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#7 - Unpopular opinions
14 Plays9 months ago
We share our unpopular opinions and listen to what others have to say about them.
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Transcript
Julian Leninger on Entrepreneurship and Relay App
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everyone, last week we were with Julian Leninger, a podcast that we highly recommend you to listen. We're inspiring about entrepreneurship, about how to create an app, the mentality of an entrepreneur. Julian has founded an app for buying Bitcoin that is called Relay. It's heavy stuff. I love recording it with him. If you haven't listened to the episode, I invite you to do so.
Upcoming Episodes on NFTs and Blockchain
00:00:22
Speaker
There will be 2 more episodes related to cryptos and blockchain so the next episode will be dedicated to NFTs and another episode will be 100% dedicated to server. While we were preparing this episode we figured out that there were a lot of topics that we will discuss today that unfortunately we won't have the time to discuss in detail so we can create in the future more episode about
Unpopular Crypto Opinions with Sam Jourdes & Boris
00:00:47
Speaker
crypto.
00:00:47
Speaker
we will wait a bit for that because then we will start talking about the metaverse and artificial intelligence. So today's episode is a little bit special because it's an episode dedicated to unpopular opinion.
Is Bitcoin a Store of Value?
00:01:02
Speaker
Sam Jourdes, how are you doing gentlemen? Hi Boris, happy to be back on the podcast as always. I'm happy that about this topic what we're going to talk about unpopular opinions which
00:01:13
Speaker
When you're talking about crypto, whether it be with experts or newbies, there's always preconceived ideas or things that come up. And I think a lot of that are like common opinions or things that aren't necessarily right. And I think we'll be touching on a bit of all that in this special episode dedicated to unpopular opinions and also obviously giving hours if we agree or not with the statements that everyone selected.
00:01:39
Speaker
Hello guys, really happy to be there. And yes, as Boris said, today it's a popular opinion. I think it will be a really interesting topic and I hope and I'm also sure you have a funny and popular opinion to discuss about. So I'm really excited about it.
00:01:58
Speaker
show you to kind of be a fun one. So let's start immediately and jump into the topic of every each person will present its opinion and then we will react. So I would start first, I will give an unpopular opinion, then some you will give yours and then you will give
Language in Crypto: English vs. French
00:02:15
Speaker
yours.
00:02:15
Speaker
The first in popular opinion is Bitcoin is not a story of value, contrary to what a lot of people are thinking. So, personally, I immediately had two ideas that came to my mind when I proposed this episode. The first one was that I don't like people who say that Bitcoin is a story of value. I know it.
00:02:35
Speaker
this is a very unpopular opinion and I will explain my opinion in more detail I think it's too early to consider Bitcoin a store of value coin is simply something that's 15 years old can't be considered a store of value in my opinion Bitcoin on the other hand could be a future store of value
00:02:52
Speaker
That's what I think about it in my opinion Bitcoin is a revolutionary computer protocol for exchanging bitcoins These bitcoins originally had no value or a very low value I also have my doubts as to whether miners will be able to make a living from transaction fees alone in 2140 when all the bitcoins have been mined that's a completely undocumented opinion is just a personal feeling and
00:03:19
Speaker
I may be listening to this episode again in 50 years and laughing because Bitcoin will still be around and works a lot, a lot more than it is today. Only time will tell, so I'll let you guys tell what do you think about that.
00:03:32
Speaker
Yeah, so I agree that Bitcoin is not a store of value. I think the fact that I mentioned it's young is one way to approach it. But also, I mean, you've got to think about what is a store of value. Bitcoin is quite a volatile asset.
00:03:51
Speaker
We've seen through the past that it's been highly correlated to traditional markets. And so for me, it is not a store of value as of today, but that could change in the future. Jude, what do you think about this one?
Shitcoins: Risks and Attention
00:04:09
Speaker
Yes, I don't really agree with you guys. I think that if you are in a country where you are fearful of your future, fearful of your government,
00:04:19
Speaker
Oh, you are convinced by the fact that your government is devaluing its currency by too much deficits. You can say that this is a great potential long-term star value. So, I mean, it's an international ledger that's cross-border. It's bigger than any government.
00:04:37
Speaker
And I'm a believer in it because I do believe it's an alternative sources for well-folding. It's not different than what could represent over a thousand of here. So yeah, for me, it's an asset class that
Criticism in the Crypto Community
00:04:52
Speaker
protects you.
00:04:52
Speaker
okay so let's move on the second in popular opinion is i don't like that the french use anglicisms so this in popular opinion i have concerns people it concerns people in the web3 and particularly blockchain ecosystem in french and crypto and some especially the french people so
00:05:16
Speaker
They are people that use far too many English for my taste. Scannability, for example, if you hear French people talking about blockchain, they will use scannability. It doesn't exist. Basically, these words sometimes use English words directly or sometimes they add a letter to make it French.
