CD138: HONORING HAL WITH FRAN FINNEY

WEBVTT

NOTE
Transcription provided by Podhome.fm
Created: 8/29/2024 1:20:25 AM
Duration: 5058.388
Channels: 1

1
00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:06.899
We're just revealing your proposal for a strategic Bitcoin

2
00:00:07.279 --> 00:00:09.540
reserve, and I think hoping for,

3
00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:15.299
a substantive sort of feedback period here between now and the end of the year. How's that going?

4
00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:17.404
Well, it's going really well.

5
00:00:17.865 --> 00:00:18.925
We had proposed

6
00:00:19.705 --> 00:00:21.244
that we use

7
00:00:21.945 --> 00:00:23.085
our gold certificates,

8
00:00:23.865 --> 00:00:25.564
bring mark them to market,

9
00:00:26.585 --> 00:00:30.605
sell them for US dollars, invest US dollars in Bitcoin,

10
00:00:31.770 --> 00:00:32.510
store it

11
00:00:33.290 --> 00:00:34.910
untouched for 20

12
00:00:35.450 --> 00:00:36.270
years, and

13
00:00:36.650 --> 00:00:40.750
a 1,000,000 Bitcoin would reduce our current debt in half.

14
00:00:41.690 --> 00:00:42.190
So,

15
00:00:42.650 --> 00:00:46.910
it is a play to back the US dollar. It's also a play to

16
00:00:49.045 --> 00:00:54.025
make sure that our debt is being retired and having a strategy for it.

17
00:00:54.405 --> 00:00:58.345
So I continue to visit with members of the senate about that

18
00:00:58.885 --> 00:00:59.385
concept.

19
00:01:00.150 --> 00:01:03.370
We know this is something that's not ready for 2024

20
00:01:03.910 --> 00:01:05.130
prime time legislation,

21
00:01:05.990 --> 00:01:07.450
but it will be in 2025.

22
00:01:41.965 --> 00:01:43.265
What is up, freaks?

23
00:01:44.925 --> 00:01:46.705
It's your host, Odell, here

24
00:01:47.485 --> 00:01:49.105
for another Citadel Dispatch,

25
00:01:49.725 --> 00:01:50.465
the interactive

26
00:01:50.845 --> 00:01:54.545
live show focused on actionable Bitcoin and Freedom Tech discussion.

27
00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:58.340
Today's date is August 28,

28
00:01:59.280 --> 00:01:59.780
2024.

29
00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:03.460
It's a Wednesday. It's a Bitcoin Wednesday.

30
00:02:05.600 --> 00:02:07.780
Today is the the 10 year anniversary

31
00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:08.980
of prolific

32
00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:10.340
Bitcoin contributor,

33
00:02:11.005 --> 00:02:11.745
Hal Finney,

34
00:02:12.925 --> 00:02:15.825
of his death in August 28, 2014.

35
00:02:16.765 --> 00:02:20.145
I'm humbly joined here by his wife, Fran Finney.

36
00:02:21.325 --> 00:02:22.625
Welcome to the show, Fran.

37
00:02:23.100 --> 00:02:24.800
Matt, thank you for having me.

38
00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:28.080
And, yes, today is a is a very

39
00:02:29.820 --> 00:02:30.320
different

40
00:02:30.860 --> 00:02:33.920
and special in a not very good way

41
00:02:34.220 --> 00:02:35.180
day for me.

42
00:02:35.980 --> 00:02:38.160
It's nice. It's really nice to see

43
00:02:38.585 --> 00:02:45.805
this date being used as a way to commemorate Hal as opposed to something else. I I do appreciate that very much.

44
00:02:48.665 --> 00:02:49.165
Well,

45
00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:51.260
I know,

46
00:02:51.959 --> 00:02:53.340
I know this must be

47
00:02:53.640 --> 00:02:55.980
a incredibly difficult day for you.

48
00:02:57.720 --> 00:03:06.255
So it does mean a lot to us all that you're joining us. I just the pause there was I was having a technical difficulty, but it looks like our live chat is coming through. So,

49
00:03:07.295 --> 00:03:08.515
it's an honor to have

50
00:03:09.695 --> 00:03:10.195
hopefully,

51
00:03:10.735 --> 00:03:12.515
hundreds of Bitcoiners join us,

52
00:03:13.055 --> 00:03:14.035
for this conversation.

53
00:03:16.335 --> 00:03:17.635
Before we get started,

54
00:03:19.739 --> 00:03:22.640
just a little brief context on your husband

55
00:03:23.980 --> 00:03:31.120
and just a a tiny bit into his contributions to Bitcoin because it's really hard to do more than just scratch the surface

56
00:03:31.875 --> 00:03:34.135
without going on an incredible monologue.

57
00:03:34.915 --> 00:03:39.255
But Hal is believed to be the 2nd ever Bitcoiner after Satoshi.

58
00:03:40.675 --> 00:03:41.335
He received,

59
00:03:41.715 --> 00:03:43.735
the first Bitcoin transaction ever

60
00:03:44.250 --> 00:03:46.270
a few days after Bitcoin was created,

61
00:03:46.650 --> 00:03:48.030
from Satoshi himself.

62
00:03:48.570 --> 00:03:49.710
That was 10 Bitcoin.

63
00:03:51.610 --> 00:03:55.950
To the great mathematicians that are listening now, that's equivalent of of $600,000,

64
00:03:56.970 --> 00:03:57.950
but it was worth

65
00:03:58.655 --> 00:04:00.115
not even a penny back then.

66
00:04:01.295 --> 00:04:03.555
And how how almost immediately

67
00:04:04.575 --> 00:04:11.040
saw what the value of of the Bitcoin project could be and what it could mean to the world. It's it's quite astounding if you go back

68
00:04:11.760 --> 00:04:15.219
and you read as many foreign posts. I mean, he had the first tweet ever

69
00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:17.699
about Bitcoin when he said running Bitcoin.

70
00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:28.595
As early as 2,010, 2009, he said this project could be the future reserve currency of the world. It could be the future currency of the world. It could be worth 1,000,000 of dollars.

71
00:04:29.615 --> 00:04:32.995
It could it could provide freedom to millions of people.

72
00:04:34.415 --> 00:04:35.875
And it's just quite astounding

73
00:04:38.940 --> 00:04:42.640
how well he seemed to have seen it in such an early days.

74
00:04:44.460 --> 00:04:46.720
You know, what was that 15 years ago?

75
00:04:47.260 --> 00:04:48.000
And also,

76
00:04:48.940 --> 00:04:51.600
it's just incredibly difficult to overstate,

77
00:04:52.715 --> 00:04:55.695
his his many contributions to the space. I mean,

78
00:04:56.235 --> 00:04:58.895
some might think that Bitcoin is inevitable now.

79
00:05:00.075 --> 00:05:02.895
But back then, it was definitely not inevitable.

80
00:05:03.195 --> 00:05:04.014
And it

81
00:05:04.395 --> 00:05:06.655
is easy to think of Bitcoin as a

82
00:05:07.550 --> 00:05:09.010
as a software project.

83
00:05:11.870 --> 00:05:16.210
But, ultimately, it's a movement of individuals and it relies on on these people

84
00:05:17.150 --> 00:05:21.410
pushing forward and and and making this movement a reality.

85
00:05:21.895 --> 00:05:22.634
And Hal

86
00:05:22.935 --> 00:05:23.435
was

87
00:05:23.974 --> 00:05:26.474
one of the very first to do that. So,

88
00:05:27.175 --> 00:05:28.955
I just wanted to start it off with

89
00:05:30.455 --> 00:05:32.155
that I have huge respect,

90
00:05:33.175 --> 00:05:34.074
for your husband.

91
00:05:34.700 --> 00:05:36.800
That's an honor and privilege to have you here,

92
00:05:37.340 --> 00:05:39.440
and I have huge respect for

93
00:05:40.300 --> 00:05:41.200
you pushing

94
00:05:41.740 --> 00:05:42.880
forward his ideas

95
00:05:43.340 --> 00:05:43.840
and,

96
00:05:46.540 --> 00:05:47.440
and his memory

97
00:05:48.805 --> 00:05:50.025
in order to try

98
00:05:50.485 --> 00:05:52.905
and make the world a better place. So thank you, Fran.

99
00:05:53.764 --> 00:05:54.905
Matt, thank you.

100
00:05:56.325 --> 00:05:56.825
Yeah.

101
00:05:57.445 --> 00:06:01.065
I have to say that I'm so heartened and and so

102
00:06:02.030 --> 00:06:03.730
amazed and encouraged by

103
00:06:04.510 --> 00:06:07.170
the support that I do get from the Bitcoin community.

104
00:06:08.830 --> 00:06:09.970
It it's been

105
00:06:11.230 --> 00:06:11.730
truly

106
00:06:12.510 --> 00:06:14.770
amazing and and very and

107
00:06:15.485 --> 00:06:19.585
I really have great hopes that this community can continue to

108
00:06:20.765 --> 00:06:23.585
make important have important impact on

109
00:06:24.125 --> 00:06:26.705
on the world as as we move forward

110
00:06:27.725 --> 00:06:28.865
on a lot of things.

111
00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:36.700
Wonderful. Well, we have plenty to talk about, and I'm really looking forward to this conversation.

112
00:06:37.400 --> 00:06:44.060
But before we get started, I think it would be great to have a moment of silence for Hal. So I hope all of you listening and friend

113
00:06:44.675 --> 00:06:47.255
join me in this moment of silence. Thank you.

114
00:07:51.010 --> 00:07:58.070
I thought about waiting a whole bitcoin block in honor of Hal. I felt like that would be fitting, but we'll have to settle for a minute.

115
00:08:00.610 --> 00:08:01.430
So, Fran,

116
00:08:03.410 --> 00:08:03.910
when,

117
00:08:04.495 --> 00:08:17.395
if you don't mind me asking, like, when did I mean, Hal told the was was kind of telling the whole world about Bitcoin. Did did he first start discussing it with you early on? Did he mention that he was interested in this crazy software project?

118
00:08:18.169 --> 00:08:20.030
Well, he's always been,

119
00:08:21.770 --> 00:08:25.610
interested in the this kind of potential for

120
00:08:26.569 --> 00:08:27.629
I would say that,

121
00:08:28.169 --> 00:08:31.930
of course, Bitcoin didn't have a name, Bitcoin, but he he talked to me,

122
00:08:32.955 --> 00:08:35.615
about a lot of his ideas about making,

123
00:08:36.075 --> 00:08:37.855
changing the way that currency was,

124
00:08:41.515 --> 00:08:49.699
changing the monetary system. I I have to say I'm not very technical. So I was very aware of his excitement and his interest and

125
00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:59.175
his realizing there was a potential to change things. I didn't really understand it though. But, that was back in the nineties when he was already talking about things in that vein,

126
00:08:59.795 --> 00:09:01.254
way before anything

127
00:09:01.954 --> 00:09:02.935
became Bitcoin.

128
00:09:04.035 --> 00:09:07.574
I remember late nineties, 97, 98, he was talking about

129
00:09:09.954 --> 00:09:10.454
related

130
00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:19.579
programming and and changes in how he could make things work with and and I can't talk to you about that, Matt, because I'm so nontechnical.

131
00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:22.779
But I I would say this was something that wasn't

132
00:09:24.745 --> 00:09:26.525
2009. This was at least,

133
00:09:27.465 --> 00:09:29.725
over 10 years prior he was

134
00:09:30.265 --> 00:09:30.765
into

135
00:09:31.785 --> 00:09:34.525
thinking about how something like this could happen.

136
00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:45.540
Yeah. Fair enough. I mean, I think and you bring you bring up a good point there, which is that a lot of people, you know, falsely believe that just Bitcoin came out of nowhere.

137
00:09:46.640 --> 00:09:49.060
But there was decades of precursor projects,

138
00:09:50.875 --> 00:09:57.375
and hundreds of people that were working on them and trying to tackle this problem, before Bitcoin was released to the world.

139
00:09:58.315 --> 00:09:58.815
So

140
00:10:00.715 --> 00:10:06.495
and and how how is one of those people intimately involved with a lot of those projects and and watching them grow?

141
00:10:08.970 --> 00:10:09.470
So,

142
00:10:09.850 --> 00:10:11.150
I mean, I don't know.

143
00:10:12.730 --> 00:10:13.470
And and

144
00:10:14.490 --> 00:10:17.150
and while we're on, I mean, while we're on the Bitcoin topic,

145
00:10:20.105 --> 00:10:25.405
do you what's what's your relationship with Bitcoin today? Like, how do you think about Bitcoin today?

146
00:10:28.745 --> 00:10:37.680
I like to think of it as being something that is world changing. Something I don't like to think of it as an investment when people talk about Bitcoin in terms of investment and value.

147
00:10:38.060 --> 00:10:39.680
I think that's that's so

148
00:10:40.300 --> 00:10:45.840
such a small part of what Bitcoin can be. Bitcoin can be something that can change the way

149
00:10:47.180 --> 00:10:48.000
can equalize,

150
00:10:50.035 --> 00:10:52.375
people around the world can can make

151
00:10:52.755 --> 00:10:59.095
it so that things can be I like the transparency of the transactions. I like the fact that it's it can be

152
00:10:59.475 --> 00:11:01.475
not controlled by a,

153
00:11:01.875 --> 00:11:04.615
by a government. I I've, but still,

154
00:11:07.850 --> 00:11:08.990
I guess philosophically,

155
00:11:09.450 --> 00:11:12.430
I'd like it to be utilized for the good and

156
00:11:13.529 --> 00:11:14.670
and not for

157
00:11:15.050 --> 00:11:16.190
people's personal

158
00:11:16.649 --> 00:11:17.149
selfish

159
00:11:17.529 --> 00:11:21.495
gain. But I think of it as something big rather than just an investment.

160
00:11:22.035 --> 00:11:23.155
And it's and it's,

161
00:11:25.875 --> 00:11:27.255
potential to do things

162
00:11:29.075 --> 00:11:31.815
in in more in towards the good rather than

163
00:11:33.350 --> 00:11:41.290
just give giving people you know, I'm such a bad talker, Matt. I can't I can't, Right. You're doing great. Yeah. Yeah.

164
00:11:42.470 --> 00:11:48.955
I think I think I think of it as having a lot of potential to change the world in a good way. Let's just leave it at that.

165
00:11:49.975 --> 00:11:59.115
Well, I think a lot of us would agree with you. I I think one of the most fascinating things about Hal was that he kind of understood both aspects. Right? He kind of understood,

166
00:12:01.095 --> 00:12:06.280
he kind understood the power of the power of good that this project could could bring about,

167
00:12:07.140 --> 00:12:08.660
while also at the same time

168
00:12:09.540 --> 00:12:10.920
would literally very,

169
00:12:12.420 --> 00:12:13.320
very succinctly.

170
00:12:13.780 --> 00:12:16.680
I mean, he was just he was calling for $1,000,000 Bitcoin

171
00:12:17.355 --> 00:12:19.055
in 2,009, 2010,

172
00:12:21.275 --> 00:12:25.135
which is, you know, even if if if I was to go live today

173
00:12:25.835 --> 00:12:28.505
and say that Bitcoin was gonna be a $1,000,000,

174
00:12:29.550 --> 00:12:32.210
they're they're, like, 1,000,000,000 of people would laugh me out of the room.

