Ep 151: MALWARE - Bitcoin Nashville & Trump Appearance Debrief

[00:00] All beliefs, [00:01] are our own? [00:03] I don't know. I feel like we need some disclaimer here. [00:24] The Boys Club podcast? No, no. [00:27] Just boy stuff. [00:28] Hi. Hey. I miss you. I feel like I haven't seen you in days and days. I know we have been out of touch. How was your weekend? It was really nice. I had a great weekend. I got a little sun. Thank God. You know, I'm so I know that you don't care about this at all. [00:44] and you actually strive for this type of environment and lifestyle. But I'm at a point where like there's no tan line anymore. Like I was to a point where I was like, there's no tan line. And that is disturbing to me. Mm hmm. But I got a tan line this weekend. So I was like, it's a win. It's a win. I can't I can't get behind that. But I know you cannot. I'm happy when you're happy. Thank you. We did a little photo shoot for our next apparel drop yesterday, Sunday. And [01:12] it's so good it's so good i had such a great time so um it was so funny laura jane lj she's been my best friend for many years and she is a creative director and she does fun stuff for boys club when we ask her to which is really nice and noah our photographer extraordinaire who makes us all look so good and the two of them just so great and we threw together this shoot and lj was just like

[01:42] shoots and she was like the way in which boys club can diy a photo shoot she was like this would have cost [01:48] hundred thousand dollars if it was like parade that's so funny she was just like you just can call in the girlies and they'll just show up and throw the stuff on and do it it's really huge so shout out to the community if we're one thing we are scrappy that is for sure but um yeah i'm excited for everybody to see it it was a really good time uh it was hot i would say that if there's two things that are true of us it is that we're scrappy and that [02:14] my threshold for schlep is unprecedented. Like I will just schlep and schlep and schlep. And you know what? Sometimes it pays off. So I'm excited to see it all come together. Can't wait to see. Soon. Can't wait to see. How was your weekend? [02:30] I'm coming off of three days at Bitcoin Nashville. [02:34] and honestly still processing. Well, that's what we're doing here today, right? That's what we're doing here today. We're going to debrief on my experience at Bitcoin Nashville. [02:44] and in particular the Trump speech, which was on day three, Saturday afternoon. [02:50] And yeah, excited to talk. [02:52] talk with you about it. We haven't talked about it at all. [02:55] We haven't talked about it at all. I mean, I texted you and I said, dying to hear how it's going. And you just texted back like a emoji, a melting emoji. And I thought, ooh. [03:06] Well, let's get into it. [03:08] you [03:10] Hey, Natasha. So a question we get asked a lot is, what do you look for in a crypto platform? So let's talk about it. Well, Dina, I look for a secure, no fuss platform that I can dive into right away. That's why I love today's sponsor, Kraken. If you're waiting for the right time to get into crypto, Kraken makes it super easy and intuitive to get started. Plus, if you get stuck, they have an award-winning client support team that's available 24-7, along with a bunch of educational guides, articles, and videos to help you along the way. If you're ready to check

[03:39] to kraken.com backslash boys club and see what crypto can be not investment advice crypto trading involves risk of loss cryptocurrency services are provided to us and us territory customers by payward ventures incorporated pvi dba kraken view pvi's disclosure at kraken.com backslash legal backslash disclosures [03:59] Okay, so three days at Bitcoin, Nashville. For those who don't know, [04:04] Bitcoin Nashville used to be Bitcoin Miami long standing crypto conference. I think before that it was even something else. I saw in the announcement about Bitcoin Nashville going to Bitcoin Las Vegas. [04:17] next year oh cool there was some retrospective volunteer as tribute i don't know it's birthed from the bitcoin [04:27] magazine magazine yes okay which is based my understanding is it is based here in nashville 20 000 people [04:34] Wow. Huge. Yeah, huge. Really huge. Took over the conference center in downtown Nashville. [04:40] which is this huge, huge, huge, huge building and commerce center. And just a little stage setting. So Tennessee is a state where you can carry a loaded gun around. [04:50] and many people do oh my god uh i live here so that's also important context i don't know why hi i'm dina burke and i live in nashville confession and i'm from upstate new york tessa valley and nashville i've been living here for about three years and [05:08] It's strikingly different, I would say, in its approach to what freedom means, what individual freedom and it.