Bitcoin's Environmental Impact
00:05:43
Speaker
My only point with that is why to use English words when we have French ones that's something I have never understood it's not something that I do with especially for example my grandmother or my parents if I start to explain them this technology with English word it would be super hard so
00:06:01
Speaker
People in this ecosystem, and especially journalists, are the first to boast. I have seen several LinkedIn posts recently congratulating themselves that in France we have leaders in the field of blockchain, yay, we are number one, et cetera, et cetera. But why use the word blockchain when we have the word in French that is chain de block, or as I was saying, scalability, that in French is mise-a-richelle? And what amazes me?
00:06:26
Speaker
is that this chauvinism which has its limit and I found it fun and it's also too well-being French and doing business in this field and on the other hand using French vocabulary isn't trendy or stylish it has always been the case it's not only in the blockchain and in the crypto space so it seems strange to me and I don't like it and mind you I'm saying this and sometimes I can use the English word blockchain in French too so
00:06:54
Speaker
That's my bad too, and I'm part sometimes of these people, but in my opinion, if we want the general public to adopt this technology, we should use words from the language of the country in which we want to democratize this technology.
Is Bitcoin Anonymous?
00:07:09
Speaker
one of the main arguments these people use when I share this in popular opinion with them is that everyone else uses Anglicism so they do as well they are both conformist and not conformist and it's a variable geometry so they are not conformist when they criticize the banking system but they are conformist when they talk so I love the paradoxes and I'm the first one to have them so that's why I found it really fun I don't know guys what do you think about that
00:07:36
Speaker
Yeah, I don't really agree with that. I mean, it's okay to use Anglicism for me. Not necessarily better than French words, but for me it's more conversional, more uni... Not conversional, it's not the good words. It's more universal.
00:07:52
Speaker
I mean blockchain and cryptocurrency should be a world topic so for me using English because English is the most language used in the world today. I think for example if you take the words mint for NFT and another example stacking I mean it's really complicated to
00:08:21
Speaker
Define it in French, even if you have some definition for these words. For me, it makes less sense than the English words. But it may be because I understand well these words, so I prefer to use the English. But yes, for me, it should be a universal language, so I will prefer to use English.
00:08:48
Speaker
So you're on my side. So, I mean, both of you, for me, are telling some of the things that I think. So I think in France or in most countries, like in the corporate world, you'll see English words being used because they're trendy. They might be easier than the country's language, per se.
00:09:08
Speaker
And I don't think that's necessary. I think it's good to stick because you get confused using different languages at the same time. I think it's fine to use Anglicisms when it's, as Jun said, like technical words that actually mean something. But for example, scalability. I'm sure there's a French equivalent that can be used and it'll be understood in the same way.
Should Hackers Reveal Their Identity?
00:09:33
Speaker
If you use it, so I'd say overall. I'm not a big fan of the anglicisms although yeah, it's a tough one for me to kind of
00:09:46
Speaker
Quite a yes or no one really. It's always easy to take a side I agree and that's why it's a bit provocative as well this episode there is more to have fun than anything else so let's move on on the on the third one it's that I don't like shitcoins so another popular I have is
00:10:06
Speaker
not to trade cheatcoins, so I know that it's a popular subject and everyone's looking for the next cheatcoin that will see its price multiplied by 10 or 100. However, if there is no real technology in the rest that I see you searching in one number,
00:10:29
Speaker
If there is not a real technological interest, despite the community aspect, I find it hard to buy a project's token. So I know it's an unpopular opinion and maybe it's up to me to change that, but I'm not interested at the moment. Yeah, exactly. I mean, so, oh, that was a, so WinLambo.
00:10:54
Speaker
is the question that is in the crypto sphere. Every crypto trader knows it. When are you getting that nice, juicy, sexy Lambo? That was you that put that in the chat, just to say, I personally, I don't, there's two ways for me to go about this. I don't dislike shitcoins because I do enter them, I do trade them. I think they bring a lot of attention to the crypto scene, but on the other hand,
00:11:24
Speaker
They're the positive aspects and the negative aspects for me are that a lot of people can get scammed or can have a bad experience. And if you stop there, it damages the reputation of the whole crypto ecosystem. So for that reason, I don't like, I'd say overall, I don't like shit coins because most of the time it's just short term benefits and over the long run, it's more negative aspects that take over.
00:11:53
Speaker
In my opinion, I agree and not agree. I mean, I'm not trading shitcoin every day, but I think allocated 1% of your all capital to shitcoin can be profitable for you. If something happened with like we saw with Dogecoin two years ago, or Pepe or Shiba, I mean, just a little allocation, you know, but I'm not convinced about shitcoin. I mean, that's why they are shit.
00:12:22
Speaker
There is no utility, et cetera, but this is the market who decide what can go higher, what can go lower in terms of price. So, I mean, if the market decide to make pump the shit coin, it will. So, yes, I think if I can get a bit of money with shit coin, I will.
Will Crypto Make Investors Rich?
00:12:45
Speaker
I think on this weekend, we can agree that sometimes it may be shit
00:12:49
Speaker
Sometimes it may not be shit, but it's always good to have a bit of shit, you know.
