The Most Informative Nuggets On Bitcoin From Dave's Winklevoss Interview

I'm a big Bitcoin guy. I'm not gonna lie and say I've been in on it since 2012, but I have been since the summer of 2017. We all remember the great crypto rush of fall 2017/winter 2018, but since then? It's been quiet outside of my crypto bubble on Twitter. Thankfully, Davey Day Trader turned into the biggest machine on Wall Street and now he's getting back in on Bitcoin thanks to the Winklevoss twins. 

1:03: "I don't even know what a Bitcoin is." 

This was from Dave's infamous crypto rant in 2017. I think this is how a lot of people still feel about Bitcoin. What the hell even is it? This interview is very informative to answer those questions. It was meant to be entertaining and not an hour-long "this is what Bitcoin is" talk, but within the 10 minutes, there were a lot of great nuggets brought up by both Dave and the Winklevoss twins that showed us what makes Bitcoin so great.

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2:00: "Satoshi is the guy that invented it."

Dave is correct here....Satoshi did invent Bitcoin. Or at least that's what we think. One of the Winklevoss twins had the best answer to Dave bringing up Satoshi..."He, she, it, they, mythical? Yeah."

Dave: "Is it a real person?"

Winklevoss twin: "I think so."

Most people in the Bitcoin community believe that Satoshi was a real person. He/she/it/they created the currency that is Bitcoin in 2008 with this white paper. Satoshi used to contribute to the bitcoin.org forum. The last post from Satoshi came in August 2012. 

Since then there have been people that have claimed that they are Satoshi, but it's all nonsense. Who knows what happened to Satoshi, but he/she/it/their legacy lives on.

2:22: "We think of Bitcoin like internet gold. So the same qualities that make gold valuable, the fact that it's scarce, Bitcoin is actually fixed value."

There will only be 21 million Bitcoin in the world. That's the peak number of Bitcoin's that was set by Satoshi when he created this currency. You can't just go to the Bitcoin Fed and print 5 trillion Bitcoin when you feel like it to save your ass even though it will fuck future generations due to hyperinflation. There is a fixed amount of Bitcoin in the world and that will never change. Nobody can change that.

2:40: "What are people talking about mining the internet."

I will admit, the mining aspect of Bitcoin is very confusing. The Winklevoss' give a good example here, but it will still most likely leave you confused.

Satoshi rewarded those who would solve math equations with a certain amount of Bitcoin. Those complex math equations would result in a block added to the blockchain. Calling them complex math equations doesn't give them the proper respect. The computer power required to complete the equations is ridiculous, as I'm sure you've seen the headlines that mention how much electricity Bitcoin miners use. 

The blockchain is created in order to store information. This information is stored on the ledger that the Winklevoss twins bring up. That ledger stores every transaction on the bitcoin blockchain in order to make sure every Bitcoin is accounted for, that way there isn't anybody "printing" more BItcoin or claiming they have more Bitcoin than they actually have. Each block that is created is done in order to store information. To reward those that create the block for their work, Satoshi gave the miners Bitcoin. It used to be 50 BTC for every block added, but now it is down to 6.25 BTC for every block added. Every 210,000 blocks mined, the reward is cut in half. This is what you may have seen referred to as the "halvening" back in May.

Currently, just under 18.5 million Bitcoin have been mined. The final Bitcoin is expected to be mined in 2140. 

4:18: "Money is what people decide it is"

This is the biggest shift that happened for me when I got into Bitcoin. The realization I had was that money is essentially made up and agreed upon by the people.

It's often brought up "who is backing Bitcoin?" It's a fair question. I'd argue the two most powerful forces in the world back Bitcoin: the internet and the people. Forever, money has been built on the backs of governments. Now, that power is being taken away from them and that is mighty scary to those "in charge."

4:35: Space Gold

Bitcoin is compared often to Gold. Similar to the "who is backing Bitcoin" question, this is a fair comparison. Gold is looked at as close to a fixed asset, but in reality, it is not. Eventually, Elon Musk is gonna get all the gold from the asteroids in space. After that happens, there will be the same amount of Bitcoin. Gold will just turn into sand (not actually).

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"Gold is for boomers who don't get that."

The greatest bet to store your money in is Bitcoin. 

6:00: "So, what would you guys recommend? Just pour it all into Bitcoin right now?"

Laughs

"Yeah"

Beautiful.

If you're interested in buying Bitcoin, you can use Gemini (Winklevoss' platform) or Cash App. I wouldn't use Coinbase, but it's not the worst option, which would be Robinhood. If you buy on Robinhood, or a similar platform, you don't own Bitcoin. You pretty much buy into a Bitcoin fund that Robinhood controls. If you bought on Gemini/Cash App/Coinbase, you own the Bitcoin that you bought and could use it as a form of currency if you wanted to. That could not be done on Robinhood, eTrade, etc.