[05:17] individual liberty means and I think a really tangible [05:21] representation of that is the gun thing that is weird honestly if i'm being totally transparent about it yeah so that's nashville bitcoin nashville 20 000 people i guess is what the guy said and it's you know your classic conference so there's like an expo hall where there's booths and then there's a few different stages and there's one main stage which is in this huge room huge which like a full wall size screen [05:48] can i ask you how it felt different from let's say south by or permissionless or like a [05:54] Did it feel like your average conference, or did it have a different vibe? I would say that the first two days of the conference [06:03] Felt more like a traditional conference, especially the first day was like the industry day. So there was a lot of suits and ties and people talking about mostly like financial services side of. [06:15] crypto, I would say compared to other crypto conferences, I experienced very little conversation about technology. It was [06:24] conversation about money and [06:26] It wasn't really a conversation about tech. [06:28] which is really different than ECC, which is like everyone is a founder and talking about the new infra app that they're building. And that was [06:37] With the exception of one moment, which I'll talk about when I talk about Trump, that was pretty much not there. It was all [06:42] money, [06:43] and freedom okay those were the themes okay um but in terms of like level fidelity and production it was huge a huge production and very expensive seeming who was like the main sponsor do you know

[06:56] Kraken was a sponsor. Okay. There was another exchange sponsor and a lot of sponsors that were tiny on the wall and I didn't recognize any of them basically. Interesting. I'm just curious about like, [07:09] I don't know, we're so steeped in the Ethereum community of it all, that like this whole other world and I feel like I have no [07:17] context for it. It's another world. Yeah. It's a totally different [07:21] world okay i wasn't expecting it to be to feel so different [07:26] I was like, oh, I go to crypto conferences all the time, many times a year. And this felt very... [07:31] different where not only was it like i don't recognize the companies that are sponsoring or with the exception of people or like it was the people i was like who who's who's here what's going on that said i did have a really we had a really cute coffee breakfast with about like eight or ten boys club girlies which is so cute i love that it was so it was the best by far the best time of the conference and everyone who came out was just adorable and that was honestly like i was [08:01] was the first two days was [08:04] Yeah, this sort of other side that was very Bitcoin, that's very money, that's very freedom. And the few panels I saw one, I tweeted about this, but one was a conversation between a BlackRock guy and a [08:16] Bloomberg guy and they were talking the BlackRock guy was basically shilling his ETFs as you do when you're on the main stage at Bitcoin you're talking about your ETFs and that was fine and the Bloomberg guy they were both super buttoned up dudes and then the next panel that came on after them was a guy in a cowboy hat a guy with basically like no shoes on a guy that said tax this dick on his t-shirt and a line literally that was said on stage was support your local

[08:46] They were really, I don't know that they said like fuck BlackRock, but we're basically like the banks and the TradFi is all trying to buy your Bitcoin and... [08:55] take your power away, essentially, is what the conversation was. And take your freedom, your personal liberties, take your personal liberties. Yeah. And there was a lot of applause for those guys, I'd say they were very much supported in the room in a way that the Black Rock conversation wasn't. So that was kind of interesting. And then day three is Trump. [09:11] and did you wait in an hour long line to get in [09:16] I did. I did. So I got a babysitter. [09:19] my sweet babysitter came and I was like, "Hey." [09:22] I'm going to see Trump in Nashville, in downtown Nashville. So, you know, if anything happens, take care of the kids. Aww, I hate that. I don't know, there's like a feeling of like... [09:31] I hate that. You know what I mean? I totally know what you mean. But like, I don't like thinking about you in that type of environment. I know it's weird. It's so weird. There was an there was another person I talked to who said that their team like a very legitimate team didn't send their people there because of security risk. [09:48] because they were like we don't want to send any of our people we don't have like that liability um anyway so that was saturday afternoon i saw an amazing tweet that was like boys club is going to the bitcoin nashville conference so we don't have to which i was like i love that that's honestly i feel like it should be the tagline of boys club boys club did x so we don't have to like listen to this podcast read this episode went to the conference totally yeah that sums it up i love

