TPB54 - Financial Alternatives for Marginalized Communities

My guest today is Ian Gaines. Ian is the Government Relations Assistant Director for The Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) in Washington D.C. COSSA is a nonprofit advocacy organization working to promote and advance the social and behavioral sciences in federal policymaking. Ian has worked with Black Bitcoin Billionaires, Bitcoin Policy Institute, and is co-authoring a book, writing a chapter focusing on economic empowerment. Needless to say, he has played a huge part in a lot of behind the scenes policy work regarding bitcoin in the U.S. In this conversation Ian shares his personal bitcoin journey, provides historical context around financial alternatives needed for marginalized communities in the US, discusses assumptions some progressives have about bitcoin, emphasizes the importance of free speech principles, and touches on upcoming crypto policy/legislation and needed research on bitcoin's real-world societal impact.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuwzqHXpeuU  COSSA: https://cossa.org/  Black Bitcoin Billionaires: https://www.blackbitcoinbillionaire.com/  Bitcoin Policy Institute: https://www.btcpolicy.org/    Ian Gaines Twitter: https://twitter.com/NatureofG    Trey Walsh  https://nostree.me/Trey@progressivebitcoiner.com    SPONSOR: BitBox: Use promo-code TPB during checkout to get 5% off your purchase: https://bitbox.swiss/tpb  Sazmining: Get $50 off the purchase of a miner using the following link: https://app.sazmining.com/purchase?ref=tpb   Sazmining is a Hosted Bitcoin Mining provider with a commitment to using 100% renewable energy for your mining operation.  A Progressive’s Case for Bitcoin: Get a copy of Jason Maier’s book “A Progressive’s Case for Bitcoin” here, https://bit.ly/3XuEcyV, using promo code TPB for 10% off the book.   TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Start   00:01 Intro 00:02 Ian's bitcoin journey 00:07 Historical context    00:12 Financial alternatives 00:19 Real world impact 00:24 Sponsor break 00:25 Unbanked in the US 00:31 Assumptions about bitcoin 00:38 Free speech principles   00:46 Having honest conversations 00:50 Slippery slope of censorship   00:56 Values from the left 01:00:00 Cultural shift 01:07:00 Bitcoin and national security   01:13:00 Research on bitcoin's impact 01:19:00 Do you think there's a problem? 01:25:00 Making bitcoin accessible 01:27:00 Where is policy moving? 01:31:00 Outro   SUBSCRIBE Website: https://zurl.co/z6c8 RSS: https://zurl.co/wHWC Libsyn: https://zurl.co/Bkw2 Apple Podcasts: https://zurl.co/WPZg    Spotify: https://zurl.co/Y41f   Google: https://zurl.co/Wci3    Amazon: https://zurl.co/io24    Fountain: https://zurl.co/c7bl