Adopting Bitcoin 2024, the conference, and a "number go up" week
Some tidbits, great people, links, and thoughts...
There are so many things that happened this week that I could focus on separately. But I thought it would be more fun to share photos with short stories, to give you a taste of this time in El Salvador, where the annual Adopting Bitcoin conference just finished. It is a bit of a photo diary and a bit of my thoughts about things. Ok, here we go:
So, a lot has been happening in the world and United States lately, as you certainly know. At first, the election of President Trump caused both Bitcoin and the stock market to rally. But Bitcoin did more than rally. I am not a financial advisor and for sure, I am not recommending anything to you here. But this is the first time I noticed that Bitcoin had some really strong days, while my stay-safe-in-the-world cash and stock portfolio did next to nothing and remained fairly flat after that initial rally (it probably would have gone down more and I have a few things in it that expose me to bitcoin like ETFs in my IRA and a bit of Microstrategy stock). From my own studies, this seems to demonstrate behavior from Bitcoin that might be termed “uncorrelated.” I have to say, it makes me happy as my whole goal has been to free myself from what I see as a death spiral of inflation and government monetary policy and having things that are uncorrelated with one another in their price movements just feels better to me. Now, as you can imagine, people who have studied Bitcoin, who believe it can change the world, and who, for those reasons, have purchased it and learned to custody it well (meaning did not leave it to collapse on an exchange and probably read a lot of books), are happy. Those people are tenacious. They have held on when it dropped by 50% without cringing much. Some of those people felt happy when that happened. They were happy because they saw it as a buying opportunity, and because the price did not impact their belief and understanding of it.
Others, who you might think would be happy with the price reaching all time highs, seem a bit sad. I think those are the people who know about it, or a little about it, and don’t own much.
I believe both sets were at the Adopting Bitcoin conference. The ones who don’t own much don’t say anything about wishing they had purchased more recently. And some of them simply haven’t been able to buy a lot as they, like many people in the world, are living paycheck to paycheck.
But this conference had the highest attendance ever.
I didn’t take many photos as many people who appreciate Bitcoin also feel strongly about privacy. So the photos I will share are of presenters from workshops, or of me with friends…who said it was ok to put them in this story. And I will tell you a bit about them.
Each year, John Dennehy hosts the Unconference for Mi Premier Bitcoin, a non-profit he founded to teach the world about Bitcoin. There are various speakers and the afternoon schedule is organic. People grab a microphone in the morning and have a minute to say what they have to teach or what they want to learn. Then they find others with whom to network and popular topics are put onto a formal schedule. There is loads of enthusiasm in the crowd. Their website above, in my opinion, is worthy of a look, as they are one of my favorite organizations in El Salvador. They are rapidly spreading around the world, currently offering education in 32 countries, and John, with support mostly from people like us, is managing to rally teachers and students who are as inspired as he is. He runs on an incredibly tight budget and is always grateful for donations. Everything they do is available for free. You can download their workbook from their website. Currently, they are working on curriculum, along with Lina Seiche, an excellent cartoonist and extraordinary entrepreneur that will be taught in the primary schools here in El Salvador.
This is John Dennehy, offering his opening remarks:
Next is Pablo, who works for Bull Bitcoin, in their education department. I had lunch with him and a few friends that day. I asked Pablo, and people I figured were wiser than I and knew more than me, what they thought of BlackRock and JP Morgan getting into Bitcoin recently (as I found it troubling and didn’t understand where it might lead). Pablo looked at me and said, “You know Terra, I just focus on the world I want and I don’t think about those things. I know how the world can run on Bitcoin and I believe in it. I put my energy and attention on what I want to see.” (That is not a direct quote and pretty close I think from my memory).
Pablo also talked to me about his recent baptism into Christianity. Now, I see things differently than lots of Christians do and when he said something about Adam and Eve, I asked him to elaborate as it sounded a bit man-centered to me. Plus the mansion I am staying in currently has a lot of Magdalene energy which probably also inspired me to stand up for the feminine side of things (I am a bit feisty). I listened quietly as he spoke of what the Bible said and then he said what mattered most to me: “Terra, in the end, it is all about love. God is a frequency of love. Love underpins everything. That is what is true and what is real.”
So, ultimately, where things really matter, Pablo and I agree. I no longer feel feisty.