[10:18] The lines were crazy. Parking was crazy. It was just like a zoo. [10:22] in downtown Nashville, which is already kind of zoo-like, but it was so many people. And waiting on a long line, and I'm immediately present to like, wow, this is a very different [10:31] person. I was at a political rally is what it really boils down to. It was like, okay, this is really no longer about [10:40] certainly we're far away from the technology very far away from the technology we're we're closer to the money side of bitcoin but we're now in trump land there was a guy we were waiting in line at my i brought my husband with me and we're waiting in line and there was a guy with like a fake ear patch thing [10:54] you know, the, the, where Trump got shot or whatever. And he's like passing out stuff online. I'm like, no, thank you. And then there's another guy who was like anti-seed oils and he's passing out his meat sticks. And I'm just, [11:05] It's... [11:06] Oh my god, you're describing some very distinct people. Then finally we get into this big room and it's... [11:17] huge reportedly 8,000 people I don't know that seems like a lot of people in one room but it was huge we got in about an hour before Trump was meant to go on at two and every seat was filled [11:28] And it was standing room only already an hour before and I [11:33] There was a really funny thing that was happening when we walked into the room, which was that there was a Bitcoin core dev. [11:39] who was doing a presentation [11:42] Okay. [11:43] And... [11:44] The room had thousands and thousands of people in it. There was every seat was filled. The only technical thing that I saw was this poor guy who had a full. He will never be in front of that many people again in his life. Oh, God. And he was just talking about like deploying on. Deploying a centralized pool versus decentralized pool. And his slides were black and white. Was anybody? Everybody's talking. Everyone's just totally checked out. And this guy is doing his best. Like he's doing his darndest.

[12:14] his damnedest he's really really trying it was like wow okay no one cares about that at all here yeah and then we're waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting and it's two o'clock and so what are you and dave doing like chatting or are you just on your phones we're talking and you're like date night yeah date idea let's get a babysitter and go to the trump rally um honestly we were kind of like soaking it in because it was such a [12:44] experience and we didn't get to see but honestly we're kind of happy to not get to see because it was like let's let's be on foot [12:50] just [12:51] And you guys were really worried about safety. It's just a lot of people and... [12:56] Yeah, I don't know. It just didn't feel like a safe environment. They were also playing ads on [13:04] the big screens. And so there was like a movie, God bless Bitcoin that they were playing over and over again. And it's all fear-based rhetoric where, okay. [13:14] a lot of the Bitcoin stuff is about how [13:16] the American government [13:19] is failing you the dollar is failing and hyper bitcoinization is [13:24] around the corner because the dollar is going to fail. And just the main message from the conference, that's literally the line that they were running [13:32] in the ads, the first thing that they're saying. And there's something that is so disturbing about that because it implies so much damage. [13:41] Yeah. If the dollar were to fail, [13:43] and hyper-Bitcoinization were to happen, which is the goal in that room,

[13:47] It means that there's so much [13:50] destruction, not of value, but of people's lives that... [13:54] So many people around the world depend on dollar and its stability. It's detached from that reality, it seems like. It is. Or maybe it isn't, and they just don't care. But it's upsetting to see a want for something that feels so... [14:08] destructive. [14:10] And... [14:11] So that's happening and we're watching the ads and we're kind of like, this is weird. And then they play, I tweeted about this, but they played a Beyonce song, Texas Hold'em. At that point it was past two. So we're all just like a totally wrapped audience that's waiting for Trump to come out. [14:27] And... [14:28] Then they stop it midway through. Someone in the back is like, where's the phone? Where's the phone? Where's the phone? Next song. Next song. [14:34] Then finally, an hour later, he comes out. And man, I think it's one of the weirder experiences of my life. Wow. Was it he comes out? Does the crowd go wild? Crowd goes wild. But the weirdest thing is that we've been waiting for an hour and... [14:50] we're all just at the edges of our seat. First they start playing [14:55] Man, this is such a huge get for this conference. [14:57] Such a huge gap, but I think they paid quite a lot of money for it. Rumored to be in the world of $15 million. [15:03] Don't quote me on that, but that is what that was what the rumor mill saying. Yeah. So a new version of God Bless America starts playing really loud on the speakers, like really, really loud. But like, it's kind of a new version. And he just like a Fred again, remix of God Bless America. And he just comes out and he stands on the stage.