175
00:12:33.150 --> 00:12:33.650
But

176
00:12:34.190 --> 00:12:36.450
but he was saying this in 2,010,009

177
00:12:37.390 --> 00:12:39.890
publicly, which is a crazy and that's just

178
00:12:40.990 --> 00:12:41.650
I just,

179
00:12:43.405 --> 00:12:45.425
it's something that just blows my mind.

180
00:12:45.965 --> 00:12:55.185
But at the same time, I think he was intimately aware of of the power of of freedom money, essentially, this idea that people could spend and save without permission.

181
00:12:56.365 --> 00:12:56.865
And

182
00:12:58.060 --> 00:12:58.560
it's,

183
00:12:59.899 --> 00:13:10.720
exactly. Yeah. Yeah. You you you kinda have to take both you have to take both at the same time. One requires the other, which is one of the hard parts for for people to comprehend about Bitcoin.

184
00:13:11.555 --> 00:13:14.055
You know, while I I I feel like it's important,

185
00:13:15.075 --> 00:13:15.735
to mention

186
00:13:16.675 --> 00:13:17.175
Hal's,

187
00:13:18.115 --> 00:13:19.975
early insight into the potential

188
00:13:20.595 --> 00:13:22.615
for massive Bitcoin price appreciation,

189
00:13:23.235 --> 00:13:25.415
I do want to make very clear

190
00:13:27.820 --> 00:13:28.320
that

191
00:13:29.020 --> 00:13:30.720
you are not you know,

192
00:13:31.420 --> 00:13:36.320
neither neither you nor Hal were really able to benefit from any of that,

193
00:13:37.980 --> 00:13:41.040
you know, Bitcoin's massive price appreciation over the years.

194
00:13:41.705 --> 00:13:45.325
Even I think Hal said early days that that 10 Bitcoin,

195
00:13:46.105 --> 00:13:49.965
he might have I I think he might have even said publicly that he lost those 10 Bitcoin.

196
00:13:51.225 --> 00:13:51.725
But,

197
00:13:52.425 --> 00:14:03.140
I know you have been harassed in the past, in regards to people thinking that you have large amounts of Bitcoin. And unfortunately, I would say unfortunately, that's not the case because I think me and many other Bitcoiners

198
00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:06.340
wish you had more Bitcoin than Michael Saylor.

199
00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:09.220
And I will just say that straight up, but

200
00:14:09.845 --> 00:14:12.345
that is not the case. So I want that to be very clear.

201
00:14:13.605 --> 00:14:16.585
So, Fran, also before we continue on,

202
00:14:17.285 --> 00:14:18.905
you recently had an injury,

203
00:14:19.765 --> 00:14:21.705
so you will be turning off your camera,

204
00:14:22.165 --> 00:14:24.105
briefly throughout this conversation.

205
00:14:25.560 --> 00:14:34.540
Do you wanna share anything about that injury? Or Oh, sure. Sure. I I guess I I'd like to share it in a in a sense to draw to,

206
00:14:35.160 --> 00:14:36.380
our to the

207
00:14:36.759 --> 00:14:37.259
annual

208
00:14:37.935 --> 00:14:39.155
running for Bitcoin.

209
00:14:39.935 --> 00:14:43.795
We have a a Bitcoin running Bitcoin challenge every year. And

210
00:14:44.335 --> 00:14:44.835
so,

211
00:14:45.455 --> 00:14:49.155
it's gonna have an impact on how I participate this year, but I'm using

212
00:14:50.060 --> 00:14:53.279
that challenge as a way to motivate me to get active again.

213
00:14:53.580 --> 00:14:55.360
But but back in May, I

214
00:14:55.740 --> 00:14:56.140
was,

215
00:14:57.899 --> 00:14:58.399
very

216
00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:00.000
unfortunate

217
00:15:00.540 --> 00:15:01.760
in falling,

218
00:15:03.180 --> 00:15:05.360
from a hanging position and

219
00:15:05.735 --> 00:15:06.394
I did

220
00:15:06.695 --> 00:15:07.355
a complex,

221
00:15:07.975 --> 00:15:08.714
a compound

222
00:15:09.334 --> 00:15:12.475
displaced fracture in my femur. And it was a pretty serious one.

223
00:15:13.014 --> 00:15:14.634
I was real I'm very

224
00:15:15.095 --> 00:15:25.120
grateful that the people who took care of me and got me to the hospital were able to keep my circulation going and keep my nerves going. So I'm going to have normal circulation and feeling in that leg.

225
00:15:26.060 --> 00:15:30.080
The knee was injured and this has been 3 months now and I'm still

226
00:15:32.045 --> 00:15:36.225
working on walking without an assistive device right now.

227
00:15:37.485 --> 00:15:44.625
So it's kind of, it's been a slow process. I'm gonna be seeing the doctor in November and possibly having another surgery.

228
00:15:45.529 --> 00:15:48.829
But it's, it's doing well. And it actually

229
00:15:49.290 --> 00:15:56.509
only draws home to me the fact that I am getting better every day. I'm learning how I'm I'm getting stronger every day.

230
00:15:56.970 --> 00:16:15.290
And even if I don't get back to running the way I was running prior to the injury, I'm going to be continuing to improve. And the contrast between that and how with his ALS over the time that he suffered from it is is huge. I mean every time I start to feel a little bit bad about my injury

231
00:16:15.990 --> 00:16:17.450
I think about how

232
00:16:18.550 --> 00:16:19.050
how

233
00:16:19.990 --> 00:16:21.290
had to adapt

234
00:16:21.829 --> 00:16:22.329
constantly

235
00:16:22.870 --> 00:16:30.695
to losing more and more. I'll talk about ALS at some point. I'll just finish up the part about my injury. I would say that I'm very

236
00:16:32.515 --> 00:16:35.015
aware of that though. I'm aware that

237
00:16:35.395 --> 00:16:38.295
I'm getting better and even if it takes me

238
00:16:39.529 --> 00:16:40.350
a year

239
00:16:41.529 --> 00:16:42.110
to be

240
00:16:42.889 --> 00:16:45.550
doing where getting where I'm going to get,

241
00:16:45.930 --> 00:16:49.310
that's fine. And the fact that I keep improving is amazing.

242
00:16:49.689 --> 00:16:50.089
It's,

243
00:16:51.545 --> 00:16:54.685
it's work, and it's frustrating, but it's

244
00:16:55.385 --> 00:16:57.644
it really is amazing, and I feel really

245
00:16:58.425 --> 00:17:03.245
happy about that. So it keeps me from feeling frustrated or down. But meanwhile,

246
00:17:03.704 --> 00:17:04.985
getting back to our challenge,

247
00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:09.660
every year, we we've been doing we started a few years ago,

248
00:17:10.360 --> 00:17:11.820
some of the Bitcoin community,

249
00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:15.740
had approached me about doing a fundraiser for,

250
00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:21.855
in honor of Hal, and we do that every year. We it it runs,

251
00:17:22.795 --> 00:17:24.975
around the time that Hal did his

252
00:17:25.515 --> 00:17:27.615
running Bitcoin tweet. We've just

253
00:17:27.915 --> 00:17:32.174
arranged it around that because Hal loved to run, and that was one of his big things.

254
00:17:33.019 --> 00:17:34.159
And and so,

255
00:17:35.100 --> 00:17:36.000
around January

256
00:17:37.019 --> 00:17:39.600
10th every year, we have this,

257
00:17:40.860 --> 00:17:41.360
challenge.

258
00:17:41.899 --> 00:17:42.399
And

259
00:17:43.740 --> 00:17:44.559
every year,

260
00:17:45.165 --> 00:17:51.745
I've been participating by running in the challenge. And this year, I'm planning on participating, but I might be

261
00:17:52.845 --> 00:17:53.665
not running.

262
00:17:54.845 --> 00:17:57.585
I might be walking and hopefully, I'll be walking,

263
00:17:58.550 --> 00:18:01.370
without a cane by then. But we'll see.

264
00:18:02.550 --> 00:18:03.050
So,

265
00:18:05.190 --> 00:18:05.690
So,

266
00:18:06.230 --> 00:18:08.890
how many years have you done this challenge so far now?

267
00:18:09.985 --> 00:18:12.644
I think this will be year number 4 coming up.

268
00:18:13.825 --> 00:18:14.304
So,

269
00:18:15.985 --> 00:18:17.924
I think we've done it for 3 years.

270
00:18:18.465 --> 00:18:26.830
And, I mean, Hal, there's this famous photo of Hal. We actually you know, I'm recording live from Bitcoin Park. Yeah. In Nashville. And I think we have

271
00:18:27.370 --> 00:18:31.390
3 different versions of that photo. You know the photo I'm talking about of Hal running?

272
00:18:32.090 --> 00:18:32.909
Yeah. Yeah.

273
00:18:33.370 --> 00:18:34.090
I I took

274
00:18:35.850 --> 00:18:38.190
Is you took that picture. You're the photographer?

275
00:18:38.845 --> 00:18:49.825
Yeah. Yeah. That was a a funny funny situation. Hal and I, we we always used to do things together. He was very active in addition to he would in addition to being this amazing

276
00:18:51.299 --> 00:18:51.799
programmer,

277
00:18:52.100 --> 00:18:52.600
coder,

278
00:18:53.940 --> 00:19:01.960
philosopher, whatever else he was, he liked to be active and we used to run. And not seriously, just kind of for fun and for fitness.

279
00:19:02.340 --> 00:19:07.515
But that was a a run that he we did. It was a race I took him running in, back

280
00:19:08.535 --> 00:19:10.075
early days of our marriage.

281
00:19:11.255 --> 00:19:11.755
And

282
00:19:12.775 --> 00:19:24.100
I snapped him. I was he was in this race and I was running alongside with the camera and I managed to catch his attention and he looked at me and I snapped the picture and it was just one of those old fashioned,

283
00:19:24.800 --> 00:19:25.700
film cameras,

284
00:19:26.800 --> 00:19:32.100
that you had to take to be developed and everything, but I still had that print. So

285
00:19:32.655 --> 00:19:36.275
we made copies of it and used that for our fundraiser.

286
00:19:37.215 --> 00:19:41.395
I mean, that picture's like I mean, you're I guess you're an iconic photographer now.

287
00:19:41.775 --> 00:19:42.275
That

288
00:19:42.895 --> 00:19:44.515
picture is way down in history.

289
00:19:45.590 --> 00:19:53.530
I was really pleased with it because I had to run alongside him in order to get that picture. I had to be running at the speed that he was running at, and then I had to catch his attention.

290
00:19:53.910 --> 00:19:55.690
He had to see me.

291
00:19:56.390 --> 00:19:59.530
And so that was fun. I didn't know that backstory.

292
00:20:00.085 --> 00:20:00.585
Yeah.

293
00:20:01.685 --> 00:20:09.285
Did you guys do you would was that something you guys did together? You would run together? Oh, yeah. He was a he was a distance runner, and I was a,

294
00:20:10.005 --> 00:20:10.505
sprinter,

295
00:20:10.965 --> 00:20:15.390
short runner. So when when we ran, he would tend to run longer than me,

296
00:20:15.950 --> 00:20:17.810
but I could run faster than him.

297
00:20:18.590 --> 00:20:22.050
So he would towards the end when he was training for marathons,

298
00:20:23.230 --> 00:20:31.695
I would join him for the end of his run. He would go on a long run. And then at the very end, I would run out to meet him and run back the rest of the way with him.

299
00:20:33.034 --> 00:20:33.775
That's wonderful.

300
00:20:38.235 --> 00:20:38.735
Okay.

301
00:20:39.674 --> 00:20:41.215
So we mentioned ALS.

302
00:20:42.715 --> 00:20:44.414
ALS is the disease that

303
00:20:46.170 --> 00:20:48.110
unfortunately took Hal from this world.

304
00:20:51.290 --> 00:20:57.150
You've been you've been quite outspoken in terms of trying to build support for research,

305
00:20:58.010 --> 00:21:00.110
trying to tackle it and and

306
00:21:01.235 --> 00:21:03.415
improve the lives of people that are with it.

307
00:21:06.515 --> 00:21:12.135
But to the audience, I mean, what do you want what do you want people to know about ALS and the fight against ALS?

308
00:21:13.470 --> 00:21:13.970
Yeah.

309
00:21:14.830 --> 00:21:15.310
Okay.

310
00:21:15.950 --> 00:21:18.610
I think it it's hard it's hard to actually

311
00:21:19.710 --> 00:21:20.210
understand

312
00:21:20.670 --> 00:21:23.410
what a awful disease it is unless you've

313
00:21:23.790 --> 00:21:26.130
lived it or lived with someone who

314
00:21:26.590 --> 00:21:27.555
has had it.

315
00:21:28.275 --> 00:21:28.775
It's

316
00:21:29.315 --> 00:21:29.815
different

317
00:21:30.515 --> 00:21:35.415
from most other diseases, even progressive ones that get worse because it hits

318
00:21:35.795 --> 00:21:38.215
most people so hard and so

319
00:21:38.835 --> 00:21:40.215
fast. And I think

320
00:21:41.700 --> 00:21:43.320
for one of the hardest things

321
00:21:44.580 --> 00:21:49.000
for me to watch with Hal was the fact that the disease once

322
00:21:49.300 --> 00:21:49.800
it's

323
00:21:50.900 --> 00:21:52.440
when a person has ALS,

324
00:21:52.740 --> 00:22:01.885
whatever, wherever they are, they're never gonna be better than they are that day. They're gonna keep losing more and more. It's a disease that hits your ability

325
00:22:02.345 --> 00:22:03.085
to move.

326
00:22:03.385 --> 00:22:08.445
It hits your your what's called your motor neurons, which are the nerves that control

327
00:22:08.745 --> 00:22:09.245
movement.

328
00:22:11.120 --> 00:22:16.900
And that's what it's most known for. It does affect other things too. It it,

329
00:22:17.919 --> 00:22:18.419
has

330
00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:25.915
it it's not just the nerves from the brain. It also impact impacts parts of the brain itself,

331
00:22:26.295 --> 00:22:33.195
primarily the parts of the brain that control movement, but other things too. What what what that means though is that

332
00:22:33.895 --> 00:22:37.195
a person will lose their ability to

333
00:22:38.460 --> 00:22:38.960
to

334
00:22:39.340 --> 00:22:40.799
walk, to move their legs,

335
00:22:41.340 --> 00:22:44.240
to to use their hands, to use their arms,

336
00:22:45.340 --> 00:22:46.159
to talk,

337
00:22:46.460 --> 00:22:47.200
to swallow,

338
00:22:48.860 --> 00:22:49.679
to breathe.

339
00:22:52.620 --> 00:22:53.120
Eventually,

340
00:22:53.794 --> 00:22:55.414
it can affect everything.

341
00:22:55.794 --> 00:22:59.335
By the time Hal was at at the last part of Hal's life,

342
00:22:59.635 --> 00:23:05.095
he was on life support for breathing. But he couldn't even control his eye movement anymore.

