 00:06:47

No different than MasterCard and Visa do.

Jacqui: 00:06:49

They get financial fees for all the transactions that we do.

Jacqui: 00:06:52

But, these rigs, these nodes that are all around the world,

Jacqui: 00:06:56

they cannot be shut down.

Jacqui: 00:06:59

So it's not going to, Bitcoin is not gonna not be around.

Jacqui: 00:07:04

The challenge is, is that sometimes there might be countries that say,

Jacqui: 00:07:07

okay, it's illegal for you to buy Bitcoin or to access, but that's

Jacqui: 00:07:13

different than Bitcoin disappearing.

Jacqui: 00:07:16

Bitcoin is not gonna disappear.

Jacqui: 00:07:17

And Bitcoin is being used in many countries right now

Jacqui: 00:07:20

as part of their ecosystem.

Jacqui: 00:07:23

And so because of the fact that you...

Jacqui: 00:07:25

and it was...

Jacqui: 00:07:26

way back when, you could buy a pizza with Bitcoin, too, now,

Jacqui: 00:07:29

you know, here in the States.

Jacqui: 00:07:30

And, and actually major companies are integrating the use of

Jacqui: 00:07:35

Bitcoin into their ecosystem.

Jacqui: 00:07:37

So the, I think for, for individuals that are listening, it's really important

Jacqui: 00:07:42

to understand the difference between Bitcoin and the other tokens that exist.

Jacqui: 00:07:48

So you have to do your research, for sure.

Jacqui: 00:07:51

But in terms of Bitcoin being a scam, it's not.

Jacqui: 00:07:55

And I, personal opinion, it's gonna be around for a while.

Jacqui: 00:07:58

And it will, it's being used as I said, by various countries like

Jacqui: 00:08:02

El Salvador and other countries.

Jacqui: 00:08:04

And so it's going to be...

Jacqui: 00:08:07

it has many properties, so that's why people are looking at it, trying

Jacqui: 00:08:11

to figure it out, you know, because in some ways it's like real estate.

Jacqui: 00:08:15

It appreciates in value.

Jacqui: 00:08:17

So you can buy it at one, you know, at one value, and it can

Jacqui: 00:08:20

go up, or it could go down.

Jacqui: 00:08:22

No different.

Jacqui: 00:08:23

In terms of it going away?

Jacqui: 00:08:24

No.

Jacqui: 00:08:25

The only challenge you have that we have, as consumers of this, is that

Jacqui: 00:08:31

we purchase this digital asset, this Bitcoin, and it goes into our wallet.

Jacqui: 00:08:36

So we have a responsibility to make sure that we keep our wallet safe,

Jacqui: 00:08:41

because if we don't keep our wallet safe, then it's not like we have...

Jacqui: 00:08:45

go into a bank and say, okay, I misplaced my, you know, information.

Jacqui: 00:08:49

Can you get it for me?

Jacqui: 00:08:51

This is really, really important as holders of Bitcoin, that we keep this

Jacqui: 00:08:57

information safe, and I can go down a different path if you want me to

Jacqui: 00:09:00

keep going, because one of the areas, as for a lawyer on my, uh, wearing my

Jacqui: 00:09:05

law hat and being a mom, I think it's really important that every family

Jacqui: 00:09:11

who makes an investment in digital assets like Bitcoin have a will.

Jacqui: 00:09:16

And if, because if you are putting your inheritance onto an online platform like

Jacqui: 00:09:24

Bitcoin and you don't tell your family how to access it, then if something happens to

Jacqui: 00:09:28

you, that inheritance that you're trying to create, that generational wealth that

Jacqui: 00:09:31

you're trying to create will be there, but they won't be able to access it.

Jacqui: 00:09:35

So I really think it's important for everyone who's listening to

Jacqui: 00:09:39

make sure, one, you have a will, so you, and that your family knows

Jacqui: 00:09:43

how to access that information.

Jacqui: 00:09:45

And if you don't have a will, you can contact me.

Jacqui: 00:09:48

I have access to very affordable resources to create a will in every state.

Jacqui: 00:09:54

It's just basic.

Jacqui: 00:09:55

Basic.

Jacqui: 00:09:56

You have to have that protection.

Tali: 00:09:58

I think that's so true.

Tali: 00:09:59

That's, that's definitely some of the concerns that I've heard as I, Scott

Tali: 00:10:03

and I traveled around the country to even different Bitcoin meetups, people

Tali: 00:10:08

would come up to us, to us and say, I'm the only Bitcoiner in my family.

Tali: 00:10:11

My spouse is not on board.

Tali: 00:10:13

My kids don't know what I'm doing.

Tali: 00:10:15

And I'm afraid that if something happens to me, nobody would know

Tali: 00:10:20

what to do with my, my assets.

Jacqui: 00:10:23

Exactly.

Tali: 00:10:24

Thanks for joining us today and learning with us today.

Tali: 00:10:27

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

Tali: 00:10:31

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

Tali: 00:10:35

Orange Hatter Women's Reading Club.

Tali: 00:10:37

The meetup link is in the show notes.

Tali: 00:10:39

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

Tali: 00:10:43

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