(GSB) GoldSilverBitcoin CEO Justin O’Connell interviewed Max Keiser briefly at Bitcoin 2019, a conference in San Francisco hosted by Bitcoin Magazine.
What is surprising, novel, ironic or controversial about Bitcoin in Q2 2019?
MK: I think it’s the recognition now by mainstream analysts and media that bitcoin represents a store of value. I think that story, which we’ve been talking about for years, seemed ludicrous a few years ago. But, more and more on the institutional level they’re getting to understand that this does represent a risk-off store of value safe haven.
Bitcoin was once spoke of as electronic cash and now is there is more talk of it as a store of value. What are your thoughts?
MK: It started off talking about it mostly as payments, and after the scaling debate, it kind of emerged on the other side of that, people understanding that in the white paper, you could substitute the word gold for cash. It’s cash used as anonymous store of value, not cash as Visa. Satoshi wasn’t trying to recreate visa, he was trying to create digital gold.
What is the biggest challenge you faced in your career?
MK: The biggest challenge in my career has been crypto, because it’s so radically different than anything that has come before it. So, most of the things I learned before, while working on Wall Street, don’t apply. I’m watching Wall Street now come around to looking at bitcoin and I feel their pain.
You know, it’s very difficult to wrap your mind around what bitcoin actually is. I heard someone say something at the conference here that made a lot of sense. They were equating bitcoin with Linux. You remember Linux came around as an open source software and it more or less obliterated Unix.
Bitcoin Core developer Jeff Garzik, who also sits on the Board of the Linux Foundation, said one of the problems open source development has yet to solve is how to get developers paid. Do you have any comments on that?
MK: In the case of Bitcoin they have the mining reward every 10 minutes. So, there’s money flowing into the system, unlike Linux, which never had anything like that. So, there is a source of funds right there, how it gets distributed is another question. But, there are funds being generated.
So bitcoin is a way to reward open source developers. So I’d say this, it’s different entirely from Linux in that regard.
What’s next for Max Keiser?
MK: Well, pretty much more of the same. We hit kind of our sweet spot a few years ago where we’re traveling, going to conferences, doing shows, and doing media. So that’s pretty much what we want to do, that’s what we do. And, we don’t see any way to improve on that. We get to travel and meet people. We are obviously heavily invested in Bitcoin, and so we have the benefits from that.
Check out more Max at MaxKeiser.com