343
00:23:05.554 --> 00:23:10.029
And that was awful because he couldn't even communicate with his eyes

344
00:23:10.570 --> 00:23:12.830
via the computer. He couldn't even

345
00:23:13.450 --> 00:23:17.070
really read because he couldn't move his eyes to read.

346
00:23:17.850 --> 00:23:19.070
He could still hear.

347
00:23:20.205 --> 00:23:25.505
He could still see, he could things could go into his eyes but he couldn't control what he looked at.

348
00:23:26.924 --> 00:23:29.664
So that that was pretty awful, the communication

349
00:23:30.044 --> 00:23:30.544
was

350
00:23:30.845 --> 00:23:34.620
got incredibly difficult towards the end I think that might have been

351
00:23:35.100 --> 00:23:36.640
the hardest part for him.

352
00:23:38.620 --> 00:23:45.920
I guess another thing about, another thing about ALS that is confusing to people is people think, oh, Stephen Hawking. He lived

353
00:23:46.620 --> 00:23:51.575
for 30 years with ALS or even longer and he was able to do all these brilliant things.

354
00:23:52.115 --> 00:23:53.414
And it's because

355
00:23:54.275 --> 00:23:59.015
ALS or motor neuron disease isn't really one disease. It's kind of like cancer.

356
00:23:59.635 --> 00:24:04.534
You can have cancer and it can be all different things depending on what kind of cancer.

357
00:24:05.080 --> 00:24:06.780
Only we don't understand

358
00:24:07.080 --> 00:24:09.340
ALS well enough to really define

359
00:24:10.120 --> 00:24:13.020
that well all the different types of ALS.

360
00:24:13.480 --> 00:24:25.605
We're learning more and more. The research is is getting us there, Matt, but it's not there yet. So it is now a lot better understood than it was 10 years ago when Hal died. And they do really understand

361
00:24:26.145 --> 00:24:28.804
that there are different thing different

362
00:24:29.184 --> 00:24:32.259
diseases or different types of progressive

363
00:24:33.679 --> 00:24:35.139
breakdown of your

364
00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:42.179
motor neurons that all come under the umbrella of ALS. But some people are going to find that it's really fast

365
00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:44.340
and really hits everything.

366
00:24:44.914 --> 00:24:52.054
And if they don't go on life support, they're they're dead in less than a year. And other people are gonna be more like Stephen Hawking. It's gonna be slower

367
00:24:52.515 --> 00:24:53.654
and maybe not

368
00:24:54.195 --> 00:24:57.815
hit them that quickly, and they can learn to live with it and adapt.

369
00:24:58.660 --> 00:25:04.360
No matter how it is, it's always gonna be taking away things, and and people never get back what they've

370
00:25:04.660 --> 00:25:14.455
lost right now because we don't know how to reverse it. We don't even know how to stop it. The the research is starting to show people how to slow it down

371
00:25:15.155 --> 00:25:16.215
for some people.

372
00:25:17.075 --> 00:25:18.934
And that's confusing too because

373
00:25:19.235 --> 00:25:19.735
different

374
00:25:20.515 --> 00:25:23.174
types of ALS respond to different treatments

375
00:25:23.554 --> 00:25:24.455
just like cancer.

376
00:25:25.009 --> 00:25:28.710
So it's hard with the research when we don't even know enough about

377
00:25:29.970 --> 00:25:41.075
what the different forms are to be able to evaluate. Well, is this a significant result or not? It's helping some people. Is that just random, or is it a certain subgroup? And

378
00:25:41.455 --> 00:25:49.715
what subgroup? And how do we figure out which people this treatment is going to help? So it's still a hit or miss. They do have a few treatments that they use on everyone,

379
00:25:50.414 --> 00:25:50.914
and

380
00:25:51.230 --> 00:25:54.210
they do slow down the disease for some people,

381
00:25:55.230 --> 00:25:56.770
but not for everyone because

382
00:25:57.550 --> 00:26:01.090
it's probably not the right treatment for the people it's not working on.

383
00:26:02.510 --> 00:26:03.330
Fair enough.

384
00:26:04.750 --> 00:26:06.930
So is that almost more of a broad basket,

385
00:26:08.005 --> 00:26:08.985
kind of diagnosis,

386
00:26:09.445 --> 00:26:10.345
a group of

387
00:26:11.365 --> 00:26:11.865
diagnoses?

388
00:26:14.725 --> 00:26:20.345
Yeah. Yeah. I mean I can't even imagine that I mean that sounds particularly brutal, the slow grind and the loss

389
00:26:20.725 --> 00:26:21.465
of of control.

390
00:26:23.020 --> 00:26:23.520
Particularly

391
00:26:27.660 --> 00:26:30.880
yeah. I just in general, that's just that's just really horrible.

392
00:26:32.060 --> 00:26:37.465
So this running Bitcoin initiative that you do, I mean, the expectation is that people should be

393
00:26:38.085 --> 00:26:46.024
running anywhere. Does they don't we're not all are we all meeting in a specific location, or we Oh, this is run where we are? Great question.

394
00:26:46.404 --> 00:26:55.620
It it's called the, it's a running Bitcoin challenge. You can find out, about it through, running bitcoin dot us which is a a site that,

395
00:26:56.500 --> 00:27:03.480
is for the challenge. But it's it's global. We're not focusing on an area. People can run, walk,

396
00:27:04.165 --> 00:27:05.465
do whatever they want.

397
00:27:06.805 --> 00:27:07.705
And and,

398
00:27:08.325 --> 00:27:09.225
any donations

399
00:27:09.605 --> 00:27:10.425
are appreciated.

400
00:27:11.845 --> 00:27:14.025
And the donations are all going to

401
00:27:14.405 --> 00:27:15.465
ALS Research.

402
00:27:16.130 --> 00:27:17.030
And in in

403
00:27:17.330 --> 00:27:19.830
fact, we're we're doing this challenge

404
00:27:20.290 --> 00:27:23.430
with the help of the, ALS network.

405
00:27:24.210 --> 00:27:24.690
And,

406
00:27:26.370 --> 00:27:31.750
I wanted to mention that because the ALS network set up a a special fund

407
00:27:32.505 --> 00:27:33.325
just for

408
00:27:33.865 --> 00:27:42.185
not for the challenge and people can also, donate to that fund separately of the challenge. And it's, there it it's,

409
00:27:44.265 --> 00:27:47.565
the name of their the fund is this, the Hal Finney

410
00:27:49.539 --> 00:27:51.159
ALS Research Fund.

411
00:27:52.740 --> 00:27:53.059
But,

412
00:27:53.700 --> 00:27:58.759
it's a 100% of the donations are going to ALS Research. So I'm really grateful

413
00:27:59.059 --> 00:28:02.515
that people do that. And I'm actually able to,

414
00:28:03.154 --> 00:28:03.654
oversee

415
00:28:03.955 --> 00:28:09.015
where the donations are going so that I'm gonna be able to look at the potential

416
00:28:09.635 --> 00:28:14.774
research projects and help, evaluate which ones would be good for that.

417
00:28:15.970 --> 00:28:26.289
I like that. I I don't I'm not a scientist I'm not currently a research scientist but my background in education was in neuroscience. I I was in a doctoral program there so it's kind of,

418
00:28:27.010 --> 00:28:27.830
I do have

419
00:28:28.130 --> 00:28:30.070
background in that area and

420
00:28:30.855 --> 00:28:34.715
I can be pretty critical sometimes in looking at research projects

421
00:28:35.655 --> 00:28:37.515
and verifying that they are in fact

422
00:28:38.055 --> 00:28:44.395
reasonable and going in put in areas that are gonna be useful and helpful and productive.

423
00:28:45.409 --> 00:28:46.390
That's really wonderful.

424
00:28:46.770 --> 00:28:51.750
I mean, specifically especially the 100% pass through is incredibly important. There's so many charities,

425
00:28:52.610 --> 00:28:53.429
that take,

426
00:28:54.370 --> 00:28:57.190
significant operating costs out of donations.

427
00:28:58.625 --> 00:29:02.565
Fran, so I was trying to explain this to you earlier before we started,

428
00:29:03.345 --> 00:29:05.925
but this is a a a live chat,

429
00:29:06.385 --> 00:29:10.165
that shows the Bitcoin network. You know, we're currently at block 858,870,

430
00:29:14.060 --> 00:29:15.200
which is I mean,

431
00:29:15.500 --> 00:29:16.000
yeah.

432
00:29:16.860 --> 00:29:18.160
You know, 800,000

433
00:29:19.180 --> 00:29:19.680
858,008

434
00:29:20.380 --> 00:29:21.120
100 and,

435
00:29:21.500 --> 00:29:24.800
like, 69 blocks since Hal joined the network.

436
00:29:26.065 --> 00:29:34.165
And, we have this live stream here. We have the live chat here where we have a live live audience from around the world. It's powered by a network called Nostr,

437
00:29:34.945 --> 00:29:36.645
which is a censorship resistant,

438
00:29:37.425 --> 00:29:37.925
global,

439
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:39.380
permissionless

440
00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:40.180
interoperable

441
00:29:41.040 --> 00:29:42.660
text communication network,

442
00:29:43.280 --> 00:29:48.820
similar to Bitcoin in a lot of ways, but in terms of communication. And it has Bitcoin payments built in.

443
00:29:49.280 --> 00:29:51.780
So people are sending Bitcoin from around the world.

444
00:29:52.755 --> 00:30:00.535
Freaks, to everyone in the audience, you know, if you send bitcoin during this episode, whether it's through these zaps or if it's through podcasting 2.0,

445
00:30:01.235 --> 00:30:02.375
we will be donating

446
00:30:02.835 --> 00:30:04.135
all of those proceeds,

447
00:30:04.755 --> 00:30:04.835
to,

448
00:30:05.790 --> 00:30:07.570
this organization that Fran,

449
00:30:08.110 --> 00:30:09.650
just introduced to us.

450
00:30:10.990 --> 00:30:13.170
So keep keep those stats flowing,

451
00:30:13.790 --> 00:30:16.770
and we will get them to a very important cause.

452
00:30:18.635 --> 00:30:19.135
Fran,

453
00:30:20.075 --> 00:30:23.195
what what do you how do you how do you think Hal would react to,

454
00:30:23.995 --> 00:30:25.855
this being possible, this being

455
00:30:27.274 --> 00:30:28.735
a a thing that's even possible?

456
00:30:29.195 --> 00:30:31.294
Oh, he would love it. He would love it.

457
00:30:31.990 --> 00:30:32.490
Yeah.

458
00:30:33.750 --> 00:30:40.730
He he was very much for freedom of communication, so the network would be something he would be really enthusiastic about.

459
00:30:41.110 --> 00:30:48.904
And I'm just reading some of the this, live, feedback now, and I just wanna thank everyone for your for your comments and your donations.

460
00:30:52.245 --> 00:30:55.225
I I've mentioned before and I will mention,

461
00:30:56.164 --> 00:30:57.784
here again now that

462
00:30:58.085 --> 00:31:00.644
I think it would be I think there's a

463
00:31:01.870 --> 00:31:04.289
with the fundraising, with the donut with this,

464
00:31:05.070 --> 00:31:07.409
fund that we have, all of this, I'm really

465
00:31:08.510 --> 00:31:10.210
hopeful and optimistic

466
00:31:10.510 --> 00:31:12.850
that the Bitcoin community can be

467
00:31:13.230 --> 00:31:13.970
a fundamental

468
00:31:14.270 --> 00:31:14.770
part,

469
00:31:15.725 --> 00:31:20.385
really key in finding a cure for ALS and and how it would sound the

470
00:31:21.565 --> 00:31:22.065
spectacular.

471
00:31:22.685 --> 00:31:27.665
How it would, of course, be rapturous. He was aware of that, if that his the Bitcoin community,

472
00:31:28.045 --> 00:31:31.280
which is a result of something that he helped to to,

473
00:31:32.300 --> 00:31:33.280
fund to

474
00:31:34.940 --> 00:31:36.320
to create in a sense,

475
00:31:37.020 --> 00:31:38.560
were the ones that

476
00:31:39.020 --> 00:31:41.920
were fundamental in finding this cure.

477
00:31:42.460 --> 00:31:43.360
It'd be fantastic.

478
00:31:46.165 --> 00:31:47.305
It'd be amazing. I hope

479
00:31:47.765 --> 00:31:53.225
we can I hope we can do that for him, and I hope we can do that for you? We see the donations rolling in.

480
00:31:54.885 --> 00:31:56.185
Pretty beautiful to see.

481
00:31:56.645 --> 00:32:02.910
Fran, we have a question from the audience. And obviously, Freaks, as always, feel free to put your questions and your comments

482
00:32:03.290 --> 00:32:04.350
in the live chat.

483
00:32:04.730 --> 00:32:07.310
If you are watching this on YouTube or Twitch,

484
00:32:09.290 --> 00:32:11.230
the Nostril live chat is at sidildispatch.com/stream.

485
00:32:12.890 --> 00:32:14.190
And you don't need Nostril,

486
00:32:14.935 --> 00:32:19.435
to join us. It can just quickly make you an account with no personal information required.

487
00:32:20.295 --> 00:32:21.035
We have,

488
00:32:22.295 --> 00:32:23.355
Lionel Coinbank

489
00:32:23.655 --> 00:32:26.395
asking how does Fran want Hal to be remembered?

490
00:32:31.670 --> 00:32:33.770
I want them to be remembered as,

491
00:32:35.430 --> 00:32:36.570
a person who

492
00:32:37.350 --> 00:32:37.850
wanted

493
00:32:39.935 --> 00:32:44.115
who who trusted the world, who who believed in the good of people,

494
00:32:44.975 --> 00:32:46.275
and was enthusiastic

495
00:32:46.895 --> 00:32:49.555
and and optimistic that if people had freedom,

496
00:32:50.175 --> 00:32:52.595
they would choose to do the right thing all the time.

497
00:32:53.720 --> 00:32:59.180
He he really was that way. It was it was amazing to to be with him, but I'd like him to be remembered that way as as

498
00:33:00.280 --> 00:33:01.260
someone who

499
00:33:01.640 --> 00:33:04.060
believed that if people were given the tools

500
00:33:04.920 --> 00:33:05.740
and the freedom,

501
00:33:06.440 --> 00:33:07.740
the world would be better

502
00:33:08.065 --> 00:33:09.925
and the world was gonna be a great place.

503
00:33:14.705 --> 00:33:15.845
Let's cheers to that.

504
00:33:18.545 --> 00:33:20.725
I kinda have a question from left field.

505
00:33:23.290 --> 00:33:23.790
Yeah.

506
00:33:24.170 --> 00:33:25.950
So one of the first thing so,

507
00:33:26.490 --> 00:33:28.590
you know, how was before my time I

508
00:33:29.450 --> 00:33:31.950
started paying attention to Bitcoin in, like, 2013,

509
00:33:32.890 --> 00:33:36.125
and, unfortunately, we shortly lost them shortly after

510
00:33:37.425 --> 00:33:37.925
that.

