S1 E4 Remastered: Omar Faridi on Bitcoin in Pakistan, Brain Drain & the Case for Moderate Thinking

The 2019 conversation with fellow crypto journalist colleague Omar Faridi is now remastered: featuring Bitcoin in Pakistan, the Petro scam, brain drain economics, and why nothing is absolutely good or bad.

Time stamps: 0:00 - Intro 0:46 - Remaster Notes: The Crypto Insider Colleague 2:29 - Somewhat Jealous of the Five-Article Days 4:01 - Sponsor Shoutout: Helen's Pizza in Jersey City 5:25 - The Original Recording: January 2019 6:12 - Omar Faridi: Crypto Journalist in Pakistan 7:47 - The State of Bitcoin in Pakistan 9:02 - Misinformation, Education & the $400 Salary 10:05 - The Exchange the State Bank Shut Down 11:08 - Potcoin: Pakistan's Own Cryptocurrency ($34,000 Market Cap) 11:53 - The School Owner Who Had Never Heard of Crypto 13:17 - How Free Is Pakistan? A Parliamentary Republic 15:33 - Voting for Parties, Not Presidents 18:06 - Freedom vs. Quality of Life 19:09 - LocalBitcoins & the Day Trader Who Bought From Omar 21:29 - How Free Are You on a Scale of 1 to 10? 23:32 - Freedom House Says "Not Free." Omar Disagrees 25:11 - Telegram Is Blocked, VPNs Work Fine 26:39 - Would They Block Bitcoin Mining? 28:42 - The Enforcement Problem: Corruption as a Feature 30:05 - People Are Stealing Electricity 31:32 - Could Bitcoin Give Pakistan a Kickstart in World Capitalism? 33:20 - The Stability Argument: Why Volatility Kills Merchant Adoption 35:40 - Alena Vranova's Embargo Bypass Thesis 38:04 - The Petro: Venezuela's Dishonest Cryptocurrency 41:30 - The Reuters Investigation: No Evidence of Use 43:14 - Sanctions, Desperation & Who Really Suffers 45:05 - Why Venezuelans Prefer Bitcoin to Bolivars and Dollars 46:50 - ICOs, Central Points of Failure & the Network Effect 48:29 - Putin's Cryptocurrency Speech & Digital Resources 50:02 - McDonald's as Political Ambassador: The Big Mac Theory 52:04 - Is the Big Mac Actually Better? 54:39 - Ethereum Classic's 51% Attack & Network Security 56:00 - Constantinople: The Hard Fork That Almost Happened 59:01 - Why Omar Trusts Ethereum Developers 1:00:36 - Vlad's Critique: Premine, DAO Fork & Arbitrary Changes 1:03:46 - Bitcoin vs. Ethereum: Different Use Cases 1:06:24 - The Austrian Economics Friend & the Broken System 1:08:46 - Rubini, Stiglitz & the Ponzi Narrative 1:10:03 - SegWit, Schnorr, Lightning & Blockstream Satellites 1:12:20 - Time Magazine: "Bitcoin Is a Guarantee of Liberty" 1:13:36 - Omar's Rebuttal: Nobody Cares About Schnorr Signatures 1:15:15 - Roger Ver, Bitcoin Cash & the Simplicity Argument 1:17:21 - DigiByte, Dogecoin & the Gateway Drug Theory 1:19:18 - The 50% Supply Problem: Worse Than a Central Bank 1:21:20 - The Gym Analogy: Altcoins as Training Wheels 1:22:46 - Omar's Moderate Manifesto: Nothing Is Absolutely Good or Bad 1:25:02 - Rubini Is Not Always Right: Use Your Own Brain 1:26:31 - Brain Drain Omar: The Name Explained 1:28:56 - Romania's Brain Drain: Second Only to Syria 1:31:35 - The Chinese Neighborhood Outside Bucharest 1:34:28 - The Internet Changed Everything 1:37:25 - Jobs That Didn't Exist: The New Economy 1:39:19 - Why Vlad Recommended Omar for Crypto Insider 1:42:54 - The First Email: Bulky Equipment & "It's So Easy" 1:44:56 - Stuart Haber Invented Blockchain Before Satoshi 1:46:41 - Coming Full Circle: From Local to Global 1:49:10 - The Orwellian Alternative 1:51:42 - Privacy Coins Will Have a Market 1:54:06 - Decentralized Exchanges & IP Tracking 1:55:04 - Where to Find Omar Faridi 1:56:44 - Closing: The Bitcoin Takeover Continues