00:12:57
Speaker
Okay, let's let's not spend too much time on this one. Let's move on to number four So I don't like people who spend their time criticizing so another unpopular opinion concerns over specifically I know that there are concerns on the crypto space, but I'm less I'm less aware of that because I'm less following the crypto news and
00:13:21
Speaker
So I will speak about Sorer. So the thing is that these same people have never created NFTs, they have never created companies, they have never built the websites for most of them. And so they take the liberty of commenting when they have never undertaken anything or not at the same level as Sorer for the case of Soa. So I know that criticism can be constructive, but I don't understand people who spend
00:13:47
Speaker
all their time criticizing a project there are even some people who made money with Soran first because they were among the first holders of NFTs and now they spend most of the time especially on twitter criticizing and sending negative energy and for me if you don't like something you just don't use it you don't say anything and you move on so i don't think it's necessary i think
00:14:08
Speaker
Criticism can be positive and can send and sending a message directly to the support of servers seems more relevant to me than tagging the CEO or tagging someone on the social networks or watching in capital letters. Yeah, I think this one so I'd agree I think there's a lot of criticism in the ecosystem because obviously there's conflicts of interest people might get emotional and also it's something new so
00:14:35
Speaker
There might be uneducated or misinformed or whatever and I think especially so France I mean, I don't want to do any French bashing, but I think the culture is very different Historically to other countries where like the US where risk-taking is is more Encouraged so for me, I agree with you Criticism is okay and necessary. It's got to be constructive and is like essential and
00:15:01
Speaker
But if someone's always criticizing without taking action or suggesting ways to improve or ideas or whatever, I think it's, I mean, I agree with you. I don't like people that spend their whole time criticizing. I think there's a fine line between a healthy amount and an unhealthy amount, as you highlighted.
00:15:21
Speaker
Yes, I agree a bit with what you said, Sam, and also with what you said Boris. I mean, critics can be important to improve something, you know, so it's good to have a constrictive critics, but just to be quick and simple, I will say that small minds discuss other people and critics, good minds discuss events and great minds discuss ideas.
00:15:45
Speaker
OK, let's move on. People who say that Bitcoin doesn't consume that much annoys me. So another opinion that is not popular is that of electric consumption. There are a lot of people who say that Bitcoin doesn't consume much power and consumes less than the traditional banking system.
00:16:01
Speaker
This can be true and fails at the same time. In fact, I wrote an article a few years ago for Cryptonews in which I pointed out that Bitcoin's conception is a preconceived notion and that the figure should be studied realistically and compared with other technologies. I also wrote that by default technology pollutes
00:16:21
Speaker
building telephones, pollutes, building computers, pollutes. However, many people use computers and telephones, so I don't think the idea is to say that all technology pollutes, so let's stop making technological advances. My idea is just to assume reality,
Is Heavy Regulation Needed for Crypto?
00:16:36
Speaker
to honestly measure the energy consumption of each crypto project, in particular Bitcoin and to study
00:16:42
Speaker
what solutions they are to reduce this consumption. Some people would say that Bitcoin isn't necessary and that all miners should be prevented from consuming electricity. I'm not one of those people. Having said that, I simply think that the energy issue is a real one when it comes to Bitcoin and that it should be dealt with honestly and transparently.
00:17:04
Speaker
I think it's intellectually dishonest to compare Bitcoin to another system and say that it consumes less energy and that because some miners use energy that is produced but not consumed all is well in the best of words. No, I think this is a real subject in this podcast. We will be talking. I hope I will contact
00:17:24
Speaker
experts about this environmental implications of bitcoins. Yeah, so to pick up on this one, so it's not a topic I'm extremely passionate about. I'm sure there's plenty of studies environment mentalists that have talked about it. But honestly, it's something I'm not too bothered about. I wouldn't
00:17:47
Speaker
position myself on it as I don't think I'm educated enough on the topic but I suppose you've got two things to look at absolute value of consumption and relative consumption so that's the whole debate of cost of transition etc.
00:18:04
Speaker
But no opinion on this one for me, really. It's not an easy topic and an easy question to answer. But I saw some study and the question of energy consumption related to Bitcoin is a complex issue. The study I saw was estimated in 2022 and Bitcoin's annual energy consumption was around 77.8 terawatt hours. So it was according to the Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index.
00:18:34
Speaker
This can be compared to the annual energy consumption in other countries like the Netherlands. So on the other end, the arguments have been put forth to support the claim that Bitcoin can consume less energy than the traditional banking system.
00:18:50
Speaker
So, a study by the Bank of England estimated that the entire global banking system, including branches, ATM, and data centers, consumed about 100 terawatt hours per year. I mean, it's a complexity debate about Bitcoin energy consumption. So, I do not agree.
00:19:14
Speaker
And yeah, I agree and don't agree in the same time because I think we don't have yet enough transparent and enough data about it. In popular opinion, the next one that I have is
00:19:29
Speaker
are the people who say Bitcoin is anonymous so another and popular topic is that blockchain doesn't guarantee anonymity of course I see people already coming and saying yeah except if you are Satoshi of course but the people that say this I don't think that they are Satoshi so I would go even further blockchain is even more devious than the internet because
00:19:56
Speaker
I used all of course on purpose this provocative phrase that say it's even worse because as on the internet I already think
Is Crypto Repeating Traditional Mistakes?
