Bitcoin’s Next Rally Could Break the Cycle | Eric Yakes

Eric Yakes (0:02)

When you invest in a monetary asset, growth begets growth. The scale and the acceptability of it makes it more valuable. So these narratives I think are bringing us to that point. And I think that we have nation states right on the horizon as that happens. We're hitting an inflection point. We're hitting an inflection point when scarcity is gone in terms of the digital world.

It's pretty much limited by the cost of energy at this point. And so under that type of an environment, you look at what are the scarcest assets that exist in that type of an economy. There's one, and that is going to change everything.

Danny Knowles (0:42)

The world becoming monochrome, isn't it? We've seen all those pictures of what McDonald's used to look like back in the 80s compared to now, and the color of cars back then.

Eric Yakes (0:50)

What does monochrome mean?

Danny Knowles (0:53)

Is it like scales of gray and white and black?

Eric Yakes (0:56)

Oh, okay. Like, yeah, everything being more, like, vibrant.

Danny Knowles (1:00)

Yeah. Even the way people dress.

Eric Yakes (1:03)

Totally. And I'm using grays now.

Danny Knowles (1:06)

All I wear is white and black.

Eric Yakes (1:07)

I'm in all grays.

Danny Knowles (1:08)

Yeah.

Eric Yakes (1:08)

I wear colors, though. I'm very much like a good accent color. I mean, I'll wear bright. A nice pocket square. A nice pocket square. Well, yeah, that's hilarious.

I could see Rob Hamilton rocking.

Danny Knowles (1:23)

He does. I saw him in New York at the Treasuries Conference.

Eric Yakes (1:26)

Maybe that's why I got cute in my brain. Big Bitcoin's got him wearing a pocket square.

Danny Knowles (1:30)

100%.

Eric Yakes (1:31)

Yeah. Yeah.

Danny Knowles (1:32)

But he's someone that's not monochrome. Did you see the picture I took of him outside PubKey? Oh, yeah, those were funny.

Eric Yakes (1:38)

The Ben Affleck meme of him.

Danny Knowles (1:39)

Yeah, yeah.

Eric Yakes (1:40)

He's dressed like Mario. Yeah.

The meme culture around Rob is evolving in a way that I... If you would have asked me this a year ago, would this meme culture around Rob evolve this way? I never would have guessed.

Danny Knowles (1:50)

Yeah, but you wouldn't have guessed he'd be the CEO of Bitcoin by now.

Eric Yakes (1:51)

I know. It's crazy how it's happened.

Danny Knowles (1:53)

He was just there at the perfect moment, and he took the mantle.

Who... The risk he has now...

I like this idea that the hero of one cycle becomes the villain of next. So you could use that with... That's interesting. You could use that with Roger Ver. Like he was Bitcoin Jesus, and then obviously everything happened. Even like... This is no hate here, but you could look at David Baylor like that a little bit. Like he was the man that got Trump into Bitcoin, like put Bitcoin into presidential elections, and then like the Nakama...

Eric Yakes (2:23)

That's a good point.

It's interesting. I wonder what underlies that kind of a dynamic. I feel like...

Danny Knowles (2:31)

It's a bit of tall poppy syndrome, I think. Well, actually... What does that mean? People fuck up, so it's not just that.

Because Roger Ver clearly got too big for his boots. But I also think there is this element in Bitcoin that's like, if someone starts being big time, they like to chop him down a little bit.

Eric Yakes (2:47)

Well, exactly. But I think that there's a fundamental argument behind that. I think it's because people are used to, as they rise hierarchies in life, you gain more momentum. The higher you are up, the greater your probability of further rising. It's almost like a Lindy version of that type thing.

And what's interesting about Bitcoin is because of its decentralized nature, it probably goes against that human element. So as people become more influential within it, it probably counteracts the ego that you get and all the hubris that emerges. And basically, the community is not even just like the people or the social culture as much as you're inevitably going to be wrong about something that will knock you down from that position.

Danny Knowles (3:38)

Yeah. And I think we also know how important it is not to have a leader. And if someone's looking too much, like they're getting too much power, like I think exactly the Bitcoin world likes to cut them down a little bit. And obviously, Saylor's not done anything that's like fucked up. But I think his people's perception of him has definitely changed for some people's perspective. What's the word?