511
00:33:39.225 --> 00:33:39.725
But,

512
00:33:41.385 --> 00:33:43.485
he he was famously cryogenically

513
00:33:43.785 --> 00:33:44.285
frozen.

514
00:33:45.705 --> 00:33:51.780
What's what's the deal with that? Like, what is what is that situation? I mean, I remember, like, first reading about it, it's like, we're gonna

515
00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:55.780
can we can we bring him back? Is, like, how does that work?

516
00:33:56.320 --> 00:33:59.040
Yeah. Okay. That's that's a good question, Matt.

517
00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:02.180
I think

518
00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:04.660
one reason why Hal

519
00:34:05.575 --> 00:34:07.035
wanted to be cryogenically

520
00:34:07.495 --> 00:34:07.995
frozen,

521
00:34:08.455 --> 00:34:09.675
he was a futurist.

522
00:34:10.135 --> 00:34:16.715
As I said, he believed in the good of people and the good of the world, and he really believed that the future that the world was

523
00:34:17.175 --> 00:34:17.675
improving

524
00:34:19.095 --> 00:34:24.630
and that the future was gonna be this amazing place. So he did look forward to that.

525
00:34:26.210 --> 00:34:27.990
I think prior to getting,

526
00:34:28.609 --> 00:34:31.190
ALS we had already signed up for,

527
00:34:31.970 --> 00:34:32.470
cryogenic,

528
00:34:33.174 --> 00:34:33.674
preservation.

529
00:34:34.135 --> 00:34:37.755
Didn't really intend to use it for a very long time.

530
00:34:38.454 --> 00:34:40.395
And I wouldn't say that Hal

531
00:34:41.095 --> 00:34:42.395
at the point where

532
00:34:43.015 --> 00:34:43.515
he

533
00:34:43.815 --> 00:34:44.635
was frozen,

534
00:34:46.680 --> 00:34:50.220
had a lot of faith that at that time, the technology was

535
00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:59.420
gonna work enough to bring him back. But he he said, even if there was a point 1% chance that it would work,

536
00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:01.820
it was better than 0.

537
00:35:02.815 --> 00:35:04.835
So we did go ahead and,

538
00:35:05.455 --> 00:35:06.435
work through it.

539
00:35:07.535 --> 00:35:08.755
The process itself

540
00:35:09.055 --> 00:35:10.035
was pretty

541
00:35:10.575 --> 00:35:13.315
intense. I he was frozen at a,

542
00:35:13.775 --> 00:35:14.835
with Alcor.

543
00:35:16.119 --> 00:35:17.660
They're located in Arizona.

544
00:35:19.080 --> 00:35:19.580
And

545
00:35:21.160 --> 00:35:22.380
we flew him out,

546
00:35:24.360 --> 00:35:25.020
on a

547
00:35:25.320 --> 00:35:26.220
medi helicopter.

548
00:35:28.865 --> 00:35:29.265
And,

549
00:35:30.224 --> 00:35:30.724
then

550
00:35:31.025 --> 00:35:36.705
because at that point, he was on life support, we couldn't send him any other way. I went with him and and the kids,

551
00:35:37.185 --> 00:35:42.005
the family, some of the family joined us out there. But, I remember the process itself

552
00:35:42.309 --> 00:35:43.130
because I

553
00:35:43.430 --> 00:35:43.930
was

554
00:35:44.390 --> 00:35:52.809
I didn't wanna leave him. I wanted to make sure that everything went the way it was supposed to. So I stayed with him, and we took him off of life support.

555
00:35:53.990 --> 00:36:03.315
Would you like me to describe that whole situation, Matt? Because it was pretty, intense. But I mean, if you're open to it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm open to it if anyone's interested.

556
00:36:03.775 --> 00:36:05.955
I don't know how interesting that is. But

557
00:36:06.815 --> 00:36:07.135
the,

558
00:36:07.695 --> 00:36:09.855
in Arizona, they don't have a

559
00:36:11.910 --> 00:36:13.589
you're not allowed to have,

560
00:36:14.150 --> 00:36:18.250
to ask to for end of life. So we had to wait for how to

561
00:36:18.710 --> 00:36:27.450
die on his own once we took him off life support. And we did take him off life support, and the doctors predicted it would take 10 minutes for him to die.

562
00:36:28.365 --> 00:36:29.885
But it didn't. It took,

563
00:36:31.245 --> 00:36:32.305
38 hours,

564
00:36:33.965 --> 00:36:42.065
which was crazy because he wasn't breathing and he turned blue and his oxygen was down to, like, 20%. And I was freaking out. I wouldn't leave the room.

565
00:36:42.490 --> 00:36:45.790
And they took him off the oxygen monitor because I was

566
00:36:46.090 --> 00:36:47.630
I was going crazy.

567
00:36:48.410 --> 00:36:53.790
I I but I I stayed in the room with him and eventually he did his heart did stop.

568
00:36:54.650 --> 00:36:57.735
The the man was so stubborn to stay alive regardless of

569
00:36:59.335 --> 00:37:05.115
of the fact that it was breathing. So there's this blue, blue body with a heart still beating.

570
00:37:06.215 --> 00:37:07.035
But anyway,

571
00:37:07.655 --> 00:37:12.395
his heart eventually stopped and then we took him into Alcor and I watched the whole process

572
00:37:13.470 --> 00:37:19.010
And it's quite an involved process but I stayed with him because I just wanted to make sure that they

573
00:37:20.350 --> 00:37:21.170
did everything,

574
00:37:21.630 --> 00:37:22.530
in a really

575
00:37:23.150 --> 00:37:27.550
scientific and methodical way. And they did. They had doctors there and they,

576
00:37:28.385 --> 00:37:29.425
and it was very,

577
00:37:30.385 --> 00:37:31.765
organized and they

578
00:37:32.865 --> 00:37:44.530
did went through a lot of different steps to make sure that they minimize the damage to his blood vessels and, like change. They had to cool him down to a certain temperature and change the fluids

579
00:37:45.310 --> 00:37:47.650
through IV. And so it was quite

580
00:37:48.510 --> 00:37:49.410
quite intense.

581
00:37:49.790 --> 00:37:50.190
But,

582
00:37:50.830 --> 00:37:51.970
he's there now.

583
00:37:53.470 --> 00:37:54.210
And hopefully,

584
00:37:54.755 --> 00:37:57.895
at some point, we'll have the technology to not only

585
00:37:58.195 --> 00:38:01.655
bring people back to life, but to cure ALS because,

586
00:38:03.875 --> 00:38:04.375
those

587
00:38:04.995 --> 00:38:06.295
there wouldn't be any

588
00:38:07.155 --> 00:38:07.975
point in

589
00:38:08.595 --> 00:38:10.055
bringing him back

590
00:38:10.730 --> 00:38:13.869
unless they could also reverse the damage that was done

591
00:38:15.450 --> 00:38:17.309
to bring him back that way too.

592
00:38:17.609 --> 00:38:19.710
Was there was there any thought,

593
00:38:22.250 --> 00:38:23.690
I mean, as a futurist and

594
00:38:24.855 --> 00:38:28.235
was was there any was there any thought there in terms of

595
00:38:28.855 --> 00:38:31.275
as an aspect of contributing to research

596
00:38:31.655 --> 00:38:35.675
in terms of the the freezing, or is is that completely unrelated?

597
00:38:38.980 --> 00:38:41.079
I think that's unrelated.

598
00:38:41.619 --> 00:38:43.720
The way that the freezing is done,

599
00:38:44.099 --> 00:38:46.599
they don't really go back and

600
00:38:47.220 --> 00:38:50.839
do anything with the preserved bodies right now there.

601
00:38:51.595 --> 00:38:52.335
And, hopefully,

602
00:38:53.035 --> 00:38:57.295
at least I don't think Hal wanted to be a guinea pig to be woken up

603
00:38:57.995 --> 00:39:00.175
just to see if it would work. That's fair.

604
00:39:00.475 --> 00:39:00.975
Yeah.

605
00:39:01.755 --> 00:39:02.155
Is the

606
00:39:03.195 --> 00:39:09.540
how does but do you do you pay rent or is it just prepaid? Is that a ridiculously insensitive question?

607
00:39:10.240 --> 00:39:11.120
Yeah. No.

608
00:39:11.840 --> 00:39:13.600
We had to we had to,

609
00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:15.460
sign up for life insurance.

610
00:39:16.240 --> 00:39:17.380
And the life insurance,

611
00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:18.500
was

612
00:39:19.555 --> 00:39:23.015
like a high level life insurance, which goes a 100%

613
00:39:23.555 --> 00:39:24.055
towards

614
00:39:24.435 --> 00:39:25.735
that Got it. Organization.

615
00:39:27.075 --> 00:39:28.535
And so we did that.

616
00:39:29.075 --> 00:39:29.895
That's fascinating.

617
00:39:30.515 --> 00:39:36.309
I mean, it's it's it's horrible what you went through, but that aspect is has always been incredibly fascinating to me.

618
00:39:36.770 --> 00:39:39.190
So that's why I just wanted to touch on it briefly.

619
00:39:40.289 --> 00:39:42.230
And in in terms of the

620
00:39:42.690 --> 00:39:46.390
I mean, I I would just say to the audience, like, you should look into

621
00:39:47.735 --> 00:39:52.875
the rabbit hole that is the end of life care in this country and globally.

622
00:39:54.375 --> 00:39:55.115
And it's

623
00:39:56.695 --> 00:40:00.135
it's miserable, regardless if it's ALS or something else.

624
00:40:00.695 --> 00:40:03.960
A lot a lot of I try and stay in my lane in terms

625
00:40:04.340 --> 00:40:09.080
of focusing on Bitcoin stuff and recently more nostril stuff, just FreedomTech in general. But

626
00:40:10.340 --> 00:40:21.575
a lot of changes need to be made in terms of end of life care and what rights people have and how that is all handled because it just leaves families in just a horrible situation. It leaves people who are

627
00:40:22.194 --> 00:40:24.055
suffering in a horrible situation.

628
00:40:24.675 --> 00:40:26.055
It's quite a low bar,

629
00:40:26.595 --> 00:40:27.390
in terms of

630
00:40:27.950 --> 00:40:32.369
improving the status quo because as it currently stands, it is just miserable.

631
00:40:33.470 --> 00:40:34.849
Yeah. I completely agree.

632
00:40:36.109 --> 00:40:36.609
Duh.

633
00:40:38.510 --> 00:40:39.410
Okay. Well,

634
00:40:40.244 --> 00:40:40.964
we have,

635
00:40:41.525 --> 00:40:42.984
a little bit more time together.

636
00:40:43.605 --> 00:40:44.345
And then,

637
00:40:45.045 --> 00:40:48.904
Alex Gladstein from the Human Rights Foundation will be joining us for a little bit,

638
00:40:49.525 --> 00:40:51.224
and we will be talking about

639
00:40:53.010 --> 00:40:56.070
your latest initiative in in partnership with him.

640
00:40:56.850 --> 00:41:02.310
But, Friix, keep the questions coming in. Keep keep the donations coming in. It is appreciated.

641
00:41:03.650 --> 00:41:05.670
And we thank you all for joining us.

642
00:41:06.485 --> 00:41:13.785
I mean, Fran, like, what is let's let's go into, I guess, let's go into your life a little bit. I mean, if you feel comfortable sharing.

643
00:41:15.045 --> 00:41:16.265
Like, what do you,

644
00:41:17.525 --> 00:41:19.065
you know, I I

645
00:41:20.030 --> 00:41:25.790
what are what are what do you enjoy now? Like, what are what are your focuses? What are you like, what are your hobbies? What do you

646
00:41:27.869 --> 00:41:28.770
Yeah. Okay.

647
00:41:30.510 --> 00:41:31.010
Now

648
00:41:31.885 --> 00:41:32.865
I I think

649
00:41:33.245 --> 00:41:33.565
what

650
00:41:34.365 --> 00:41:40.225
it's it's I mean, one of my hobbies has been not really a hobby, but my drive for

651
00:41:41.165 --> 00:41:41.485
this,

652
00:41:42.125 --> 00:41:44.465
the promises I made to hell and

653
00:41:45.220 --> 00:41:46.200
the fact that

654
00:41:46.580 --> 00:41:47.240
I really,

655
00:41:48.820 --> 00:41:49.480
he he

656
00:41:51.700 --> 00:41:53.560
I promised him that I would

657
00:41:54.660 --> 00:42:02.825
continue to help look for a cure for ALS because he didn't want anyone else to have to go through when he went through. So that's one of my hobbies, is spending a lot of time

658
00:42:03.365 --> 00:42:04.665
on that in that arena.

659
00:42:05.845 --> 00:42:06.665
I have dogs.

660
00:42:06.965 --> 00:42:08.645
Hal and I both were big,

661
00:42:08.965 --> 00:42:09.845
animal people.

662
00:42:10.325 --> 00:42:13.225
Hal was a I knew it. Was a huge dog person.

663
00:42:13.890 --> 00:42:19.269
I think people probably have noticed that from different things that have floated around online, but,

664
00:42:19.650 --> 00:42:20.950
we all he and I

665
00:42:21.329 --> 00:42:24.789
had dogs, and along with our our family,

666
00:42:25.650 --> 00:42:28.049
and Hal used to always take them running. And,

667
00:42:29.315 --> 00:42:34.595
he had his he once he started working at home remotely, he always had his animals in the house with him.

668
00:42:35.075 --> 00:42:37.095
I have one memory of how

669
00:42:37.635 --> 00:42:38.535
with the dogs

670
00:42:38.995 --> 00:42:39.495
where

671
00:42:40.035 --> 00:42:40.535
he

672
00:42:42.260 --> 00:42:47.000
hit one of his dogs was getting older. This is pre ALS, but the dog liked to have

673
00:42:47.300 --> 00:42:50.280
Hal hold a bone or a chew toy for him while

674
00:42:50.580 --> 00:42:53.780
the dog chewed on it. The dog didn't wanna bother with,

675
00:42:54.260 --> 00:42:54.820
this was,

676
00:42:55.220 --> 00:42:58.495
Arky. People might know about, might have seen Arky out there,

677
00:42:58.795 --> 00:43:07.295
but Arky didn't feel like he wanted to hold the bone for himself. So he could walk over to to Hal, who would be at the computer typing away,

678
00:43:07.675 --> 00:43:13.190
and he dropped the bone over by Hal, and Hal would pick the bone up with his left hand

679
00:43:13.490 --> 00:43:19.510
and hold the bone with his left hand and continue typing and coding with his right hand while he held the bone for Arky.

680
00:43:19.810 --> 00:43:30.295
I'd walk by, and I'd seen Arky sitting on the floor eating the bone, and Hal sitting there in the computer typing with one hand, holding on to the bone with the other hand. So that was kind of that kinda cute.

681
00:43:30.755 --> 00:43:34.035
Arky Arky was like Hal's dog to the end.

682
00:43:34.355 --> 00:43:42.480
He he hung around, and I was really worried about what he was gonna do if he outlived Hal, but he didn't. He passed away before Hal did. So

683
00:43:42.859 --> 00:43:44.480
What kind of dog was Arky?