00:20:04
Speaker
that everything can be trust if you don't if you don't have the knowledge so to a certain extent of course and this is what I was saying before the famous person behind Satoshi Nakamoto or the famous group of people behind Satoshi Nakamoto managed to understand and execute perfectly so it's still possible to be anonymous on the internet however the level of knowledge required
00:20:26
Speaker
Two is very high and so to think that the French state isn't going to manage to keep up with someone on blockchain I think it's a mistake and fortunately so because if humans didn't make mistake No one would be in prison for crimes. So to make error is human They will always be hackers who managed to sleep through the cracks and about going to prison However, these steps should not be encouraged and I will talk about that in
00:20:53
Speaker
to return to the subject of Bitcoin is anonymous I would be inclined to say that Bitcoin is pseudonymous but again I'm not technically in the best position to comment on this there is the example of Satoshi so I fundamentally believe that because we use this or that system or blockchain we are anonymous in certain cases and I think it's much more complicated than that and
00:21:16
Speaker
that the hardware required is highly sophisticated and not within the reach of the majority. I have no fixed opinion about that. I think we all agree with that that Bitcoin transactions are not entirely anonymous. They are probably
00:21:34
Speaker
The way that identities of the individual involved in transactions are not directly tied to their Bitcoin address, so the transaction history is recorded on the blockchain and is publicly accessible, I think that the transparency of the blockchain allow anyone to view the entire history of transactions associated with a particular Bitcoin address. However, the real-world identity behind this address is not explicitly disclosed on the blockchain.
00:22:04
Speaker
So this characteristic has not led to the perception of Bitcoin as a relatively private form of currency. However, I think it's essential to note that the suddenly most natural Bitcoin transaction does not guarantee complete privacy. We can have some external factor, such as the use of identifiable wallets, interaction with regulate cryptocurrency exchange platform, and also sophisticated analysis technique.
00:22:34
Speaker
So we can potentially reveal the identities of Bitcoin users. Some users turn to additional privacy-focused tools and technical tools like coin mixing or using privacy-centric cryptocurrency to enhance the confidentiality of our transaction. So yeah, to conclude about it, I think
00:22:55
Speaker
If you are a fucking quack in a blockchain ecosystem, you can probably remain anonymous. But I think it's really, really, really difficult. Yeah, I think you covered most of it. I mean, I also agree. So I don't think Bitcoin is anonymous. It's synonymous. I think there's alternative solutions, privacy coins, but that is just the crypto in itself. I think if you really want to be anonymous,
00:23:22
Speaker
It goes much further into security, tech, how you purchase your crypto. I mean, it can go very far back and any trace that you leave online that can link back to your identity or location or anything can be tracked and brought back to you. So I think it's extremely difficult nowadays to be anonymous. And that can be shown like through, you've seen a lot of criminals that thought that money laundering
00:23:49
Speaker
or whatever through crypto was a good idea they got caught if you really want something quote-unquote anonymous yeah you've got the privacy coins you've got mixers that's another thing more regulation kycs are being enforced so it's becoming more and more difficult to hide your identity so i agree that bitcoin is not anonymous
00:24:12
Speaker
okay it's funny i figure a lot of people will react to this episode so it would be nice to have some feedback on that the last one that i had on my list and that i i will let the floor to sam
Regulation and Crypto's Core Values
00:24:23
Speaker
to present his own popular opinion so the last one is that hackers who are invited to events but don't show their face should not be able to enter these events this i know it's a really unpopular opinion i have spoken directly to some organizers of dust events and i have
00:24:39
Speaker
this opinion because for me they shouldn't be allowed in mainstream, especially in mainstream French events. So why do I say this? Simply because first of all, if everyone is doing so, it would really mess if I begin to arrive to events with not showing my face and everyone is doing the same. It would be a kind of scary metaverse scenario. And second of all, because it's the French law and it's forbidden to hide
00:25:03
Speaker
or completely cover one's face in the public place. Public trophies and places open to the public are assigned to a public service. There are exceptions, however, notably when the face is masked by an object that the authority is required to the wearer to wear.
00:25:21
Speaker
such it was the case with the COVID, with the mask for health reasons, etc. But I know this won't make me any friends, but it's my opinion.
Crypto Trading: Intelligence and Motives
00:25:28
Speaker
Yeah, I think this is an interesting one. I mean, in general, I think it's like a broader security issue. I mean, security has been rising over the past couple of years due to obviously
00:25:42
Speaker
some geopolitical concerns and other mainstream topics, but I don't think any guest should have to unveil their face as long as it's deemed secure. I mean, you see it a lot in other conventions. For example, you've got all these people that are into
00:26:02
Speaker
cosplay or animcoms they go they're dressed up as long as they comply they show that they're not a threat or a risk it's fine they can get in and also it protects people maybe they want to stay anonymous and have good reasons to do so from well not it's not necessarily anonymous but they'd want to unveil their identity to the least amount of people possible and i'd understand that so for me i don't think people would necessarily have to show their face
00:26:30
Speaker
So I have to disagree with you on that one. Yes, on my side, I don't have necessarily an opinion about that. I mean, if they want to protect themselves and stay anonymous when they are invited on an event, I mean, TV show or even offline events, I mean, it's up to them. So, yeah, nothing to say, I don't agree.
