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TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

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BLOG August 22, 2017

Don’t Understand Bitcoin? Here Are the 3 Things You Need to Know

Bitcoin is a digital currency that is created through “mining” and recently reached its highest value at more than $3,500 per bitcoin. But what is it, exactly?

Wences Casares, founder of Bitcoin wallet startup Xapo, joined Tuesday’s “The Glenn Beck Radio Program” to explain what makes Bitcoin unique and why the average person doesn’t need to struggle with understanding it.

The important thing to remember is that you can use and understand Bitcoin without truly understanding all of its mechanics. Casares compared Bitcoin to the internet, something that many people use without fully comprehending how the technology works. He also listed three things “that did not exist before Bitcoin existed” and make the digital currency unique.

First of all, Bitcoin is not under the jurisdiction of any one country or military force.

“Nobody can control it,” Casares said. “Not me, not any group of people, not any company, not any country, not any army.”

Unlike regular money, Bitcoin was developed to reach a finite amount; there will never be more than 21 million Bitcoin in the world. The third quality that makes Bitcoin unique is that it gives you the ability to send currency instantly to anyone in the world. “No one can keep you from acquiring some Bitcoin,” Casares explained.

GLENN: So tell me how you believe people will say, "Don't take my bitcoin, but you can take my internet." What do you mean by that?

WENCES: Understanding bitcoin -- bitcoin is simpler than the internet at a technical level, if you will. And I think when people don't understand it, it's not their fault, but our fault. The people explaining it. We make it more complicated than it needs to be, because it makes us sound more intelligent, I guess, or something.

STU: We try that a lot too. It doesn't work for us.

(chuckling)

WENCES: You think about it, most people feel confident and comfortable about their understanding of the internet. Right? Without really understanding how --

GLENN: How it works.

WENCES: -- it really works, technically. It's not necessary to understand it. Or even a credit card. Right? Most people feel very confident with a credit card, understanding how it works.

But if you ask them, what happens when you swipe the card, where does that information go? Does it go to your bank or to the merchant's bank? At what point does it get approved? Who says it, right?

We don't really need to understand a lot of those details, to understand how credit cards work and what they can and cannot do for us. The same thing with internet and the same thing for bitcoin.

And the things that do matter and that we do need to understand of bitcoin are quite simple, really. And it's three, three things that make bitcoin unique, that we're not -- that did not exist before bitcoin existed, that bitcoin brought to the world.

Number one and most important: It's that it's not controlled by anyone. And it is not possible to control it. And it's a key feature. Without it, it would be irrelevant. It has a lot of very positive consequences. It has some potentially negative consequences. But it's what makes bitcoin bitcoin. Nobody can control it. Not me. Not any group of people. Not any company. Not any country. Not any army. Nobody can control it. That's number one.

Number two, is there will never be more than 21 million bitcoin. It's a finite number. And that cannot be changed.

And number three, whenever you have some bitcoin, you are free to send it to anyone you want, anywhere in the world, pretty much in real time, and pretty much for a very, very low cost. That last quality, it's quite revolutionary. And I call -- a lot of people call it the uncensorability of bitcoin.

No one can keep you from acquiring some bitcoin. It's impossible to do. No one can keep you from keeping those bitcoin, and no one can keep you from sending those bitcoin to whomever you want.

When you put those three qualities together, that's really all you need to understand about bitcoin. How that gets accomplished, it's complicated and technical, but not really needed to understand. Just like you don't need to understand how the internet manages to deliver all of this movies and stuff that it does.

GLENN: You grew up in Argentina --

WENCES: Yep.

GLENN: -- when the economy collapsed. When the money collapsed.

WENCES: Correct.

GLENN: And I am imagining that that drives you quite a bit when it comes to bitcoin.

WENCES: I think so, yes. I would imagine so.

 
GLENN

INSANITY: High schooler ARRESTED after not wearing mask at school tells her story

On Thursday's radio program, Grace Smith and her father, Andy, joined Glenn Beck on the phone and provided a first-hand account of Grace's refusal to wear a mask at school.

Smith, 16, began a maskless protest after her school district in Laramie, Wyoming, decided to implement a mask mandate. As a result, Grace received three suspensions, was issued two $500-citations, and was eventually arrested.

"How long were you in jail?" Glenn asked.

Grace said was taken to jail but was never booked nor was she was placed in a jail cell.

Glenn commended Grace's father, Andy, for raising such a "great citizen" and asked if it was Grace's idea to protest. Andy said it was Grace's idea, explaining that they took the position of arguing on the grounds of civil rights rather than the efficacy of wearing a mask.

Grace has since withdrawn from public school and started a home school program. She also told Glenn that she will continue to fight the school district, legally.

You can donate to Grace's legal fund here.

To hear more from this conversation click here.

Disclaimer: The content of this clip does not provide medical advice. Please seek the advice of local health officials for any COVID-19 and/or COVID vaccine related questions & concerns.

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Jason Whitlock: Raiders coach fired by NFL as a ‘SIGNAL’ to others

Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden was forced to resign (fired) by the NFL on Monday due to 'misogynistic' and 'homophobic' language found in several of his old, private emails. But Jason Whitlock, sports writer and host of 'Fearless' on BlazeTV, tells Glenn that Gruden's words never should have resulted in his job lost: 'We should have accepted his apology and kept it moving.' But instead, Whitlock says the NFL chose to use Gruden as a 'signal' for all other employees who may oppose the football organization's current, far-left political stances: 'Taking over sports, taking over the NFL, is crucial to the goals of the left and what they're trying to do.'

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RADIO

How an ‘orchestrated’ revolution is bringing America TO ITS KNEES

Victor Davis Hanson, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, joins Glenn to discuss his new book, 'The Dying Citizen.' He explains how America's hippies from the 1960s are the progressive elites running our institutions today and how their 'well orchestrated' moves have created a top-down revolution that's 'bringing us down to our knees.' So, what's the solution? Davis Hanson tells Glenn what we can do to push back against the far left today…

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THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Who Is More Evil: Government or Facebook? | Robby Soave | Ep 120

The Left and Right agree: Social media companies like Facebook are abusing their power — whether through censorship or harmful, groupthink-creating algorithms. But is the solution really more censorship and regulation, like government fearmongers and leftist "whistleblowers" have insisted? Glenn sits down with the senior editor at Reason, Robby Soave, who has a much more refreshing solution laid out in his latest book, "Tech Panic: Why We Shouldn't Fear Facebook and the Future." Politicians have weaponized the fear we have about social media. So, maybe we should be looking at the positives. Glenn and Robby take a look at the (very familiar) history of tech panic and censorship, balance the consequences of changing Section 230, and expose the real threat to the future of free speech: Progressive tyranny entrenched in the old school media.