684
00:43:44.940 --> 00:43:46.960
Arky was a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

685
00:43:47.500 --> 00:43:49.119
Oh, wow. Good runner.

686
00:43:49.500 --> 00:43:50.240
Really good.

687
00:43:50.615 --> 00:43:51.434
Yeah. Big

688
00:43:51.815 --> 00:43:53.434
dog. Big lazy dog.

689
00:43:54.214 --> 00:44:00.694
I love dogs. Did you guys you guys had a lot of dogs? Or We usually had 2 at a time. 1 would be Hal's and one would be Vine.

690
00:44:01.335 --> 00:44:02.875
I have 2 dogs now.

691
00:44:03.660 --> 00:44:07.260
So the first dog that I got after Hal passed away, it took me a while, but,

692
00:44:08.059 --> 00:44:09.680
we I had the one dog,

693
00:44:10.059 --> 00:44:13.440
Elsa, who was also a Ridge Ridgeback, and she

694
00:44:13.980 --> 00:44:16.715
passed in 2016. And then I guess a few

695
00:44:17.515 --> 00:44:20.975
no. No. It was later than that. But she passed in 2019.

696
00:44:21.995 --> 00:44:24.095
And then in 2020, I got my first

697
00:44:24.715 --> 00:44:29.535
replacement dog. And I named this dog this is Amy. I named this dog after,

698
00:44:29.915 --> 00:44:32.030
Hal's childhood dog who was named

699
00:44:32.490 --> 00:44:37.710
Amy. So that was kind of, so that's my Amy and I have a second dog now too. So

700
00:44:38.650 --> 00:44:40.410
Yeah. I will I will say as a,

701
00:44:42.090 --> 00:44:47.655
we have 3 dogs in my family and the jump from 2 to 3 is is quite significant in terms of

702
00:44:48.675 --> 00:44:50.295
in terms of energy consumption.

703
00:44:52.994 --> 00:44:57.175
But that's wonderful. I mean, I I love this going down memory lane. What other

704
00:44:58.530 --> 00:45:01.590
what other memory when you think about how, what other memories do you have

705
00:45:02.050 --> 00:45:03.430
that you could share with us?

706
00:45:06.690 --> 00:45:20.065
I I guess the other thing besides how being a coder and being on the computer, is it just how he always wanted to be doing a whole bunch of things all at once. It seemed like he had multiple projects going on. Oh, he loved to take the kids hiking.

707
00:45:21.645 --> 00:45:22.125
We would,

708
00:45:22.685 --> 00:45:27.425
take the dogs and kids hiking. It was like a big family thing. Every if there was a weekend

709
00:45:28.260 --> 00:45:35.000
and we weren't doing something, he had to figure out something that we could do. Go to the museum, go hiking, take the dogs out somewhere.

710
00:45:36.340 --> 00:45:39.960
And if no one wanted to do anything, then he was gonna go out and do something.

711
00:45:40.335 --> 00:45:40.835
So

712
00:45:41.375 --> 00:45:42.275
he was just,

713
00:45:42.655 --> 00:45:46.275
mister I need to be busy doing 5 or 6 projects at once.

714
00:45:47.615 --> 00:45:52.675
He also liked animals in the house. So I remember at one point between before we got the Ridgebacks,

715
00:45:54.175 --> 00:45:54.675
we

716
00:45:56.550 --> 00:45:57.050
we

717
00:45:57.430 --> 00:45:58.250
one Ridgeback

718
00:45:58.550 --> 00:45:59.050
had

719
00:45:59.830 --> 00:46:03.930
we had labs before the Ridgebacks, and and both labs had passed. And

720
00:46:04.550 --> 00:46:08.170
all of a sudden, Hal didn't have dog in the house, but we did have

721
00:46:08.565 --> 00:46:09.065
rabbits

722
00:46:09.365 --> 00:46:10.585
and we did have

723
00:46:11.045 --> 00:46:18.744
chickens. So Hal decided that while he was working at his computer, he needed animals in the house. So he started letting the chickens in the house.

724
00:46:20.165 --> 00:46:22.724
And so, yeah, so this is a great thing because,

725
00:46:23.150 --> 00:46:26.610
Hal would be at the computer and the chickens would perch up on the sofa

726
00:46:27.310 --> 00:46:37.490
inside of the house watching him on the computer and that made him happy because he now had animals watching him. But what I didn't like was that the chickens, while they were perched on the sofa, were also,

727
00:46:39.265 --> 00:46:42.165
I don't know what you call it with chickens, but, you know,

728
00:46:42.545 --> 00:46:43.045
pooping

729
00:46:43.745 --> 00:46:44.565
behind the sofa.

730
00:46:45.585 --> 00:46:48.645
So it was always a big mess. And then one chicken,

731
00:46:49.425 --> 00:46:51.925
we had roost a rooster too, and one of the chickens

732
00:46:52.599 --> 00:46:57.820
happened to get pregnant and had some fertile eggs, and she wandered off and she laid some

733
00:46:58.359 --> 00:47:09.135
she created a little nest in in the corner somewhere. And we didn't even know about it till all of a sudden we heard some noise, and there was a little nest, and there were little chicks in there. And this chicken was in there,

734
00:47:09.775 --> 00:47:10.415
with them.

735
00:47:10.815 --> 00:47:14.994
I have pictures of the of the chickens and the chicks that are in the house.

736
00:47:15.535 --> 00:47:18.035
So, yeah, animal person for sure.

737
00:47:18.415 --> 00:47:19.635
Yeah. That's an understatement.

738
00:47:23.780 --> 00:47:32.520
Yeah. He wasn't as you can see, he wasn't a cleanliness freak at all. So we could have animals running around. We could have chickens and rabbits in the house, and

739
00:47:32.820 --> 00:47:33.720
didn't matter.

740
00:47:35.065 --> 00:47:36.285
That's I mean,

741
00:47:37.145 --> 00:47:41.145
yeah. That that was not the story I was expecting. I don't know what I was expecting, but,

742
00:47:41.865 --> 00:47:49.085
it's kind of wonderful. I mean, the the chicks the chicks getting laid in inside and you finding out when you have new chicks is, something else.

743
00:47:49.385 --> 00:47:49.885
I,

744
00:47:51.920 --> 00:47:52.900
and and you

745
00:47:53.440 --> 00:47:57.220
I guess, were you just you were reluctantly along for the ride in the

746
00:47:57.680 --> 00:48:00.660
indoor chicken expedition, or were you a active participant?

747
00:48:02.799 --> 00:48:03.525
I was

748
00:48:03.845 --> 00:48:08.505
reluctantly along. I didn't I thought they were cute, but I didn't like the mess.

749
00:48:09.045 --> 00:48:09.545
So

750
00:48:11.045 --> 00:48:11.545
so

751
00:48:11.845 --> 00:48:18.025
I would have to say, you know, supportive and that I wasn't gonna I if I had said how we can't do this,

752
00:48:19.520 --> 00:48:21.940
it would have stopped. So, you know,

753
00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:26.260
it it I was supporting him, but I wasn't super thrilled.

754
00:48:28.240 --> 00:48:31.619
It was just that I thought it was I also thought it was kinda cute. So

755
00:48:33.280 --> 00:48:41.305
Fair enough. And you, you had mentioned that that was beef it was you were in between dogs. It was between the labs and the and the Ridgebacks. Ridgebacks.

756
00:48:41.765 --> 00:48:45.224
Because otherwise, the dogs wouldn't allow that to happen. I Correct.

757
00:48:45.845 --> 00:48:52.020
Correct. My dog my dogs would not allow chickens in the house. They would put Yeah. No. No. No. We had to keep the chickens safe.

758
00:48:53.359 --> 00:48:59.940
We that's the thing. That's while the dogs were alive, the chickens were around too, and we even had ducks at one point, but

759
00:49:00.240 --> 00:49:06.694
we had to keep them we had to keep them penned away from the dogs because the dogs would have had a good time

760
00:49:07.075 --> 00:49:09.255
playing with them like they were stuffed animals,

761
00:49:10.035 --> 00:49:12.295
and that wouldn't have been ideal for the

762
00:49:12.674 --> 00:49:13.734
birds. So

763
00:49:14.595 --> 00:49:15.414
for the poultry.

764
00:49:17.154 --> 00:49:20.750
So, Fred, I mean, you mentioned you mentioned hikes to the family,

765
00:49:24.410 --> 00:49:27.710
and then, I mean, in a way that respects their privacy,

766
00:49:28.170 --> 00:49:28.670
obviously.

767
00:49:29.690 --> 00:49:30.810
You know, I recently

768
00:49:32.415 --> 00:49:34.275
We recently had our first child.

769
00:49:35.855 --> 00:49:36.335
And,

770
00:49:36.815 --> 00:49:40.275
well, my wife did, and I helped her along in the process.

771
00:49:41.375 --> 00:49:44.275
And it's just really been the most beautiful, exhausting

772
00:49:46.430 --> 00:49:47.650
experience I've ever,

773
00:49:48.430 --> 00:49:51.730
been a part of. I mean, it's completely changed my life. Do you have any

774
00:49:53.150 --> 00:49:57.490
privacy preserving memories of how as a a father you could share with us?

775
00:50:00.605 --> 00:50:05.245
Just that he was thrilled to be a father. He was he was a good father. I think,

776
00:50:06.045 --> 00:50:07.345
we were a good

777
00:50:07.965 --> 00:50:08.465
parenting

778
00:50:08.845 --> 00:50:09.345
couple,

779
00:50:09.725 --> 00:50:12.545
but if one but I would say that

780
00:50:12.940 --> 00:50:13.760
Hal was

781
00:50:14.540 --> 00:50:17.760
50% of it for sure. In a lot of parenting

782
00:50:18.060 --> 00:50:18.560
couples,

783
00:50:20.060 --> 00:50:22.000
the wife might take more

784
00:50:22.300 --> 00:50:23.840
time, take more responsibilities,

785
00:50:24.140 --> 00:50:25.600
spend more time with the children.

786
00:50:26.140 --> 00:50:26.595
And

787
00:50:27.155 --> 00:50:32.135
I think that if I were to ask my children, they would say that that their dad

788
00:50:33.155 --> 00:50:34.215
was at least

789
00:50:34.595 --> 00:50:37.255
as involved as I was. We were both working,

790
00:50:38.850 --> 00:50:42.790
but we were both also there. We managed to split our hours so that

791
00:50:43.490 --> 00:50:45.510
at one point, when I was a physical therapist,

792
00:50:46.370 --> 00:50:54.070
I would work I would leave the house early while the kids were still in bed. Hal would get them up. He would give them breakfast. He'd take them to school.

793
00:50:54.645 --> 00:50:56.185
He would get to work,

794
00:50:56.565 --> 00:51:03.945
and then I would be this was before he was remote. They were little, and he was had to drive to work and actually work at an office.

795
00:51:04.725 --> 00:51:13.140
And, and then I would be done with my work and pick them up from school, And then he would come home, and we would both do things together. So we were

796
00:51:15.039 --> 00:51:19.940
both involved that way. And Hal was the one who did all the exciting things. He said, hey. Let's go to the museum.

797
00:51:20.240 --> 00:51:25.005
Let's do this. Let's do that. I was the more more of the boring parent, I would say.

798
00:51:26.585 --> 00:51:29.565
Hey. I wanted to say before we get our before,

799
00:51:30.105 --> 00:51:31.885
Alex joins us, I did wanna

800
00:51:32.665 --> 00:51:40.860
get back just a minute to, the the running Bitcoin challenge because I didn't talk about it too much, Matt. Let's talk about it. Yeah. I just wanted to

801
00:51:41.500 --> 00:51:45.119
because, one thing that is that we are looking for we are looking

802
00:51:45.660 --> 00:51:54.904
for anyone who wants to be a corporate sponsor if they want to to to check out the, running bitcoin dot us because,

803
00:51:55.780 --> 00:51:56.969
it it

804
00:51:57.845 --> 00:52:01.384
that's appreciated. And I know the members of of the committee,

805
00:52:02.244 --> 00:52:07.704
are actively looking for that. I have an example on the back of my shirt. It probably doesn't show.

806
00:52:08.060 --> 00:52:09.680
Let me I'll make you big.

807
00:52:10.540 --> 00:52:12.160
Oh, wow. That's wonderful.

808
00:52:13.580 --> 00:52:15.280
So those are last year.

809
00:52:17.020 --> 00:52:28.895
Got it. Yeah. And so is is there, like, different how much does a sponsorship cost? Are there different levels? I assume all the money goes to ALS Research. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I I would say just go to the website,

810
00:52:29.195 --> 00:52:34.415
running bitcoin dot us, and they have all the info there because I'm not the expert on that. But

811
00:52:34.875 --> 00:52:38.220
I I think it can be any level, and I don't know what the levels

812
00:52:39.580 --> 00:52:43.520
are. And is is as is it only Bitcoin companies that,

813
00:52:43.820 --> 00:52:47.180
support you? Or is it you have have you had non industry

814
00:52:47.740 --> 00:52:54.885
I assume you've had non industry businesses support as well. Right? I think this one is pretty much Bitcoin, but again, I'm I'm not sure.

815
00:52:55.425 --> 00:52:56.165
We've been

816
00:52:57.665 --> 00:53:01.205
one of the things is that we accept we do accept donations

817
00:53:01.585 --> 00:53:02.625
in in,

818
00:53:03.185 --> 00:53:05.365
US funds or other funds as well as

819
00:53:05.780 --> 00:53:06.440
as Bitcoin,

820
00:53:06.740 --> 00:53:07.240
but,

821
00:53:08.020 --> 00:53:08.680
we do

822
00:53:10.020 --> 00:53:11.940
get a lot in Bitcoin. And,

823
00:53:13.140 --> 00:53:14.180
I I think,

824
00:53:14.820 --> 00:53:15.320
that

825
00:53:15.780 --> 00:53:21.175
the ALS network, which is a group that I'm working with, they were the first and maybe still

826
00:53:21.475 --> 00:53:27.655
they were the first group to to start accepting. I know that to accept, any kind of cryptocurrency,

827
00:53:27.955 --> 00:53:30.215
and they're specifically Bitcoin. So

828
00:53:33.170 --> 00:53:40.230
that's Yep. Something. Yeah. There's some sort of yeah. Is there so we can run, we can donate.

829
00:53:41.009 --> 00:53:42.869
If we run a business or

830
00:53:43.490 --> 00:53:47.589
or for individuals, we can donate and and contribute that way. Yeah.

