🎙️ My guest today is Eric Stacks, a former cannabis producer turned passionate Bitcoin advocate. From his early life shaped by familial challenges to his pivot into Bitcoin after witnessing the inefficiencies of the fiat system, Eric has developed a deep understanding of economic incentives, free markets, and the promise of Bitcoin. Eric shares how his journey began with mistrust of the pharmaceutical industry, leading him to cannabis production and eventually to Bitcoin as a solution to the systemic flaws he observed. His unique insights connect the dots between free-market deflation, economic Darwinism, and Bitcoin’s potential to incentivize ethical behavior while punishing dishonesty. He explains how Bitcoin redefines property rights, empowers individuals, and offers a path to a more sustainable global economy. We also discussed El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption, governments under a Bitcoin standard, and what a new monetary system would look like. Eric’s vision of an after-Bitcoin world is filled with hope, optimism, and practical strategies for how to navigate the changes ahead. This episode was filmed in El Salvador in Nov. 2024.
This episode is also on Twitter, Spotify, Fountain, Rumble and more.
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We talked about:
00:00 Coming Up…
01:11 Introduction to Eric & His Background
06:50 From Cannabis & Real Estate to Bitcoin
16:20 Business Consulting & Putting Bitcoin on the Balance Sheet
18:17 The Fiat Paradigm, Patents, and Misaligned Incentives
22:17 The Paradigm of “You’ll Own Nothing & Be Happy”
28:36 Coming Out of “Scumbaggery”: A Rotten System
36:56 Economic Darwinism: Bitcoin in Politics & Institutional Takeover
44:58 KYC Bitcoin, Privacy & Anonymity
48:52 El Salvador's Bitcoin Journey & Relocation Opportunity
57:29 Deflation Is The Natural State of a Free Market
1:06:12 The Silent Revolution of Bitcoin: Hope and Ethics
1:18:57 The Future of The Monetary System on a Bitcoin Standard
1:21:38 Final Thoughts
My takeaways:
The natural state of a free market is deflation, but fiat distorts this reality.
The incentives baked into the fiat system encourage corruption, monopolies, and economic extraction.
Bitcoin is the first truly incorruptible, engineered money in human history.
Owning Bitcoin provides the highest level of financial sovereignty and optionality.
Bitcoin exposes dishonest market participants and rewards those who act with integrity.
The greed enabled by the fiat system is being replaced by a fairer, more transparent economic system under a Bitcoin standard which forces cooperation instead of coercion.
El Salvador’s Bitcoin experiment proves that economic prosperity follows property rights protection.
Bitcoin is not just an asset—it’s a fundamental shift in how humans store and exchange value.
Holding Bitcoin is the best way to hedge against monetary debasement and fiat-induced wealth erosion.
Incentives drive behavior, and Bitcoin’s fixed supply reshapes how people interact with money.
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