00:26:57
Speaker
Okay. Sam, I'll let you take the floor over then. Yeah, sure. I mean, I've got a couple of popular opinions piled up for you. So five total. I mean, the first one is you have to be smart to be a trader or have some kind of gift or whatever. I think a lot of people believe this, but it's a false
00:27:21
Speaker
I think anybody can trade. The dumbest of people can be a trader. I mean, it's literally pressing a button to buy and a button to sell. Where the difference is made is if you're a trader that makes money or loses money.
00:27:37
Speaker
But then again, you don't have to be smart to win loads of money. There's so many variables that come into account timing, risk management. So you could literally ape into a coin. You do that one trade and you're set, you've made millions for life. So you don't have to be smart to be a trader, in my opinion. What do you guys think about that?
00:28:02
Speaker
Just totally agree, if you buy a crypto of a dog and let it in your wallet, just to wait and then you become a billionaire, billionaire, just without your agent, without doing nothing. So, I mean, yeah, you don't need to be smart to be a good trader.
00:28:23
Speaker
Me, as I always take example on your shredding, I need to agree with you. No, but more seriously, I agree because some people, as you said, are not smart.
00:28:42
Speaker
and they make money. I think that, as you say, there are some techniques. So yes and no. But if I need to position myself, you can not be smart and trade. I think it can help. So it's not a clear yes. It's not a clear no. It's somewhere in the middle. And that's, I think, the case for most of the topics that we have discussed. It's hard to take a position, but it's the kind of concept of this, of this episode.
00:29:11
Speaker
Yeah, for me, and especially in trading, I mean, the results kind of justify the means. You're right until you're wrong.
Episode Wrap-up and Reflections
00:29:20
Speaker
So if you're making money, you're supposedly a good trader until you're wrong and you lose money. So it's quite a difficult one to put something on. And also not thinking, the ability to ape in and not think too much
00:29:38
Speaker
can be a good thing in certain instances because if you're too knowledgeable about a coin or too invested you might tend to overthink which will delay decision making and action taking so you might miss out on opportunities so that's the for that one moving on to the second one it's too late to invest in crypto i mean we've heard this all too many times it's too late to invest in crypto
00:30:05
Speaker
That is not, so I disagree with the statement. I think it's still got time to invest in crypto compared to traditional financial assets. It's still very young, only really starting to get mass adoption being adopted, like alternative products being set up on it. I think it's still, we might not be in the early phase anymore, but I think you can still invest in crypto today. It's not too late.
00:30:32
Speaker
and there's always opportunities. I mean, you see this also in other markets. Equities have been around for ages and you can still make money in those. So why would it be different for crypto? A quick opinion on my side. I think that as long as there is more fiat currency in circulation, assets will continue to appreciate in value. For me, it's too late. I will let the other
00:30:57
Speaker
the other people decide for themselves. So for me, it's too late because I have simply decided to not invest anymore or not as much proportion that I was doing before. So for me, yes, it's too late. Then can crypto reach higher price? Can Bitcoin reach higher price? Can Ethereum reach
00:31:23
Speaker
higher price then it's possible it can definitely be the case it can also not be the case so if I have to decide I would say is it too late no and especially if you don't if you are ready to lose your money. See that's interesting because this is the perfect transition to the next question which is
00:31:46
Speaker
Crypto is what will make you rich. Right. So on this one, I don't think crypto will necessarily make you rich. You can win a lot of money. You can also lose a lot of money. It's not the only solution for me. It's just one possibility amongst others. And I don't think crypto will
00:32:08
Speaker
make you rich? Yes, it can make you rich and it cannot make you rich. As we said before, you don't have to be a smart trader to make millions. Everyone can be rich with crypto and as well, everyone can lose a lot of money with crypto.
00:32:31
Speaker
Yeah, but you know, in like today's day and age, right? Everybody's saying, yeah, 2024, crypto is what will make you rich. It's more from that angle. So over all asset classes, all investment vehicles, crypto is the one, for example, in 2024 that is going to make you rich. I know you are DJ'ing and you're all in Shiba Doj and PayPal.
00:32:58
Speaker
I can say more than that. To be honest, it depends which crypto. For example, if you think that Bitcoin will make you rich, it's difficult to think about that. But if you buy a really low market cap cryptocurrency right now and
00:33:19
Speaker
it go to the moon yes you will probably be rich but i mean i will not bet on this case from my side it's kind of hard because crypto in in a kind of sense made me rich and when i say rich it's not only financially speaking meeting you guys meeting some meeting jews meeting people having experience in this fair so i think it's it can make you rich by knowledge and then knowledge can bring you to
00:33:48
Speaker
monetary power, so it can definitely be the case. Then thinking that only investing a portion of my capital and stay and wake up in 20 years and be rich, I'm not sure about that as we said before.
