Name: Max Keiser

Country: N/A

You have been into Bitcoin forever it seems. When did you first discover Bitcoin and what has kept you so bullish all these years? 

I invented fully convertible digital currencies in 1996. I have the first patent on one, that also includes virtual securities and virtual market-making; part of the first commercial Prediction Market - that I started up in 1996, the Hollywood Stock Exchange. Interestingly, UniSwap market making tech copies my patent. You can see that pretty easily when you read through my patent.

And so... When I was introduced to Bitcoin in 2011 by Jon Matonis on the Keiser Report, I immediately recognized its genius as having solved the centralization problem. With centralization, no digital currency can escape a gaming environment because none could effectively compete with the US government's shitcoin, the USD. Because Bitcoin is digital, decentralized and scarce, it avoids government interference. Users can hoard this perfect store of value or exchange with each other outside of any government. This means ultimately, Bitcoin can jump the cyber membrane and escape into the wild of the global economy untouched by governments or central planners. Bitcoin enjoys perfect price discovery and market-making. The price is perfect. We are not. But with Bitcoin, humans can strive for perfection, finally. 

Best Bitcoin experience and worst Bitcoin experience?

Best Bitcoin experience has been doing my LIVE BITCOIN RANTS at the Bitcoin Embassy Bar in Mexico City. Thanks to "Bitso" for arranging. Can’t wait to return.

Worst Bitcoin experience was watching Charlie Schrem get busted and jailed. This was stomach turning. Charlie and Courtney are fantastic people and this was a travesty of justice. 

Many people know you from your podcast. Tell us a little about how you got started and how it has evolved.

Stacy and I first started podcasting before the term was invented (by our friend Adam Curry). Stacy and I met in 2003 in the South of France and started doing radio shows that we uploaded. We then had a radio show for 10 years in London. We had a radio show for 2 years in Paris. About 4 months ago we started doing Orange Pill Podcast. Our first love is radio and podcasting. 

You have seen a lot of people come and go in Bitcoin. What is the biggest fail you have witnessed over the years?

Probably Rick Falkvinge. He came to Bitcoin in 2011 as head of the Pirate Party that he founded in Sweden. He then proceeded to trash his reputation by getting involved in Roger Ver’s BCH scam. It was extremely disappointing because Bitcoin has a sharp political edge and I believe the connection to the Pirate Party was fantastic and when Rick defected it was, at the time, a big disappointment.

You also invest in various Bitcoin startups. How did you get into this, and what startups are you the most excited about?

Since I started on Wall St in 1982, I’ve been investing. In 2011, at the first Bitcoin conference in Prague, Simon Dixon of Bank To The Future  and I started doing some VC investing. My first investment was in the first and only BTC VC investment available at the time, BitPay. We got into a seed round at Kraken, Shapeshift, Bitso. Kraken is up 160x so far. Jesse is the best in the business. Recently we’ve invested in CASA, SwanBitcoin and InfiniteFleet. All doing great. 

2020 has been a crazy year with covid and the lockdown of global economies? How has this helped or hurt Bitcoin?

Bitcoin doesn’t correlate with anything and it will keep going up with us or without us humans. Even an extinction event for humans won’t stop Bitcoin from going higher.

What are your thoughts about the US Federal Reserve injecting so much money into the economy because of COVID? Do you see more coming, and what implications does this have on the world?

They have no choice. It's a government guaranteed Ponzi scheme without any checks on the government printing presses. Only foreign governments can impose some sanity and order by no longer accepting USD for trade. And as more start holding and trading Bitoin, they'll dump the dollar. 

Do you believe the 2020 US election will help or hurt Bitcoin? 

If neoliberals return with Biden, Obama, Hillary, then war breaks out sooner and BTC goes up faster and higher as countries around the world say "Fuck you" to America and go long Bitcoin. Bitcoin is peace. the USD is war. 