[15:26] while the song is playing and while people are standing clapping. Okay. And to me, it felt like, you know, when you do... [15:34] Karaoke. [15:36] And you get into the song. You're like, man, this is actually I didn't realize this was a really long song. [15:43] And now I'm like here with this mic singing. And I got to I got to see this thing through. I have to do it now. I'm here. I'm committed. [15:53] That's what it felt like where he was standing there and I was like, are we still... [15:56] It was like the final verse. But don't you think he kind of likes it? I think he does. I'm sure he does. But it felt to me a little too long. A little too much. Did you see the... When he was at the RNC and there was like the Trump with the Broadway lights? Yeah. [16:10] I didn't see that. Did you not see this? Oh my gosh. There was like Broadway lights that had Trump. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. And he like came on stage and there's all these pictures of him standing in front of it. And it went totally viral on Twitter. And basically people being like, he's such a queen. He's so cunty. Like he's so Broadway. He's so Broadway. Honestly, that checks out. My main takeaway was that he's an entertainer. [16:34] He is an entertainer. He's an entertainer. And... [16:36] Honestly, there are points in his... [16:38] Speech. [16:39] Where I was laughing. He's of course. World class at that. [16:43] And I, of course, this goes without saying deeply problematic, but he knows how to work the crowd and riff everything. [16:51] his riffs were crazy. [16:54] insane person riffs, but he's keeping the crowd engaged the whole time. And it was weirdly...

[17:02] funny in moments and extremely sad and dark and just terrifying in other moments. But I'm dying to hear what you thought of the content of the speech, because what I heard from someone yesterday was the speechwriter did a good job. And for the most part, Trump did a good job. He said the right words in the right order. Exactly. Exactly. Totally. That's totally true. So I was standing behind the teleprompter so I could see his script and then I could see [17:26] him and what he was saying and [17:29] It's striking the difference in how he talks about things that he cares about and how he talks about things that he doesn't care about, but someone's given him a script to say. And it was very obvious that someone gave him his talking points on crypto. [17:42] And they were super cohesive. And he was saying the right things. He talked about Operation Chokepoint 2.0. He talked about Operation Chokepoint 2.0 is basically this concerted effort. [17:57] to regulate the financial services industry in such a way so that they aren't servicing crypto businesses. And that cuts off the lifeline for the crypto businesses. Okay. Okay. [18:07] So, [18:08] Expression of that is sometimes when banks are like, if you use an exchange, we're going to shut down your account. [18:14] Yes. That's kind of a version of Operation Chokepoint 2.0. So he was talking about he's going to stop Operation Chokepoint 2.0. He got the biggest applause that I heard was about firing Gary Gensler. And... [18:27] The really interesting thing about that, which actually was part of the reason why I was like man is an entertainer and he knows how to work a room is