I had an idea that he, or he and I, create a play about Bitcoin, which I mentioned to him. When I finish my book, I may pursue it as Pablo is talented and I have other friends here on Substack who I believe, would be a ton of fun to work with on that kind of project (are you listening
?).This is Pablo with me. Someone made him that little bitcoin pin in his likeness:
Then there is Vucci.
Vucci made the hat I purchased, and is also an extraordinary filmmaker. He told me he just started playing around with video and photography and it came easily to him. He taught himself. He has an incredibly high energy piece he did for the recent bitcoin conference in Nashville. He said the event organizers wouldn’t hire him, as they knew nothing about him, so he just went and started making video clips anyway, which he posted periodically. The clips were good and by the end of the conference, they changed their minds and he was paid for the short video he made, that makes you feel like you are on a roller coaster while you are watching. Here is where you can see it on Instagram.
He texted me photos of Max Keiser wearing his hat on the Alex Jones show. By the end of Adopting Bitcoin, I think he managed to sell all 100 of the limited edition caps.
We’ll continue with Marius.
He looks young to me like all the previous people I have posted here, but almost everyone looks young to me now. Marius is making a documentary on El Salvador. At the Mi Premier Bitcoin Unconference, he got up on stage and said he would like to interview people who chose to move to El Salvador. We found each other and a few days later, he interviewed me at Adopting Bitcoin. I will write about that next week.
I sent him the contact information for my friends, Rob and Sindy. They bought a homestead here I would like to go see sometime. They have coffee coming in now.
Luke Mikic was there. I have become a huge fan of his YouTube livestreams. I always learn a lot from him and find him super entertaining. I was incredibly touched when we spoke and he told me he wants to read my book when I finish it and that he will announce it to his audience. He was on a marketing panel at the conference, which was one of my favorite workshops. There was a line up of talent on that panel of whom I have now befriended three. My book will be in good hands when the time is right.
Below is Jack Sweeney, another guy from the marketing panel who runs https://www.a21.digital/. Jack said he was teaching a class on how to make a website using AI in 45 minutes. He challenged me to bring my computer the next day and give it a shot. In the end, I held up my end of the bargain, but the internet did not. So I watched Jack do his thing on the big screen in front of me and realized I would never have been able to keep up anyway. On a break, he gave me a short lesson on memes (which left me behind like an old tree). I now know they are not copyright protected, what website I can go to make one, and tried to make one myself, which was really a photo with some words on it that I posted here on Substack like a kid that just wrote the first letter of their name. I am not sure anyone saw it and if they did, it probably left them scratching their head, and the whole thing was fun. Cheers to Jack Sweeney.
Let’s finish by going out of the box on a few things. Since I have already deviated strongly from my regular posts, we might as well go all the way don’t you think?
And, yes, a lot of people I met who I find incredibly inspiring are a lot younger than me. I think about that sometimes. This Wednesday, twenty two year old Mira is coming to see me with a painting she has created for me. She is an artist, meaning this is her chosen vocation in life. And she has spent days making this as a gift for me. My life is full of many younger people here lately. I guess I could feel old or curious why there aren’t more people my own age in my life recently (and there are some for sure). Somehow though, all these inspiring “younglings” make me tremendously happy. They give me hope. Maybe that is why I find myself chatting with them and learning things from them. Plus it is fun to surprise them a little bit. I think I am a little out of the box for them too. When I told Jack I thought he would enjoy a trip to the ACME Wand company he turned his head sideways, looked at me and said, “Seriously?” Then he looked it up. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jack finds himself with his own magic wand sooner than he thinks. I explained how I feel they are best used for simple prayer, and not to point it at things indiscriminately.
So now let’s finish with a new friend of mine, Christopher, who has moved to El Salvador from Canada. The first time I met him was a couple of days after coming to the city. I went to the Thursday chess club at the Black Lilly, where I hoped to learn strategy. Christopher showed up and started playing next to me. The guy had style, especially energetically, and was wearing a really nice jacket he said he got from a friend. Then I overheard him mention that he was busy “cleansing”. Since I was juice fasting, my radar went up and part of me started listening to what he was saying, while still trying to beat the deceptively smiling shark across the table giggling at me. I heard words like “bone broth” and then, (and this is what both endeared him to me and sparked my curiosity), he spoke of coffee enemas. I have never experienced a coffee enema and I have read of them. I thought it was pretty ballsy of him to bring that up in a group of newbies.