831
00:53:47.975 --> 00:53:53.015
What else can we do? Is there anything else? Also, is it if they're interested in just being enthusiastic and and,

832
00:53:53.735 --> 00:53:55.595
spreading the the, news

833
00:53:56.215 --> 00:54:00.795
and running, that's possible too. And there are actually runs throughout the year

834
00:54:01.260 --> 00:54:03.600
that, some of the people are are

835
00:54:03.980 --> 00:54:07.660
team Satoshi and some of the other, groups are doing just,

836
00:54:08.540 --> 00:54:09.040
to

837
00:54:09.900 --> 00:54:10.400
celebrate

838
00:54:11.020 --> 00:54:17.015
the running Bitcoin. And and so it's that's even possible. So just actively participating

839
00:54:17.795 --> 00:54:18.295
either

840
00:54:18.634 --> 00:54:19.134
the,

841
00:54:19.795 --> 00:54:20.295
activity,

842
00:54:21.474 --> 00:54:21.974
donations,

843
00:54:24.115 --> 00:54:25.815
just spreading the word that

844
00:54:26.115 --> 00:54:27.415
this is a way to

845
00:54:27.875 --> 00:54:29.335
maybe try to

846
00:54:29.840 --> 00:54:31.940
come together and find a cure for ALS.

847
00:54:34.160 --> 00:54:34.660
Wonderful.

848
00:54:42.000 --> 00:54:42.820
That's great.

849
00:54:43.485 --> 00:54:43.985
I,

850
00:54:45.965 --> 00:54:48.145
you're really committed, friend. I mean,

851
00:54:50.285 --> 00:54:51.425
I mean, I I

852
00:54:53.725 --> 00:54:57.425
it's been a it's been a decade, and you're upholding you're upholding how's

853
00:54:57.890 --> 00:55:00.050
how's the last request to you,

854
00:55:00.850 --> 00:55:03.430
in in a way that I think most people would,

855
00:55:05.330 --> 00:55:10.950
to a level that most people would not. I mean, you are incredibly committed, and and it really does show. So,

856
00:55:11.505 --> 00:55:16.484
you should be you should be very proud. You should be there's there's there's many of us that have

857
00:55:16.944 --> 00:55:17.444
have

858
00:55:17.904 --> 00:55:19.045
have watched you,

859
00:55:20.625 --> 00:55:24.885
just really lead the charge, and it's it's been incredibly impressive. I mean,

860
00:55:25.760 --> 00:55:28.020
when your team first reached out about this conversation,

861
00:55:28.880 --> 00:55:31.940
it was just an immediate yes. I I am incredibly

862
00:55:32.800 --> 00:55:33.300
impressed,

863
00:55:34.400 --> 00:55:35.380
by your dedication.

864
00:55:35.920 --> 00:55:37.220
So thank you.

865
00:55:38.954 --> 00:55:41.674
Oh, of course. Of course. I'm I'm just,

866
00:55:42.474 --> 00:55:44.015
like I said, I I I've been

867
00:55:44.315 --> 00:55:45.855
very heartened and and

868
00:55:47.595 --> 00:55:49.055
I love the way that oh,

869
00:55:49.914 --> 00:55:56.670
I I, Alex. I've been the whole community, the way the whole community has been so supportive has been really wonderful.

870
00:55:58.010 --> 00:56:02.430
We just had, Alex Gladstein, the Human Rights Foundation join us. How's it going, Alex?

871
00:56:03.305 --> 00:56:12.285
Hey. It's going really well. Thanks for having me. Thanks for joining us. We've just been Fran's been sharing memories of Hal with us and talking about the fight

872
00:56:12.585 --> 00:56:14.045
against ALS and

873
00:56:15.224 --> 00:56:18.030
reminiscing about the early days of Bitcoin a little bit.

874
00:56:19.790 --> 00:56:22.690
Amazing. But, yeah, it's a it's a pleasure to have you.

875
00:56:24.510 --> 00:56:25.970
So, Alex, I mean,

876
00:56:26.350 --> 00:56:28.050
we haven't talked at all about,

877
00:56:28.430 --> 00:56:29.570
the Finney Prize.

878
00:56:30.190 --> 00:56:32.130
I think this is an amazing initiative

879
00:56:33.775 --> 00:56:37.555
that your your team at the Human Rights Foundation has has been leading.

880
00:56:38.415 --> 00:56:41.235
Do you want to explain to us what this is?

881
00:56:42.895 --> 00:56:43.395
Sure.

882
00:56:44.255 --> 00:56:47.315
Well, so, originally, the idea came because

883
00:56:48.260 --> 00:56:49.560
we wanted to do something

884
00:56:50.260 --> 00:56:51.880
kind of in sync with the having

885
00:56:52.260 --> 00:56:54.359
as a a kind of a global celebration

886
00:56:55.140 --> 00:56:55.880
of Bitcoin's,

887
00:56:56.740 --> 00:56:57.720
you know, incorruptible

888
00:56:58.339 --> 00:56:59.400
monetary policy

889
00:57:00.425 --> 00:57:04.445
as a celebration of something that, you know, finally, we

890
00:57:04.825 --> 00:57:09.385
we can't screw with. Right? We we we humans have a tendency to screw with everything, and,

891
00:57:10.025 --> 00:57:12.525
here's here's our shot at having something that

892
00:57:12.940 --> 00:57:15.600
actually we can't screw with, and it forces us to be better.

893
00:57:16.620 --> 00:57:18.160
So we really like the idea

894
00:57:19.020 --> 00:57:22.240
of trying to optimistically plan for a long term project,

895
00:57:23.020 --> 00:57:23.520
and

896
00:57:24.540 --> 00:57:28.635
we thought that a really neat idea would be to try to honor,

897
00:57:29.415 --> 00:57:29.915
Hal,

898
00:57:31.015 --> 00:57:34.155
with all of his achievements ranging from privacy to

899
00:57:34.695 --> 00:57:36.475
Bitcoin to open source software,

900
00:57:37.575 --> 00:57:40.955
with the prize. So couple of friends of ours put us in touch

901
00:57:41.390 --> 00:57:41.890
with,

902
00:57:42.830 --> 00:57:44.190
Fran and her team, and,

903
00:57:45.150 --> 00:57:49.490
we had a busy couple months trying to figure it out. And I'm very happy

904
00:57:50.350 --> 00:57:53.250
with the outcome. I think the hardest part is obviously

905
00:57:54.494 --> 00:57:55.315
ahead of us,

906
00:57:55.855 --> 00:57:58.194
but I think the launch went well. And,

907
00:57:58.734 --> 00:58:01.714
yeah, I think it's kinda like a nice thing because it's

908
00:58:02.655 --> 00:58:06.914
a bit of a sleeper project in terms of, I think, it, it it it really

909
00:58:07.520 --> 00:58:08.980
gets stronger over time.

910
00:58:09.920 --> 00:58:21.300
Every 5 years, every 10 years, every 20 years, I think it's gonna become more and more and more prominent, which is which is pretty pretty exciting. Yeah. I mean, that's an understatement. Do you wanna just go through the mechanics of this? Because it's a pretty

911
00:58:23.335 --> 00:58:33.435
yeah. First of all, thanks, to Fran for being open to it. I'm sure it was a little crazy when we first came to her with it, but, credit to her for being excited from pretty much day 1.

912
00:58:38.850 --> 00:58:43.750
So, yeah, so we thought what would be cool was to take advantage of the information asymmetry

913
00:58:44.530 --> 00:58:45.910
around Bitcoin. And,

914
00:58:46.850 --> 00:58:49.190
you know, we have been fortunate enough to

915
00:58:49.825 --> 00:58:50.885
have some donations,

916
00:58:52.225 --> 00:58:52.885
come in

917
00:58:53.505 --> 00:58:54.165
in in Bitcoin

918
00:58:54.465 --> 00:58:55.685
to the Human Rights Foundation

919
00:58:55.985 --> 00:58:57.125
over the last few years.

920
00:58:57.905 --> 00:58:58.405
And

921
00:58:58.705 --> 00:59:00.485
we thought it would be neat to

922
00:59:01.585 --> 00:59:04.970
kind of work off the one Bitcoin is one Bitcoin mean,

923
00:59:06.390 --> 00:59:08.730
not denominate the prize in dollars,

924
00:59:09.350 --> 00:59:13.610
and simply just give a 100,000,000 sets for every laureate. Now,

925
00:59:14.550 --> 00:59:16.970
the prize, which you can read more about at finneyprize.org,

926
00:59:18.665 --> 00:59:20.205
just to give a high level overview,

927
00:59:21.305 --> 00:59:26.125
basically, it's supposed to go to the person in each having era who does the most for Bitcoin and human rights,

928
00:59:26.585 --> 00:59:29.385
sort of simply. Now there's there's more context to that,

929
00:59:29.945 --> 00:59:33.870
about all the things Hal did in terms of both contributing to code,

930
00:59:34.250 --> 00:59:35.790
contributing to the Bitcoin community,

931
00:59:36.330 --> 00:59:37.470
contributing to,

932
00:59:38.730 --> 00:59:40.590
the world's understanding of Bitcoin.

933
00:59:41.610 --> 00:59:44.325
So we're probably talking people here who are

934
00:59:45.045 --> 00:59:46.265
a bit of a renaissance

935
00:59:46.645 --> 00:59:48.505
man or woman or group potentially

936
00:59:48.885 --> 00:59:51.625
who are doing a bunch of different things, like Hal, probably,

937
00:59:52.325 --> 00:59:57.704
who are contributing different ways. But the general idea is, like, someone who's really got that cypherpunk ethos,

938
00:59:58.420 --> 01:00:00.920
cares about privacy and individual liberty.

939
01:00:02.100 --> 01:00:09.800
And Hal was the obvious choice for the 1st era, which, you know, essentially was from from inception until 2012. Right? So first prize,

940
01:00:10.660 --> 01:00:11.960
went went to Hal.

941
01:00:12.845 --> 01:00:14.385
The Finney family decided,

942
01:00:15.885 --> 01:00:17.184
to direct the monetary

943
01:00:17.645 --> 01:00:20.545
portion to to a deserving participant, which

944
01:00:20.845 --> 01:00:21.484
which is,

945
01:00:21.964 --> 01:00:26.865
I don't know if, Fran, you've already touched on that or or should we we I assume you've discussed that. Right?

946
01:00:27.570 --> 01:00:28.870
Given the 28th?

947
01:00:30.370 --> 01:00:39.750
No? Yeah. I I did sort of I I didn't I didn't I was holding off on talking about the new Freedom Price, so I talked about Perfect. The, about the I'll I'll I'll let you

948
01:00:40.075 --> 01:00:42.975
I'll let you add color to that after my overview.

949
01:00:43.595 --> 01:00:49.615
But, basically, we've already started something amazing with the first prize, which is super, super cool and beyond any of our expectations.

950
01:00:50.795 --> 01:00:51.675
Now there's,

951
01:00:52.155 --> 01:00:54.335
we had brought on Aaron von Werdum for

952
01:00:54.660 --> 01:00:56.200
sort of historical technical

953
01:00:56.500 --> 01:00:57.640
consulting and support,

954
01:00:58.099 --> 01:01:03.160
in the inception of the prize, and he actually became part of the prize committee, which I'll which I'll discuss in a second.

955
01:01:04.180 --> 01:01:06.839
But we actually so we figured out there's, like, 33

956
01:01:07.140 --> 01:01:09.160
changes to Bitcoin monetary policy,

957
01:01:10.475 --> 01:01:12.015
from the beginning. So from

958
01:01:12.395 --> 01:01:12.895
50

959
01:01:13.435 --> 01:01:13.935
Bitcoin,

960
01:01:15.115 --> 01:01:15.615
per,

961
01:01:16.235 --> 01:01:18.015
block all the way down to 0.

962
01:01:18.555 --> 01:01:22.575
The final halving will actually cut, from from 1 satoshi

963
01:01:23.180 --> 01:01:26.160
to 0, so that counts. So there's there's 33

964
01:01:26.860 --> 01:01:27.360
awards

965
01:01:27.740 --> 01:01:29.040
that will last until

966
01:01:29.340 --> 01:01:36.240
somewhere around 21, 38, or something like that. So it's a long term prize that will outlast us, which is a lot of fun.

967
01:01:38.205 --> 01:01:39.265
And every single,

968
01:01:40.205 --> 01:01:45.345
recipient, every every 4 ish years, it's not it's not really in fiat time, but, basically,

969
01:01:46.925 --> 01:01:47.325
every,

970
01:01:48.365 --> 01:01:50.145
what is it, Matt? How many blocks

971
01:01:50.845 --> 01:01:52.530
in a in a in a having era?

972
01:01:53.170 --> 01:01:55.110
You're you're putting me on the spot.

973
01:01:55.490 --> 01:01:57.430
I'll just figure it out. Hold on.

974
01:01:58.610 --> 01:02:01.030
We've gotta have somebody in the comments. 21 220

975
01:02:01.650 --> 01:02:01.810
22

976
01:02:02.610 --> 01:02:02.850
21

977
01:02:03.970 --> 01:02:04.470
210,000.

978
01:02:04.850 --> 01:02:05.350
Okay.

979
01:02:05.795 --> 01:02:08.135
200,000 Like the half hour. 210,000,

980
01:02:08.515 --> 01:02:12.775
of course. 21. 210,000 blocks. So every 210,000 blocks, they'll be,

981
01:02:13.075 --> 01:02:13.735
a laureate,

982
01:02:14.195 --> 01:02:15.735
like a Nobel laureate, basically.

983
01:02:16.275 --> 01:02:19.990
Now Hal won the first one again. There'll be 32 more. So you go to finneyprize.org,

984
01:02:20.369 --> 01:02:23.829
you can see we've, you know, held them all, and we have all the block heights for each one.

985
01:02:25.410 --> 01:02:28.150
The statute, which you can look up the details of the prize,

986
01:02:28.450 --> 01:02:30.790
it's on the website for maximum transparency.

987
01:02:31.185 --> 01:02:36.005
There could be as many as 2 laureates in a having earring, in which case they would split the monetary award,

988
01:02:36.545 --> 01:02:37.045
50,000,000

989
01:02:37.425 --> 01:02:40.565
sats each. And, again, the award can be a person or a group.

990
01:02:43.585 --> 01:02:46.565
And, essentially, what we wanted to do was,

991
01:02:47.790 --> 01:02:52.050
you know, try and empower a group of individuals to really do all the work,

992
01:02:53.070 --> 01:02:53.570
and,

993
01:02:54.270 --> 01:02:55.730
you know, not disassociate

994
01:02:56.030 --> 01:02:58.530
ourselves, but but at least provide accountability

995
01:02:59.230 --> 01:03:02.050
so that we weren't just, like, deciding who it should be.

996
01:03:02.454 --> 01:03:04.635
So the way we did this and and,

997
01:03:05.734 --> 01:03:10.875
Vittas Zeller was was key in helping figure this out, and he's also on on the committee for the first,

998
01:03:11.255 --> 01:03:14.474
we call the genesis committee, was was creating a committee of people.

999
01:03:14.775 --> 01:03:17.194
So if you look on the website, you can see 7 people.

1000
01:03:18.700 --> 01:03:19.760
7 individuals

1001
01:03:20.700 --> 01:03:28.640
who make up what we're calling the genesis committee. So so this committee is helping us figure out how to bootstrap the project. Right? Because we're already in 2024.

1002
01:03:29.580 --> 01:03:31.680
Right? So we've already seen a number of havings.