00:34:08
Speaker
As always, the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward and that's the case with crypto. So if I have to position myself, yes, crypto can make you rich, but not in the financial way, in the experience way, in the technical way, in the knowledge way. So crypto can definitely make you rich. Can crypto make you rich with your money? I think that it's a clear no. Yeah, I mean, it depends on who, I mean, it's like anything you
00:34:36
Speaker
past performance doesn't guarantee future performance. So I suppose we'll never know, but that is also like, as you were saying, you can get a lot out of crypto and not only money. This is the next unpopular opinion. So it's no one here is in it for the tech. We just buy crypto in hopes of selling it to someone else at a higher price. So I think
00:35:03
Speaker
There are people that are here for the tech, especially those early investors that kind of carried it through those years. There was a vision and as it's gotten mainstream, it's become more of a, you see a lot of marketers get rich quick schemes that are promoting crypto. So in that sense, buying crypto in the hopes of selling to someone else at a higher price. Yes, because a lot of people, why do they buy crypto? You ask someone, why do you want to buy this crypto? Oh man, or they'll come speak to you and they'll be like,
00:35:33
Speaker
oh man, this crypto's gonna 10x, it's gonna 100x. But why, they're just focusing on the price and not the tech behind the actual use case, the actual value, the scalability. So I think the majority of people are unfortunately not here for the tech, but what will drive crypto forward is the tech, because that's what makes it useful.
00:36:01
Speaker
Now you all know and understand that Sam is a big deejan because if you think you don't need to be smart to make million, then you think that crypto will make you rich.
00:36:17
Speaker
And then that if you want to buy crypto and sell at higher price to someone else. I mean, yes, that's fair to say that when you buy an asset, you hope to sell it with an higher price to someone else. So, I mean, I agree with that. But with the fact that no one is in for the tech, I'm going to agree. Because to be honest, we talk about crypto, but
00:36:46
Speaker
behind the crypto there is the blockchain and blockchain is useful today i mean you can use it in instruments for instruments you can use it in the supply chain industry so i mean there is a lot of use case and yeah
00:37:02
Speaker
tech is the most important and that's why we have a good market like this. I'm not talking about price, I'm talking about what we can see in terms of innovation. But yes, I mean, it's probably the lowest percentage. I think like, I don't know, but 90% of people are therefore
00:37:26
Speaker
for crypto and make money and maybe 10% of people are here for it. Well, you know what? I don't think that's necessarily like a bad thing because in the end you need to attract money to build things. So at least the money flow is there, let's say.
00:37:45
Speaker
But yeah, it'd be great to see more people get involved with the tech and see the whole ecosystem evolve, get more knowledgeable on the topic. I'm not a complete de-gen just to put that out there. I'm more focused on the trade and that's why I'm saying these things.
00:38:04
Speaker
No, but that's for sure. And it's the concept of this episode to say that you disagree with this kind of unpopular opinion and that people are here for the tech. I agree with that. I think monetary speaking and fundraising speaking, ICO speaking, et cetera. So the way home money is raised, I think there is a really interesting trade nowadays with the topics of who is doing money in the web tree ecosystem because it's
00:38:34
Speaker
It's a kind of excuse for a lot of people. Ah, no, but you know, today in 2024, in January 2024, there are no NFT projects that are profitable. There are no companies that are profitable. And it's totally false. Someone that is thinking that other companies are not making money because his own is not making money. It's not the way it works and it won't help.
00:38:56
Speaker
So that's one thing that I wanted to say. And then taking an opinion about the tech, I totally agree with you, Sam. I think it's an unpopular opinion. And the thing is that the tech matters. And that you need also money to develop these technologies. So some people are here for the tech. Some people are here to sell higher. And that's part of the game.
00:39:27
Speaker
So last question right on this. The last one I've got for you is crypto can't go mainstream until it's heavily regulated. I mean, we've been seen over the years, obviously, you had the early days, little to no regulation than gray area. And now we're seeing much more regulation coming in.
00:39:48
Speaker
with governments, authorities, people trying to obviously regulate the space. The big question is, is this kind of a slowdown for the development or of the whole crypto blockchain ecosystem or is it kind of speeding it up? This one myself,
00:40:09
Speaker
I thought it was an interesting question. I thought, Boris, you might be able to bring your technical know-how on this one. I'm unsure about that because can crypto go mainstream without being regulated? I think what investors look for is to make sure their assets are going to be safe, protected, or they can go after them. So for me, it has to be regulated to a certain extent, although that goes against the core kind of fundamental values
00:40:40
Speaker
I totally agree. I think that it's a topic that we will discuss in also another episode after the metaverse, after the artificial intelligence, because I don't want to do a podcast only about crypto and blockchain, and I know that it's the same for you guys.
00:40:57
Speaker
We have done an interview with Jules in French with LoRa, that is LoRa Future, that is a lawyer in LP consulting, that is a lawyer agency. And he asked this question, do you think that the people that are doing the laws are the most relevant one? And it's not an easy question to answer.