Something about me must have caught his attention as well as he was interested in meeting so we could discuss what might be our similar interests. A few days later he came up to the mansion to tell me more about himself and his company.
He is not yet thirty. However, in his early twenties he started his first business as he didn’t want his successful parents telling him what he could and couldn’t do and rewarding his behavior with Ferraris. He and his friend started a business together on their own and soon after, were pulling in a million dollars in revenue. I knew the young man was smart when he started quoting a book by Dan Sullivan to Sawyer, a young man renting a room here as well. I knew who Dan Sullivan was. He hung out with Joe Polish and those men were incredibly well known for successful business and marketing strategies.
When Covid hit, Christopher once again held his own against his family when it came to vaccines. At one point, he said they tried covert and not so covert strategies to jab him for his own good, as they believed. They may have tried shoving him into a car like someone who needed an intervention. I am not certain. Meanwhile, Christopher was concerned by what he saw happening in Canada, so he started a new company focused on marketing called MindShift Studios. He listed the names of many people who were involved in protests in Canada. The list included the trucker convoy. Christopher helped them all. He was not doing it for money, but because he believed in opposing what he saw happening.
Eventually, (and I don’t remember why or what happened), he agreed to listen to his family, which led to him getting two vaccines, and later led him to trying to heal from them with bone broth and coffee enemas.
He smiles and sparkles at me across the table and tells me, “Terra, it is important to enjoy and love every day we are here.” He told me he has a church he likes to attend on Sundays.
I think he will market my book for me.
There is more though…a little out of the box and if I have not triggered some of you with screen shots of Alex Jones, or trucker convoys, then just wait…
Christopher also seemed to know about symbols. There is a lovely geometric shape in the entry way to this house. Somehow, maybe mentioning that, led to talking about world domination, the Masons, and symbolism used covertly. He told me he would watch a Julia Roberts movie with me and point out all the Masonic things in it.
So, the next night, Christopher arrived back at the mansion to teach me. Our lesson began as we started watching the movie called Leave the World Behind and pausing it to discuss things. I asked enough questions in the first few minutes, that Christopher let go of the movie idea and found a five hour YouTube video that he fast forwarded through to show me things people in a so-called elite groups do to let other members know that they are on the same team. It was interesting and troubling. What really hit home for me was Christopher’s description of the outlook of these people as being a religion of sorts. My grandfather was a Mason, part of a secret society that I now know has initiation rites and something like levels referred to “degrees.” I still have to watch the movie, and more of the video, and I plan to. It is good to be aware of such things and not always safe. Christopher told me a diplomat has already told him that he knew too much for his own good. But Christopher is moving forward with his life, living joyfully, engaged, and doing what he can to create the world he wants to live in. Just like Pablo.
It has been a big week.
*(I decided to add this extra piece to my update after making the audio above and below is a photo of the flag of El Salvador. I got interested in symbols after talking to Christopher and asked a young, shamanic friend of mine here what he felt the pyramid in the middle of the flag and the other symbols stood for.)
He and I communicate through GoogleTranslate, so these words are Google’s version of what he said:
There is a representation of the mountain range of volcanoes in our country and above, like a little cap, there is a natural lighthouse that can be seen from within the sea. The original name of this place is Nekepio and it is a place with a lot of energy. Originally, all around it is said God, union and freedom.
The pyramid represents the integration of all the elements in one place
Everything inside water, earth, fire and air
The subconscious does not understand arguments or words, its way of understanding is through symbols and from there the mind begins to create, this is how we have been controlled. This is also how Hellinger's archetypes work.
—Pheps Blanco
(Bert Hellinger is the founder of Family Constellation work, which evolved from his experience with the tribes he visited in Africa, and how they worked with group and individual family fields).
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Somethings definitely going on with Bitcoin! I’ve seen lots of folks head out of Canada just like Christopher on a similar mission. Thanks so much for sharing. I’m trying to buy low and sell high best I can in all the spaces between the words. Bless you Terra. 🙏❤️
Wow Terra!! You're meeting so many interesting people!!
Christopher's story is very interesting. As a fellow Canadian I love hearing how others have made the move successfully.
As the string of grey days here grows longer, I find myself as a plant reaching for the sun....💛