Do you think the evolution of government regulations over digital currencies will stifle the Bitcoin economy? 

Absolutely not: It's more likely billionaire Bitcoin lobbyists will change the laws in our favor. Also, we already see a global hash war breaking out with countries actively mining and hoarding Bitcoin as a way to protect against rogue central banks and US censorship of global payment rails. 

Bitcoin just hit 16k. Where do you think we go from here? 

Bitcoin has no top because fiat money has no bottom. Remember during the Weimar Republic, the German currency went from 1:1 with Gold to a trillion to 1. This will be the story of Bitcoin. All fiat money around the world will be used as wall paper or just thrown into the garbage. During my live shows I rip up USD and other fiat money all the time. I think I've destroyed more than $20,000 so far doing this. It feels great doing so. Try it sometime.

You dabbled in shitcoins over the years. What did you learn from these experiences? 

In 2014 when Kanye West coin and Bill Murray coin appeared, two university students at Bristol University in the UK who were fans of KeiserReport created a coin they called Maxcoin. They left the project pretty quickly. One of them became a famous shitcoiner, CryptoCobain. I wasn't in on the development or ever owned any. Other than that, I covered lots of alt-coins during that shitcoin 2014 period, but once it became clear that Bitcoin was going to kill them all, I focused on Bitcoin. We skipped the ICO and DeFi scam periods completely. 

What are your thoughts on Etherium or DeFi?

Etherium is an exit scam and DeFi is repackaged ICO scams.

What do you have to say to these big wall street names that claim Bitcoin will fail? 

Like who? The biggest, most successful Wall St. names are now into Bitcoin: Paul Tudor Jones, Stan Druckenmiller. The peanuts and loudmouths like Peter Schiff will never get it, and he'll never be a major player either.

What are your thoughts on Nouriel Roubini doing a complete 180 on Bitcoin and finally seeing the light? 

Roubini's intellect finally got his ego to shut the fuck up and read the white paper. 

What is your opinion on Bitcoin Maximalists? 

The term Maximalist was made up by Vitalik to cover the fact that ETH was an exit scam and utter garbage. Because of that huge rally of alts in 2017, we created a group of temporarily rich idiots who got some media coverage. But they have all quieted down now that Bitcoin has reasserted it's dominance in such a huge way. Alts only exist to steal your bitcoin.

Why is it important to call out the bad actors in this space?

I blame Roger Ver, Craig, and Calvin, for this. By engaging in such rampant misrepresentation, as they have done, it creates a need for clarity and truthfulness. If they had just held onto BTC and STFU, we wouldn't have to waste time picking up after their messes.

Who are some of the most hardcore Bitcoiners you know and why? 

No 1 is Amir Tacki. He set the standard for going 'all in ' on Bitcoin. Saifedean Ammous wrote the textbook on Bitcoin economics, The Bitcoin Standard,  a book that will be read for 100 yrs. Michael Saylor of Microstrategy is like the Tony Stark of Bitcoin. Amazing stuff! 

What potential obstacles in the road do you think Bitcoiners need to pay attention to?

Not buying enough Bitcoin in a world of nation state and fiat money collapse.

What do you think about the development and evolution of lightning and liquid and how will these second layer solutions help Bitcoin?

Elizabeth Stark is amazing. Lightning Labs rocks. 

What are your thoughts on multisig and the innovation in Bitcoin storage options? 

I own some CASA stock. they are the best in the business. Jameson Lopp is a Bitcoin rock star.

Any tips you want to give to people new to Bitcoin? 
Use Swan Bitcoin to get started. Yes, I'm a shareholder.

Name some of your favorite information sources and/or podcasts in the space.

Coindesk blacklisted me a few years ago when they got in trouble for quoting me that more bankers should jump out of windows. So now I just watch bitcoinTV from the folks at Swan.

Any last thoughts? 

Remember, you don't change Bitcoin, Bitcoin changes you.