My guest today is Ian Gaines. Ian is the Government Relations Assistant Director for The Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) in Washington D.C. COSSA is a nonprofit advocacy organization working to promote and advance the social and behavioral sciences in federal policymaking. Ian has worked with Black Bitcoin Billionaires, Bitcoin Policy Institute, and is co-authoring a book, writing a chapter focusing on economic empowerment. Needless to say, he has played a huge part in a lot of behind the scenes policy work regarding bitcoin in the U.S. In this conversation Ian shares his personal bitcoin journey, provides historical context around financial alternatives needed for marginalized communities in the US, discusses assumptions some progressives have about bitcoin, emphasizes the importance of free speech principles, and touches on upcoming crypto policy/legislation and needed research on bitcoin's real-world societal impact.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuwzqHXpeuU 

COSSA: https://cossa.org/ 

Black Bitcoin Billionaires: https://www.blackbitcoinbillionaire.com/ 

Bitcoin Policy Institute: https://www.btcpolicy.org/ 

 

Ian Gaines

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NatureofG
  

Trey Walsh 

https://nostree.me/Trey@progressivebitcoiner.com 

 

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Start  

00:01 Intro

00:02 Ian's bitcoin journey

00:07 Historical context   

00:12 Financial alternatives

00:19 Real world impact

00:24 Sponsor break

00:25 Unbanked in the US

00:31 Assumptions about bitcoin

00:38 Free speech principles  

00:46 Having honest conversations

00:50 Slippery slope of censorship  

00:56 Values from the left

01:00:00 Cultural shift

01:07:00 Bitcoin and national security  

01:13:00 Research on bitcoin's impact

01:19:00 Do you think there's a problem?

01:25:00 Making bitcoin accessible

01:27:00 Where is policy moving?

01:31:00 Outro

 

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