1003
01:03:32.025 --> 01:03:41.404
So we have to kind of seen 4. Yeah. We've seen 4 havings. So Yeah. 2012 is handled. That was that's that that price will has gone to hell. 2016,

1004
01:03:43.145 --> 01:03:52.850
we're gonna find out, every, running Bitcoin day for the next few years, you'll you'll get another. So so 2012 to 2016, we're gonna find out this January,

1005
01:03:53.710 --> 01:03:55.010
on 10th on 10th

1006
01:03:55.470 --> 01:03:56.530
it will be released.

1007
01:03:57.310 --> 01:04:02.505
There was a really nice animated video that I encourage people to watch that explains how's life at finneyprize.org.

1008
01:04:03.605 --> 01:04:04.345
We'll do

1009
01:04:04.885 --> 01:04:10.665
thank you. We'll we'll do a not quite as ambitious, but we'll do a we'll do a version of that for each laureate.

1010
01:04:10.965 --> 01:04:29.990
So we'll have something like that, a modest ceremony, you know, how it wasn't until, like, you know, giant, you know, physical parties. So so we'll do a modest online announcement with a video, and that's about it, and there's a monetary prize. So there's no, like, requirement for somebody to do anything. There's a physical award too. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I'll I'll get to the physical award. But,

1011
01:04:30.865 --> 01:04:34.325
no. No. It's there's a lot of pieces. It's fun. So, essentially,

1012
01:04:36.065 --> 01:04:36.965
the the committee,

1013
01:04:37.265 --> 01:04:42.085
what they'll do is they'll they'll they'll submit to the Finney Family and the Human Rights Foundation,

1014
01:04:43.025 --> 01:04:43.525
five

1015
01:04:43.960 --> 01:04:44.460
nominees

1016
01:04:44.760 --> 01:04:45.260
privately,

1017
01:04:46.360 --> 01:04:51.180
and they'll rank them. Okay? And then we will we will choose from that list.

1018
01:04:51.720 --> 01:04:55.080
They their job the committee's job is to give us that list, I believe,

1019
01:04:55.880 --> 01:04:57.580
I think we said 21 days.

1020
01:04:59.684 --> 01:05:05.464
It's it's something like that. But, basically, let's just say December. So we basically have a month or so to think about it, and then,

1021
01:05:06.484 --> 01:05:17.690
I believe it might be 21 days, but something like that. So, like, mid December, we'll get the list. We'll have a couple weeks to think about it, and then we'll name the person. Now to add accountability and power to the group, to the committee,

1022
01:05:18.630 --> 01:05:20.809
we will publish the ranked list afterwards.

1023
01:05:21.109 --> 01:05:22.809
So, for example, if, like,

1024
01:05:23.750 --> 01:05:30.565
we don't choose the top, somebody from the top 1, 2, 3. I mean, it starts to get you know, people will have questions, and

1025
01:05:30.865 --> 01:05:36.725
the the sanctity of the prize gets called into question. So it's it's kind of a nice way of, kind of giving accountability

1026
01:05:37.920 --> 01:05:45.460
to the people running it. Do you see what I'm saying? Like like So the the committee is giving you 1 through 5, and then your team is choosing We're gonna choose

1027
01:05:46.079 --> 01:05:48.819
somebody from that ranked list, but it's ranked.

1028
01:05:49.119 --> 01:05:49.859
And then

1029
01:05:50.265 --> 01:05:52.444
on the day that we announce the laureate,

1030
01:05:54.184 --> 01:05:56.204
we will also publish the ranked list.

1031
01:05:56.505 --> 01:06:05.325
Got it. So it'll be kinda like your nom you know, it is like you're nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. There's hundreds of people nominated. There'll only be 5 people nominated or 5 groups

1032
01:06:05.660 --> 01:06:09.760
nominated, each each having. So even being nominated, I think, will be quite something.

1033
01:06:10.380 --> 01:06:12.800
But to be clear, being nominated won't be something,

1034
01:06:13.420 --> 01:06:18.800
you know, endorsed or condoned by the Finney family or HRF. It's it's an independent committee. We'll choose 1,

1035
01:06:19.415 --> 01:06:27.515
And that's sort of the deal. Now there's there's other details, but that's sort of the idea. Now here's the here's one of my favorite parts is that, well, how do you ensure that a 100 years from now,

1036
01:06:28.695 --> 01:06:32.290
the the committee will retain some of its intellectual philosophical

1037
01:06:32.830 --> 01:06:33.330
commitments.

1038
01:06:33.869 --> 01:06:36.850
Well, the idea is once the genesis committee's done its job,

1039
01:06:37.869 --> 01:06:39.890
which which which will be complete,

1040
01:06:41.150 --> 01:06:42.369
by by 2028

1041
01:06:42.750 --> 01:06:48.045
so essentially, the idea is 2012 to 2016 gets announced this this coming year, 2025.

1042
01:06:48.984 --> 01:06:51.325
Then 2016 to 20 gets announced, 2026.

1043
01:06:52.345 --> 01:06:52.845
Then

1044
01:06:53.305 --> 01:06:54.525
2020 to 24

1045
01:06:55.385 --> 01:06:56.765
gets announced, 2027.

1046
01:06:57.680 --> 01:07:04.500
And then we're on track. So then, like, we're not gonna be running Bitcoin. The having. Yeah. Then we've caught up, and it'll be 2028 having.

1047
01:07:05.120 --> 01:07:07.300
We'll go 2024 to 2028.

1048
01:07:07.600 --> 01:07:12.980
This is And then we're just and then we're on. So it sort of bootstraps in the same way Bitcoin bootstrapped where the first

1049
01:07:13.375 --> 01:07:20.835
4 years you get a lot of, kind of heightened attention and awareness. And then after that, it's just every 4 years, like like, per per the book.

1050
01:07:21.375 --> 01:07:24.035
And the cool part is once the genesis committee is done,

1051
01:07:24.335 --> 01:07:33.630
they will name they will each name a successor. Now, of course, we have to approve that, but, you know, chances are we will. So the point is that successor

1052
01:07:34.730 --> 01:07:43.285
is the person that that person on the committee deems as a spiritual successor to them in terms that they think the same way. They they have the same values. And then each having era,

1053
01:07:43.744 --> 01:07:49.765
each each individual person on the committee will name their successor. So essentially, you'll get this unbroken chain of philosophical,

1054
01:07:51.345 --> 01:07:55.765
agreement over a century is the idea. And that hopefully will hold the committee

1055
01:07:56.220 --> 01:07:57.440
intact in terms

1056
01:07:57.980 --> 01:08:02.480
of what we want. That's the idea. And we we obviously were very careful with the first committee

1057
01:08:02.940 --> 01:08:05.440
appointing a genesis committee that was truly global

1058
01:08:06.060 --> 01:08:11.119
and that comprised individuals of different walks of life. Right? So in there, you'll see historians,

1059
01:08:12.365 --> 01:08:13.265
core developers,

1060
01:08:14.045 --> 01:08:14.545
cypherpunks,

1061
01:08:15.565 --> 01:08:16.065
investors,

1062
01:08:17.485 --> 01:08:17.985
philanthropists,

1063
01:08:18.685 --> 01:08:19.185
activists,

1064
01:08:19.885 --> 01:08:24.065
educators. So there's, like, one kind of type of each person that's important to Bitcoin.

1065
01:08:25.430 --> 01:08:28.730
And they come from different backgrounds, different parts of the world, different perspectives.

1066
01:08:29.350 --> 01:08:37.530
So we're really bullish on this committee, first of all, doing a pretty good job for the first couple of havings and then also setting the groundwork for,

1067
01:08:37.910 --> 01:08:41.205
hopefully, the next 100 years. And who knows what will happen? But

1068
01:08:42.005 --> 01:08:46.585
but that's the idea. Now the prize itself is 2 components. It's a it's a Bitcoin.

1069
01:08:46.965 --> 01:08:49.465
And people can today, they can go and,

1070
01:08:50.245 --> 01:08:51.065
go to finyprize.org,

1071
01:08:51.365 --> 01:08:57.480
and they can see they can they can look up Donoblock Explorer, and they can see the 32 Bitcoin. We put a little extra in there.

1072
01:08:58.820 --> 01:09:03.240
Even some might say a lot extra. We we added an extra 10,000,000 Sats just to,

1073
01:09:03.940 --> 01:09:04.440
ensure

1074
01:09:05.940 --> 01:09:07.605
that we can cover fees. I mean,

1075
01:09:08.405 --> 01:09:16.165
I'm someone who sort of believes that in Sats terms, fees won't be too crazy. Yeah. I think in dollar to dollar terms, they're gonna get nuts. But I I think that,

1076
01:09:16.725 --> 01:09:18.665
I think that, hopefully, this covers it.

1077
01:09:19.845 --> 01:09:26.880
But we're gonna we're gonna we we have lots of time to figure this out in terms of how to make this cool and make it make it fun and keep it with technology

1078
01:09:27.500 --> 01:09:29.280
as it grows. Like so for example,

1079
01:09:29.659 --> 01:09:33.840
there's ideas of, like, while in the first 4 to 6 years of the project,

1080
01:09:34.405 --> 01:09:36.985
you know, let's say between now and the end of the cent the decade,

1081
01:09:37.845 --> 01:09:44.505
maybe there's a way where we move because right now, it's all and it's just like UTXO. Right? Yeah. It's pretty loud, guys.

1082
01:09:44.805 --> 01:09:47.465
Yeah. So maybe we move them into 32

1083
01:09:48.030 --> 01:09:57.970
while fees are low, and then maybe those can even be open dime style type things where it's like you you you we don't we're not paying a fee. We're we're we're moving the ownership of the Bitcoin,

1084
01:09:58.750 --> 01:10:04.585
physically and potentially in the prize. So this is something we're working with the prize person on. We'll see.

1085
01:10:05.445 --> 01:10:11.145
But Crypto Graffiti is the person the artist designing the prize. It's freaking awesome. It's it's in development.

1086
01:10:12.325 --> 01:10:20.690
And the cool part is he's like I was like, well, how do you wanna do this? And he's like, well, I'm not gonna be around in in 80 years, dude. So so we're make he's making all of them up front,

1087
01:10:20.990 --> 01:10:24.530
and we're like, we're gonna find, like, a bunker to store them in.

1088
01:10:25.790 --> 01:10:31.570
And, they'll be like a little we'll be able to do, like, a little custom engraved plate, you know, that we'll attach

1089
01:10:31.870 --> 01:10:32.770
to each person

1090
01:10:33.225 --> 01:10:35.324
post that he'll help us with post,

1091
01:10:36.025 --> 01:10:46.125
but but the point is all of them are all of them are the design is quite cool. This will be its own little announcement later this year. We'll we'll we'll we'll, obviously, we'll we'll plan to announce the prize itself of sculpture,

1092
01:10:46.550 --> 01:10:58.730
and we'll we'll we'll just share information about it and the artist. That that'll probably happen on on running Bitcoin Day. We'll announce that as well, but he's been working hard on that. That's super cool. But the idea in the future of, like, potentially it being a physical

1093
01:10:59.085 --> 01:11:01.105
thing where it has an open dime style,

1094
01:11:02.045 --> 01:11:05.265
apparatus inside of it is is it is appealing to us. We'll see.

1095
01:11:06.525 --> 01:11:07.265
We also

1096
01:11:07.805 --> 01:11:09.005
I will just say that,

1097
01:11:10.445 --> 01:11:10.945
we

1098
01:11:12.140 --> 01:11:20.620
we arrange it in such a way where, like, I don't really care how much chain analysis you do on that Bitcoin. You're not gonna find any of our donors. Let's just put it that way. So,

1099
01:11:21.180 --> 01:11:23.115
so that was important to us as well.

1100
01:11:23.755 --> 01:11:27.295
I'm gonna like this now. Go go go wild, baby. Go wild.

1101
01:11:29.435 --> 01:11:29.935
But,

1102
01:11:30.555 --> 01:11:32.495
yeah, and important to note the first

1103
01:11:32.795 --> 01:11:38.335
piece, the first chunk was is already sort of is done separately, so it was never in that UTIXO,

1104
01:11:39.180 --> 01:11:46.880
the one that that was meant for Hal. So that's a little that's that's separate. But, the other 32 were in there. You could look it up today. So that's in there.

1105
01:11:47.260 --> 01:11:50.160
And look, I I just to conclude, I think it's

1106
01:11:51.685 --> 01:11:56.745
it's something that grows in in importance over time. We think one day, it'll be the largest cash prize in the world without question.

1107
01:11:57.364 --> 01:12:00.885
We think that it'll be bigger than the Nobel Peace Prize. We think that,

1108
01:12:01.765 --> 01:12:05.945
it is an amazing way to honor hell. So that's that's that's that's the goal.

1109
01:12:09.309 --> 01:12:13.730
That's dude, that is crazy what you guys came up with over there. I mean, building

1110
01:12:15.710 --> 01:12:18.449
a you know, this this massively long,

1111
01:12:19.505 --> 01:12:20.005
basically

1112
01:12:20.545 --> 01:12:21.605
honoring hell,

1113
01:12:22.065 --> 01:12:23.985
for for a century plus is,

1114
01:12:24.704 --> 01:12:30.960
And the the finite nature, the scarce nature, there's only gonna be 33 peep people or individuals or

1115
01:12:31.440 --> 01:12:37.780
there's if the prize ends in 21/38, like, there'll be no more Finney prizes. So that's it's over. It's like a scarce thing.

1116
01:12:38.080 --> 01:12:40.420
So, again, it really honors the adoption cycle.

1117
01:12:43.200 --> 01:12:45.219
Wonderful. Love this. I love this.

1118
01:12:46.015 --> 01:12:50.915
It's, like, this is, I mean, this is Hal's legacy right here. This is fantastic.

1119
01:12:52.575 --> 01:13:01.315
Change the world. So what did so what did we do, Fran? What did you do, Fran? Tell us more about where the first monetary prize is going and what's what's gonna make possible.

1120
01:13:01.650 --> 01:13:04.070
Yes. So I thought about what would

1121
01:13:04.530 --> 01:13:05.430
be meaningful

1122
01:13:06.210 --> 01:13:07.910
and make the prize meaningful,

1123
01:13:08.290 --> 01:13:10.150
doubly meaningful. And so

1124
01:13:10.770 --> 01:13:11.270
I

1125
01:13:12.050 --> 01:13:13.670
so along with the family's

1126
01:13:13.970 --> 01:13:19.115
support and encouragement, we decided to have that the monetary part of the prize donated

1127
01:13:19.575 --> 01:13:22.715
as the to the Hal Finney ALS Research

1128
01:13:23.175 --> 01:13:23.675
Fund.

1129
01:13:24.215 --> 01:13:29.435
So that's actually the first chunk that's going in there. And, that's that's what's starting

1130
01:13:29.975 --> 01:13:37.140
that fund that I mentioned earlier. And then from there on out, any the people can funnel things directly into that fund.

1131
01:13:37.520 --> 01:13:38.659
So that is happening,

1132
01:13:39.120 --> 01:13:40.260
and it has actually

1133
01:13:40.719 --> 01:13:45.219
happened. So it it it's So so basically, you've helped launch a new

1134
01:13:45.665 --> 01:13:51.685
fund cutting edge research to help fight ALS in house name and memory with this funding. Exactly.