00:41:17
Speaker
of course, easy for the people that are drafting the laws to be the most relevant one, and it's always hard to regulate tech, so it's a great topic, and I think it should be criticized, so I'm aligned with the vision of Jirz that I think he will detail a bit more just after, but I think it's not easy to do it, and it's our role as, let's say,
00:41:42
Speaker
active members in this sphere, I do not say the word experts, to give our opinion. We have been here for some time and it's time for us to take positions. Recently I watched an interview with Patrick Partouche, that is a casino gambling company, and he explained
00:42:05
Speaker
holding, I guess not, not only a single company. And he explained that in his opinion, the Jeunium law that applies to Sohar, that is an NFT project, is unfair because the casino are subject via his businesses to much harsher laws. I can understand, because if I put myself in the shoes of the owner of the casino, I would want my games offered to people that under the same regulation than the
00:42:33
Speaker
the game of Sora etc so I agree with him on that the thing is that in the case of Sora or in the case of crypto, crypto is another topic most specific how it should be recreated etc etc I think there is a good way to control it at least from what I have read
00:42:51
Speaker
to say that there is an amount that means I think 1,000 euros that allow flexibility if you don't transfer every day 1,999 euros no one will will care basically so I exaggerate but to give you an idea and with the wallets the kiwi cetera so it's a big topic what I want to say regarding the games and the NFTs etc is that as long as it's a free game for me there is no need to
00:43:19
Speaker
get an identification with the age as long as there is money there needs to be a restriction I think it's normal to not be able to buy crypto before a certain age and the thing is that on the same time crypto is not only money so I don't believe that to have access to a Bitcoin you need to have more than a certain age because originally it's a technology and it's of course supposed to be cash etc etc but
00:43:48
Speaker
If you want to understand the technology as 13 years old and you want to transact on the blockchain is not necessarily a bad thing. So I think it's not easy for regulators to find the happy medium. So sorry to conclude, I agree crypto can't go mainstream until it's heavily regulated because it's how it works and yeah.
00:44:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think Boris said all. I mean, Evili is the world to keep in mind. I mean, I don't think crypto can go mainstream if we just regulate the market. And for now, I'm not sure we get the best regulation in Europe. So yes, I think like Evili,
00:44:43
Speaker
easily regulate for user to protect users etc etc yes but these people who are people who create the law right now for this for this market are the best position positioned um not sure so i'm a bit meticulous we need regulation of course but how
00:45:09
Speaker
That's the question. I suppose that's always kind of the problem. How do you get the people that are knowledgeable and relevant enough in power to make the decisions on regulation and avoid misinformation, misunderstanding from the people that are making the decisions? Because it is a new technology. We've seen through time that I mean, some decisions have been made that might hinder the ecosystem or make it harder for people to create projects.
00:45:40
Speaker
So I think it's all about getting the people that are actually really knowledgeable and interested in power to make those decisions whilst also having in mind the greater good of the whole community, of course. I mean, that kind of wraps it up for the unpopular opinions that I'd compiled for today. I'll pass the mic on to Jule if you can share us some of yours that you came up with. I'll be happy to agree or disagree with them.
00:46:08
Speaker
Yeah, sure, I have one or two for you guys. The first one is that the acronym Dior, Alias, do your own research. It's not possible because you ever get the information from the creators themselves, who of course have a good story, or four of one, or another source that has over interests than just giving you unbiased, reliable information. So, are you agree or disagree with that?
00:46:38
Speaker
I think this is an interesting one. It kind of joins up the previous regulatory question because obviously, do your own research is something that's said in the whole kind of personal finance investing community. Always look up projects, try and formulate your own opinions from the information that's available. Obviously, with traditional markets, all the information available tends to be regulated
00:47:08
Speaker
It's put out in a structured manner. And insider trading is pretty much illegal. In crypto world, I suppose you can get insider trading, but I don't know if that's illegal. So, I mean, you gotta be careful of what the sources of information are.
00:47:31
Speaker
Nothing beats first-hand information, so what you find from your personal analysis and stuff, but most of the information out there, usually projects, they're marketed by the project creators themselves, which obviously, yeah, they always have a good story, and also
00:47:50
Speaker
There's so many conflicts of interest in the crypto community. I mean, you see this with the whole mark. I mean, it all comes down to marketing. Everybody wants to make a book somehow. So you got to be very careful who you listen to. So I think doing your own research. I think it is possible, but it is very hard because you've got to have you got to be at have
00:48:17
Speaker
the qualities of and skill set of a full on analyst and not just read news articles that are published by whoever you know.
00:48:30
Speaker
So that's my take on that. I have to disagree on that one because I really believe that I would speak on it for Bitcoin, for crypto and again for Sohar. I think for Bitcoin if you want to test to run a node you can, if you want to read the white paper you can, if you want to do the math you can, if you want to copy the code you can.
00:48:50
Speaker
So it's still possible. Then for other projects, as you said, I agree with you. If you only take the info from somewhere and you don't know who is, it can be the creators, it can be other people that have interest, it can be people like me that runs community and that have interest that the community continue to develop and the number of holders continue to grow.