[18:34] he is going through and like reading his lines around crypto and he's making all these proclamations. He's coming out and saying these big things and he goes on day one. [18:42] I'm going to fire Gary Gensler. The room goes crazy. Insane. Applause. And then he goes, whoa. [18:48] I didn't know you guys hated him that much. And he goes, hold on, I'm going to say it one more time. On day one of my presidency, I'm going to fire Gary Gensler. And then the crowd erupts again. [18:59] It was so crazy in the moment because he obviously didn't know. And that was a really honest reaction where he was like, oh, my gosh. And it was really obvious to me in that moment. I was like, oh, he's beta testing stuff. [19:12] in real time. [19:14] okay lean startup he's testing and iterating he's looking for product market fit totally and he had big product market fit there and he was like all right let's double down and let's dig in here and at the beginning of the speech he comes out and he's like thanking people and and acknowledging people who are in the room and he goes yeah tyler and and cameron winklevoss yeah good guys great guys [19:39] Male models with a brain. One brain. He just said male models with a brain, which was the funniest part of it. But people and he's like listing people, Michael Saylor, Ron Paul, Kathy Wood and like he's and there's various levels of applause for each one. And you can kind of tell that he's like clocking who is. [19:57] People are excited about. People are excited about and who's going to riff on. Kid Rock got him. [20:02] He's a good guy. As Kid Rock does. As Kid Rock does. He had a funny line. Billy Ray Cyrus was in the room and he was like, how'd you get such a liberal daughter? And people love that.

[20:12] Poor Miley. She's like, don't bring me into it. [20:15] It's time for a more open, inclusive, and transparent financial system. A system that serves nearly everyone, everywhere, all the time. That's why we love today's sponsor, Kraken. Kraken is a crypto platform that provides a super simple on-ramp to the world of crypto with a 24-7 support team. Crypto transcends physical and imaginary borders. No matter where you are, you can send funds easily and quickly to almost any part of the world. Plus, forget about waiting times and waiting lines. You can send, receive, and trade crypto anywhere near instantly. [20:45] be at kraken.com backslash boys club non-investment advice crypto trading involves risk of loss transfers to a third party are not available on kraken cryptocurrency services are provided to us and us territory customers by payward ventures inc pvi dba kraken view pvi's disclosures at kraken.com backslash legal backslash disclosures i think the biggest thing like you said was he said [21:09] the right things in the right order about crypto but i don't think he gives a shit about crypto [21:15] Here's what he cares about. He cares about himself and his own image. He cared a lot and riffed a lot on the election. I do think he cares about America first. He kept coming back to you. And I do think that that's something he cares about. He basically like has a script and then he has these riff moments. Can you imagine working for him? Can you imagine working for this man? Just being like, oh my God, don't stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Please. The teleprompter

[21:45] and one was about Joe Biden and he starts talking about Joe Biden and then it's interesting it's [21:51] Almost like he didn't have his talking points for Kamala Harris yet. He mentioned her. I [21:55] He was like, she's a radical leftist, something to that effect. But he had a lot of juice on Joe Biden. [22:01] And he didn't really have the man that gives me some hope. I just think he hasn't gotten it yet. But I hasn't gotten it yet. But the clock is ticking. Yeah. The quote that I saw rolling around the internet was something to the effect of like, have fun with your Bitcoin or whatever else you're doing. Yeah. [22:15] What was that line? Yeah, he was like, have fun. [22:17] With your crypto or... [22:19] or whatever else you play with or something like that. [22:23] is a clear indicator to me that he's just doesn't give a fuck. One of the first things he said when he came on, he was like, last night I was at a Christian, evangelical Christian convention or... [22:33] event, [22:34] Here today I'm at Bitcoin and then [22:37] Tomorrow I go to Wisconsin or Minnesota or something and I do a huge rally there. [22:41] He's baiting to his constituencies. Totally. He said things about crypto. Someone gave him some great talking points, but I didn't believe him. One of the things he said was like, [22:51] All these high IQ individuals in the room, everyone in here is like smart is basically what he was saying. And I'm sure he says that in every room. But he went into this thing about how his uncle or something was an MIT professor. And it was an incomprehensible couple minutes of his uncle or something who was an MIT professor. And then he at some point came back to like how his sons know so much about crypto. And it was it was very much you guys have your thing that you guys are nerdy about. And that was also underlined in that last thing that he said around like, you guys go