1135
01:13:52.065 --> 01:13:58.165
And, it's so it's great. So like I said, it's a double thing. There's a meaningfulness of the prize itself is incredible.

1136
01:13:58.785 --> 01:14:00.405
And the fact that we have this,

1137
01:14:00.920 --> 01:14:03.260
forever for the next, till 20

1138
01:14:03.880 --> 01:14:05.020
till for the next

1139
01:14:06.440 --> 01:14:11.900
30 oh, up 33. 30. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, 33 havings. Yeah. Whatever.

1140
01:14:12.440 --> 01:14:15.020
We have And look, we have this going on commemorating

1141
01:14:15.480 --> 01:14:18.675
to commemorating how this is impacting the world,

1142
01:14:19.295 --> 01:14:26.655
and and giving to people who are utilizing this technology in a way that will impact the world in a meaningful and and,

1143
01:14:27.295 --> 01:14:33.270
effective way. And then we also have this first prize going towards finding a cure for ALS.

1144
01:14:33.730 --> 01:14:36.550
So, it's it's a double meaningful, huge,

1145
01:14:37.490 --> 01:14:40.390
impactful thing for him. And by the way, I mean, it's

1146
01:14:41.890 --> 01:14:48.465
aside from potentially, hopefully, the Bitcoin monetary policy, I mean, corruption is impossible to fight completely. So Right. Look. The noble

1147
01:14:49.105 --> 01:14:52.804
a 100 years, though, like, the noble the noble peace prize, like,

1148
01:14:53.505 --> 01:15:06.560
basically, like, you could argue, but it it it held it together pretty well for about a 100 years before it started to to go south. So so I think I think we can I think it's like we can do it? It's like we could just fight.

1149
01:15:06.860 --> 01:15:14.700
Keep these committee members. Just just make just, make sure that these it was the key was make was was was creating a a a first,

1150
01:15:16.735 --> 01:15:17.715
a first committee,

1151
01:15:19.295 --> 01:15:21.635
that that could that could be the foundation,

1152
01:15:22.575 --> 01:15:26.595
for for for for the future. So that that was really the the the goal.

1153
01:15:26.975 --> 01:15:41.520
I think this focus on on on trying to not have this corruption is is huge too, Alex, because this isn't something that I think was big on the Nobel Priests Prize or anything like that. I mean, really, the whole design of the way the intricacies

1154
01:15:41.900 --> 01:15:43.680
of the design are are pretty

1155
01:15:44.435 --> 01:15:45.315
amazing. And,

1156
01:15:46.755 --> 01:15:53.495
what So I'll just I could I could just I also want I just wanted to shout out the people on the committee, so people Yeah. Modeling can see.

1157
01:15:53.795 --> 01:15:54.695
So we've got,

1158
01:15:55.955 --> 01:15:59.710
Viddis, who obviously is working with Fran and is just super,

1159
01:16:00.250 --> 01:16:00.750
dedicated

1160
01:16:01.370 --> 01:16:04.110
cypherpunk and is just totally uncompromising

1161
01:16:04.490 --> 01:16:08.270
on his values, and I can tell you that for sure. I super respect

1162
01:16:08.570 --> 01:16:09.290
him for that.

1163
01:16:10.010 --> 01:16:11.310
So he'll give, like, a,

1164
01:16:12.375 --> 01:16:15.995
yeah, like, a encrypted heart to this thing for sure.

1165
01:16:17.095 --> 01:16:24.235
Gloria Zhao is one of the handful of Bitcoin core maintainers and is, someone who works at Brink to help, support Bitcoin development.

1166
01:16:25.390 --> 01:16:31.410
Obi Nwosu is, an entrepreneur who started the the the UK's largest Bitcoin exchange and then later,

1167
01:16:32.110 --> 01:16:39.250
founded FETI, which is an e cash project, as well as someone who sits on the board mem board of BTrust, which is supporting Bitcoin development.

1168
01:16:40.435 --> 01:16:44.195
Aaron von Weerdam is a cypherpunk historian. He wrote,

1169
01:16:45.315 --> 01:16:48.054
a a great book called the Genesis Book about,

1170
01:16:48.915 --> 01:16:54.455
basically, the the prehistory to Bitcoin and and how it's featured in there for sure. So

1171
01:16:54.900 --> 01:16:57.720
having someone that knew that history was important.

1172
01:16:59.540 --> 01:17:06.660
Lisa Nagat is, the cofounder of Base 58. She was developing lightning on the Blockstream for a long time and now has become,

1173
01:17:08.045 --> 01:17:08.925
I think, a really,

1174
01:17:09.325 --> 01:17:09.825
impressive,

1175
01:17:10.765 --> 01:17:12.925
formidable Bitcoin educator both,

1176
01:17:13.405 --> 01:17:13.905
teaching

1177
01:17:15.565 --> 01:17:18.065
other developers and also the general public.

1178
01:17:18.365 --> 01:17:21.745
The conference she organizes called Bitcoin plus plus is really,

1179
01:17:22.100 --> 01:17:24.360
I think, quite cutting edge and and very global,

1180
01:17:25.060 --> 01:17:27.060
which is important which was important to us.

1181
01:17:27.780 --> 01:17:35.960
You know, look. We're we're focused on authoritarian regimes, so we're not necessarily focused on western democracies. So it's important to us to have this global aspect,

1182
01:17:36.500 --> 01:17:41.995
to that. And Frida Aburaima is on here. She's the founder of the Africa Bitcoin Conference and a,

1183
01:17:42.855 --> 01:17:46.315
really amazing activist who's using Bitcoin both logistically

1184
01:17:46.855 --> 01:17:48.075
and and sort of ideologically,

1185
01:17:49.335 --> 01:17:52.235
in in West Africa and under French colonialism.

1186
01:17:53.130 --> 01:17:54.350
And then Ross Stevens,

1187
01:17:55.050 --> 01:18:03.070
is on the board as well or on the committee as well. And I I think he comes at it obviously more from the the business business world, but I I think his contributions

1188
01:18:03.770 --> 01:18:06.510
sort of speak for themselves in terms of, basically

1189
01:18:07.175 --> 01:18:15.035
our understanding of what Bitcoin's gonna do to the world and and his ability to push that lever. So it's a pretty awesome group of 7. That's all I can say.

1190
01:18:15.335 --> 01:18:19.035
I I mean, I'm fortunate to know all them pretty well personally.

1191
01:18:19.360 --> 01:18:23.060
And, you've you've picked you've you've assembled a high integrity,

1192
01:18:24.000 --> 01:18:28.740
group of individuals that have a long standing established proof of work.

1193
01:18:30.080 --> 01:18:46.894
So Yeah. It's kinda like what's that there's like that joke on social media where it's like, here are the 7 people that, you know, you'd have to corrupt to get me. Right? Well, it's like It's a pretty good selection. Pretty good one. It'd be pretty tough to corrupt these people. So I'm gonna kinda impossible to corrupt all of them. I'm kinda I'm gonna kinda put you on the spot.

1194
01:18:49.670 --> 01:18:57.210
What what was the reasoning what's the thought behind not just having the committee choose? Like, why is the committee providing a ranked order and then

1195
01:18:57.750 --> 01:19:00.170
there's another selection process after that?

1196
01:19:01.750 --> 01:19:03.290
It's a great question. Well,

1197
01:19:03.855 --> 01:19:13.395
I think at the end of the day, this is a this is something that is administered by the Human Rights Foundation. You know? We're taking all the legal and monetary

1198
01:19:13.855 --> 01:19:14.735
risk of,

1199
01:19:15.870 --> 01:19:19.490
keeping and storing and custodying the Bitcoin for a century.

1200
01:19:20.510 --> 01:19:23.170
That's our that's only that's solely our responsibility

1201
01:19:23.630 --> 01:19:25.730
Got it. Got it. And managing

1202
01:19:26.030 --> 01:19:31.305
the dignity of the prize. And there's some there's there's some stuff in terms of, like,

1203
01:19:31.865 --> 01:19:40.045
you know, we we we also we get this isn't the first prize we we give out. We we give out a, a prize in honor of, a bust of Havel as well.

1204
01:19:40.425 --> 01:19:40.665
And,

1205
01:19:41.785 --> 01:19:42.905
we've been doing that for,

1206
01:19:43.400 --> 01:19:47.739
for more than a decade. We've been doing that since 2012, and we give out a prize for creative descent.

1207
01:19:48.360 --> 01:19:48.860
And,

1208
01:19:49.239 --> 01:19:53.420
you know, sometimes things get tough. Like, we we had 1 year, we had a, a Russian,

1209
01:19:54.360 --> 01:19:58.060
artist who received the prize, but then wanted to donate

1210
01:19:59.344 --> 01:20:00.885
the monetary piece to,

1211
01:20:01.585 --> 01:20:02.085
essentially,

1212
01:20:03.185 --> 01:20:07.205
say terrorist group, but, like, a violent group in Russia that was killing police officers

1213
01:20:07.985 --> 01:20:09.925
as retribution against the regime.

1214
01:20:10.225 --> 01:20:16.550
And we were like, no. And and so that that that prize was scratched. So

1215
01:20:17.010 --> 01:20:25.635
there's, like, policy considerations that will come into effect here in a very narrow band, but, certainly, any anyone promoting violence is just out.

1216
01:20:26.275 --> 01:20:29.715
And then and then there's other there's a few other things. But, like

1217
01:20:30.195 --> 01:20:34.775
Let's sanctions list or something like that. But, like, 9 times out of 10, it's gonna be the first person.

1218
01:20:35.315 --> 01:20:45.510
Essentially, it's gonna be on us. You know, we'll own the the like, when we choose somebody, it's really on us. Now a leaderless 7 person organization that has no legal structure,

1219
01:20:46.370 --> 01:20:47.350
I mean, you know,

1220
01:20:47.969 --> 01:20:52.324
it doesn't quite it doesn't quite work. But, anyway, that that's that's our reasoning,

1221
01:20:52.784 --> 01:20:54.804
for why we wanna keep this in that way.

1222
01:20:55.425 --> 01:21:01.045
Yeah. It's also, like, it can't be just, like yeah. That's true that there's 8 people who work at HRF on Bitcoin stuff,

1223
01:21:01.505 --> 01:21:03.824
but we're, like, a 50 person organization. So

1224
01:21:04.550 --> 01:21:35.239
and we have a board and lawyers and, you know, we we had to this wasn't, like, a little skunk's work thing. Like, we had to get all this approved, and they were like, okay. Very interesting. What happened? Tell me you know? Like, all this. So, you know, for to get all this approved and off the ground was a huge feat by our team, and, credit to all of my colleagues who are not on the financial freedom team for just believing in us and being open minded enough to do this thing. But, yeah, they were basically like, yeah. We we need to reserve the rights to to to to make the final decision if we're gonna be custodying.

1225
01:21:36.100 --> 01:21:42.040
I don't know. Do the math on what is 32 Bitcoin for the next century. But In 2138,

1226
01:21:42.500 --> 01:21:57.390
I don't know how much that's gonna be. Well, we'll only have to know. We're only gonna have 1 Bitcoin left in 21/38. So be more than the 33 that we currently have. That's gonna be so crazy, the final Bitcoin having. I mean but, anyway, I mean, who knows? We'll be around to see it. Okay.

1227
01:21:58.170 --> 01:22:02.190
Maybe. Hopefully hopefully, our kids our kids will be around to see it. So

1228
01:22:02.890 --> 01:22:03.390
Wonderful.

1229
01:22:06.010 --> 01:22:12.324
Yeah. Thank you, though. I I think that's a great way to honor him. I it's hard to imagine better way. So

1230
01:22:12.784 --> 01:22:14.324
cheers to you guys. Absolutely.

1231
01:22:14.625 --> 01:22:18.965
Absolutely. It's like it's actually for me, it's it's given me

1232
01:22:20.065 --> 01:22:20.725
so much,

1233
01:22:21.185 --> 01:22:22.625
direction. I feel so much

1234
01:22:23.344 --> 01:22:30.960
I I can't thank, Human Rights Foundation enough for doing this. I'm I'm so honored. I'm so deeply honored. It gives it gives how

1235
01:22:31.820 --> 01:22:32.720
how's life

1236
01:22:33.580 --> 01:22:34.080
real

1237
01:22:34.620 --> 01:22:37.120
impact and meaning, and I I love that.

1238
01:22:38.700 --> 01:22:45.845
Well, we couldn't be happier, and thanks for having us on to talk about this, Matt. Really appreciate it. Yeah. No. I mean, when, FEDUS,

1239
01:22:46.305 --> 01:22:48.005
reached out to me, like, I immediately

1240
01:22:48.385 --> 01:22:50.325
said yes. Absolutely. Of course.

1241
01:22:51.745 --> 01:22:55.025
Alex, I I've mentioned this before you joined, but,

1242
01:22:55.969 --> 01:23:00.310
we are donating everything that was received, via ZapStream during this,

1243
01:23:00.929 --> 01:23:01.830
during the show.

1244
01:23:02.290 --> 01:23:05.030
It is looks like it's like a humble 75,000

1245
01:23:05.650 --> 01:23:06.150
sats.

1246
01:23:06.610 --> 01:23:12.215
So it doesn't quite it doesn't quite hit the same level, but, I guess every every set matters. So

1247
01:23:12.835 --> 01:23:14.535
we appreciate you freaks who donated,

1248
01:23:15.075 --> 01:23:18.215
Thank you, guys. To this wonderful organization and show.

1249
01:23:18.995 --> 01:23:22.320
Fran, I'm not your doctor, but I feel like you've been sitting for too long.

1250
01:23:24.800 --> 01:23:27.540
Yeah. I have the we were talking about my end injury earlier,

1251
01:23:28.000 --> 01:23:30.260
Alex. So my wonderful fracture.

1252
01:23:30.639 --> 01:23:31.139
Yeah.

1253
01:23:31.440 --> 01:23:36.500
So Do you Yeah. Thanks. Do you have any final thoughts for our audience, before we let you go?

1254
01:23:37.795 --> 01:23:38.594
Well, I'm just,

1255
01:23:39.315 --> 01:23:44.195
really happy that you had me today. And this, gave an upside to this,

1256
01:23:45.155 --> 01:23:46.534
kind of grim date.

1257
01:23:47.074 --> 01:23:51.449
And, Alex, thank you so much for joining in and filling in because, I

1258
01:23:52.389 --> 01:23:55.449
I can't say how much that has added to everything here.

1259
01:23:55.909 --> 01:23:58.389
And thank you, Matt again. I I mean

1260
01:23:58.790 --> 01:23:59.929
and audience,

1261
01:24:01.030 --> 01:24:08.465
once once again, Bitcoiners, I'm hoping that we can get together and make a difference in the world, and it's a good difference.

1262
01:24:09.085 --> 01:24:12.065
We're gonna change the world for the veterans, give it for Hal. Exactly.

1263
01:24:12.525 --> 01:24:15.265
Thank you, friends. Thank you, Hal. Thank you, Alex.

1264
01:24:16.285 --> 01:24:18.305
See you later, freak. Yeah. Take care.