00:49:14
Speaker
I agree on that part, but if I had to position myself, I would say that doing your own research is possible. Okay, guys, let's move on to the other one. So, what do you think about cryptocurrency or just repeating all the mistakes of the traditional markets? What do you mean exactly?
00:49:39
Speaker
I mean, in terms of every mistake, we are already so unknown on the traditional market. We can talk probably about insider, we can talk about Lehman Brothers also. Yes, I mean, every example of mistakes of the traditional market. Do you think the crypto market is
00:50:05
Speaker
I mean, have some innovation regarding the mistakes of the traditional markets? Or do you think it's just a copy past, a novel market with over assets, with new money? And yes, I mean, every past mistakes will happen again and again because history repeats. I think
00:50:34
Speaker
It's a tricky one. I mean, a lot of mistakes have been made. They're the same ones from the traditional financial system, but you've got to kind of look at the root cause of that. Is it the technology that's wrong or is it the people that are behind it? I'd go more for the latter. Obviously,
00:50:58
Speaker
Yeah, both. I mean, you've definitely got some some risk in the market, systemic risk. If one thing fails, everything kind of goes to shit. We've seen that with multiple exchanges, flash crashes. So so, yeah, but I don't know if there's been errors in I know on Bitcoin, I don't know if there's been errors on code or stuff like that in the past.
00:51:25
Speaker
I know in other projects there have been, there's been like back doors that have been put in by developers to do rug pulls and all that type of shit, which is really bad in my opinion. And so I think it's hard to see, for me, you've got to identify the root cause of the mistakes. And I think crypto is as subject, if not more subject to
00:51:54
Speaker
individual motivations and conflicts of interest through various agency problems than the traditional financial markets are. So I'd agree that the same mistakes have been made. Yeah, I agree as well. I would add also that even more mistakes are being made and that's good because
00:52:20
Speaker
When you think about it, all the traditional market system, do they have been committed in the crypto space? Maybe not, because it's pretty recent and there are some that was avoided. I don't have any specific examples in mind, but I think that if we brainstorm for 30 minutes, we can find. The point is that, of course, a lot of mistakes have been made, and I think even mistakes that were not possible
00:52:46
Speaker
have been made so it's part of the game and I agree on that one it's in all projects in all projects there are always mistakes and crypto or not crypto or technologies or not technologies
00:53:08
Speaker
The history will repeat itself in a way, and there will always be people that succeed. There will always be people that fail. And that's part of the game. Maybe some people that have failed will succeed in the future. So if I would have never failed, maybe I would not succeed today. So it's a kind of philosophical topic. And I agree on that one.
00:53:38
Speaker
I agree with that, Boris. I think one thing that's cool to know is that crypto definitely bounces back faster from its mistakes than traditional financial system. You see recoveries and solutions are found a lot faster. I don't know if that's due to the more decentralized and unregulated part of it, but
00:54:03
Speaker
crypto bounces back and fixes are found quite rapidly. Yeah, that's true. I think that's a good point and at the end, as it's a new technology, it needs to be fast because for a technology of this level of impact, it's always faster, the cycles of the technologies and it will continue to be.
00:54:27
Speaker
internet was slower to innovate than the blockchain the blockchain will be slower to innovate than the AA etc etc so the cycles will become shorter and shorter of course depending on what kind of
00:54:46
Speaker
revolution we speak about because AA cannot exist without internet so it's necessary to move on faster because it costs more money and because the knowledge available is just bigger I think okay I think that's all guys I don't know if you wanted to say something else yeah I mean we covered quite a couple
00:55:16
Speaker
unpopular opinion, common beliefs through this episode. I think it's interesting that everyone was able to give their perspective and it's good to know that it's okay to disagree or agree as long as there's arguments behind and it can be justified in a certain way. Everybody's got their own ideas and ways of thinking. So it's interesting to learn more about what you guys think on these topics and I hope people
00:55:42
Speaker
enjoyed that today as much as I did myself. Thanks. I totally agree. I think it's the point of this episode is to say that, as you said previously in another podcast about trading, Seron
00:55:58
Speaker
ourselves with people that always agree will not lead to a compulsory something good. It's not because you are always with someone that say yes to you or yeah, agree with what you say that it will lead you to your goal. So it's good to have contrary opinion as long as it's discussed and it's documented and it's feelings at the end. So everyone can feel different. It's totally okay.
00:56:28
Speaker
And I think finding a balance about these topics are important. So in any case, I think we have stated for everyone, we have said
00:56:43
Speaker
how we feel about the different topics. It's not a way to impose or to say that we possess the truth. I think every people that will listen to this episode will have a different perspective and that's what makes us richer in an intellectual way once again. So yeah, I totally agree on that one and that's why we encourage you always to not always listen to us, to listen to other people.
00:57:10
Speaker
But if you agree with us also, we will take that, of course. I totally agree with you guys. It was really interesting and I hope in the future we will be able to make a second podcast about unpopular opinion. I mean a second episode.
00:57:27
Speaker
I think we can find the offer of an unpopular opinion, talk and discuss about it. So yeah, really happy about what we discuss all along this podcast. And yeah, that's it for me.