[23:21] whatever it is. You guys are weird nerds that care about this thing that is in my interest now because you guys are a big enough voting block. But I [23:29] I only know enough to say the words. And that was what it was. [23:34] But what do you think? It's just like a religious constituency. People who are... [23:39] fervent about crypto, especially I think Bitcoiners. [23:43] And Ethereum people, everybody in crypto who's like, have this weird religious fervor, even to your specific tribe around it in a way that's very strange. [23:53] to me about growing up religious is reminds me so much of religion. [23:58] And it's your ideology. It's your values. It's your belief system. It guides the things that you're interested in and the work that you do. And, [24:07] So it's so... [24:08] obvious to me [24:10] that [24:11] they're approaching it the same way that you do a religious voting block. Yeah. Like you go to the evangelicals and you bait them with the things that they care about. You talk about abortion and you talk about the family values. You hit the talking points that they care about that are like intrinsically aligned with the things that are their deepest motivators. And you pull them in and you promise all these things and you talk about the Supreme Court and that's what you do. And then you get those people really, really excited and then they vote for you. And some delusional people think that. [24:41] "Oh, this person is actually [24:43] religious or a Christian or whatever. It's the same thing here. Like, [24:47] What are the talking points? What are the things that these people care about? What are the two or three things that I can throw at them that feel like actual legitimate changes that could be made that would further their ideological beliefs along and say them out loud and then go to the next place the next day? And...

[25:03] I don't know. It seems it's like so transparent. [25:06] Yeah. [25:07] I actually can't [25:09] even imagine someone who genuinely believes that Trump gives a shit. [25:14] Honestly, I'm like, apart from wanting a candidate that is like pro-business and pro-small business and pro-technology in America... [25:25] I honestly am like, there's much bigger things to care about in the world. And maybe that's just because I don't have a big enough bag to give a fuck. But that's sort of my... [25:35] perspective is like, I want somebody who's pro business. I want somebody who's pro small business. I want somebody who wants to keep technology and innovation in America. And [25:42] I want all these other things, but in terms of like, [25:45] how it relates to crypto. Those are the things that I care about. And I want somebody who's competent, who I can loosely held trust and that. [25:54] Really... [25:55] That's not Trump. Yeah, totally. Totally. [25:57] Totally. I think all eyes on Kamala to see what she comes out with. [26:02] in terms of her views on crypto, I think we're like all waiting on bated breath. There was a moment last week where they were like, Kamala is going to speak at Bitcoin National. And, [26:10] No world would she have spoken on that stage. No, not in any universe. It would have been bad. It would have been really bad. It would have been really bad. The whole thing felt honestly like a Republican... [26:22] community gathering and libertarian [26:24] leaning Republican community gathering. And that was a crazy thing to think was going to happen. And honestly, I think it was in bad faith of the Bitcoin community.

[26:34] magazine CEO to whatever plant that rumor. Maybe he was talking to her people, but [26:39] he knew that wasn't going to happen. And so I'm having an existential crisis about my [26:44] alignment with [26:46] This... [26:47] world. I like ran into some neighbors yesterday. [26:50] And they were like, so how was the conference? And I was just like. [26:55] I [26:56] I was so defensive in that conversation. I was like, man, I can't even imagine. I can't honestly it would have been painful to be standing there watching you talk about it. [27:04] I don't know. I don't know what's going on, but that was a crazy, crazy weekend. So that's that. [27:09] Wow. Thank you for thank you for your service and your time and doing doing the work for us all. Kind of a downer, honestly. Sorry. No problem. It is what it is. All beliefs are our own. [27:23] I don't know. I feel like we need some disclaimer here. If you are... [27:29] a Trump supporter and... [27:32] identify [27:33] as a republican with him as a as your leader it's different identifying as a republican and identifying as a trump republican i think those feel like very very different things to me and [27:45] Yeah, I think if you identify as a Trump Republican and [27:48] You feel like I miscategorized... [27:50] what happened this weekend slide into my dms and let me know and i'm curious genuinely curious what [27:56] people think a core premise and belief of boys club is and value is we're we're post shame post judgment [28:03] So that stretches to politics as well. So even if you have a different POV, genuinely,

[28:09] I mean it. Curious to understand why and how you... [28:13] approach this type of thing. Totally. Totally. [28:15] Totally. And also permission for our views to change too on things because [28:20] The facts change. I change my mind. Totally. All right. Okay. Thanks for listening. Bye. Bye.