Most of the World Still Doesn't Own Bitcoin

You are basically a slave to the system for your entire life if you cannot get financially free. And the best way to do that is with Bitcoin because you can hold it and they can't print more of it. So the more you own, the more free you'll be. So when Bitcoin's dipping, you can buy more freedom is essentially what it comes down to. Quick favor. If you're serious about understanding Bitcoin and building a better future, hit the subscribe button below. I release two deep dive Bitcoin conversations every week without hype or shilling. Thanks for being here. Today, I'm excited to welcome Vince Hodddle, Florida to the podcast. Vince is the host of the Bitcoin broadcast on YouTube and a class of 2017 Bitcoiners. Welcome to the Bitcoin Edge, Vince. Thank you so much for having me, Paula. How are you doing? >> All good today. We're both in Florida. So, before we get into all of the good stuff, tell me a little bit about yourself and what led you to Bitcoin. >> Yeah. Um, I'm originally from Colorado. Lived in Texas for one year before moving here to Florida. I've only been in Florida for about a year and a half, though. Uh, love it so far. It's absolutely gorgeous. Um, but Bitcoin started out in about 2017. I was working an office job and uh was looking at ways to make more money and I was started to look into investing, stock trading, things like that and took a little course on it and that's when I came across Bitcoin for the first time and so I actually ended up just buying small amounts back then mainly because you know it was volatile. It was going up. it was going down and then eventually it just kept going up and so I just kept buying it and and I'm talking small amounts like $50 to $100. First of all, I was broke back then. So, uh, you know, just working a normal corporate job. And, uh, and then, um, yeah, in 2019, I switched jobs, started working with my dad doing hardwood floors. And that actually allowed me to listen to podcasts like daily and uh, Audible books. And I started listening to Bitcoin podcasts uh, mainly Peter McCormack from uh, What Bitcoin Did Back in the Day. and I started listening to like everything I could about Bitcoin and I was learning as much as I could and then eventually 2020 happened and that's when the use case really clicked for me. You know, living in the United States, you're like, you know, do we really have that devaluing dollar? Do we really like do we have a struggling society? You know, you see inflation, it's not that bad. you see money printing, it's not that bad. They talk about Argentina or something and you're like, that will never happen here. But then 2020 happens and they printed just so much money. I believe it was like $4 trillion within like a year. And then the, you know, the government overreach happened and the shutdowns, the vaccine cards came out, um, all these different things, the mandates, and I was like, this is, uh, this isn't good. I don't like this. And the free money, the, you know, printing, and they were handing out the $1,200 checks and then $600 checks. And I was like, this is this is not good. Like inflation is coming. And I ended up buying all uh Bitcoin with everything that the government gave me. So all that free money was going straight into Bitcoin. Uh my wife and I were on board just full on in Bitcoin. I was like, "This is the biggest ad for Bitcoin I've ever seen in, you know, real life." Like it it it finally clicked. And ever since about 2020, my wife and I, we've been all in on Bitcoin ever since. I can't say, you know, I wish id bought more, of course, back in the day. You know, everyone buys when they can, and you buy what you can, and you you do what you can. And um so I'm pretty much all in Bitcoin now. And it's been that way for yeah, six years. But overall, since about 2017, I never sold those Bitcoin that I was buying back then. So, it's been good. It's been a It's been a great ride. I've learned a ton. Still learning. The rabbit hole never ends. >> That's true. Yeah. That I mean, that's incredible that you held on to your Bitcoin since 2017. And then, like many of us, my story is similar to you. In 2020, I had the time to look into it. And it was incredible because not only did we get those checks, but also certain businesses got loans that they didn't even have to pay back. My friend told me, "Go get this loan." I I'm like, "How can you not pay it back?" And I got it. It wasn't a big amount cuz I'm not a big business. And I I never had to pay it back. It was incredible. And then I also thought like you did, there's something not right here. But many people didn't. So, why do you think more people don't don't see it? And do you think more people are starting to see it now? >> I think people are starting to see it. It is slow still. Um I do believe uh who is it? Parker Lewis who who has a slow um gradually then suddenly I believe that's him. And uh so it I still think we're in the gradual stage, but more people are starting to see it. Maybe they don't understand Bitcoin to like the full extent of what it is, but they're starting to connect dots. And you know, CNBC talks about Bitcoin all the time. There's ads for crypto on CNBC all the time. Even the Super Bowl, we have the US government talking about Bitcoin or a strategic Bitcoin reserve. We have um even the secretary of state or uh Worsh, he's a Bitcoiner. And so we have more and more people coming into, you know, positions of power that are talking about Bitcoin. So you kind of have to start to pay attention. I have no idea why people didn't understand it back in 2020 because that was my light bulb moment. And I was telling all my friends, you know, they were making fun of me as we were getting those checks. And I was like, I'm buying Bitcoin with it. And then we'd get the next one and they're like, watch, Vince is just going to buy Bitcoin with his. And I was like, yes, yes, I am. How are you not buying Bitcoin? You know, and they're they're like they were playing the stock market, uh, buying different stocks. And I was like, that's fine. It's better than nothing. But a lot of people they saw it as free money and they saw it as you know this is a chance where I can upgrade my car or I can you know do something in my house or take a vacation once mandates are gone. They saw it as you know free play money and I didn't and I don't know why people didn't understand it but people will start to understand it more and more. Um, I mean, you see like the national debt is posted constantly. 38 trillion. I we might even be at 39 trillion now. Uh, the other day it was at like 38.8 or something. So, I'm like, we could be at we'll be at 39 trillion maybe by the time this even comes out. And it's like people have to start paying attention to what's happening to their money. Whether they realize that Bitcoin is that solution or not, you get Bitcoin at the price you deserve. So, almost everyone has heard of the word Bitcoin. Uh, it just it depends if they decide to do the research and learn about it because not everyone will. Um, there's still a lot of, you know, fear, uncertainty, and doubt, FUD about it. Um, people still hear the word scam connected with it because of crypto things like FTX and uh, Sam Bakeman Freed. That wasn't that long ago. And a lot of people got burned cuz a lot of people bought into, you know, other crypto coins that all went to zero. And they're hurt by it. They don't want to come back in right now. And I can't blame them. Um, it's hard to realize that you got scammed by these other coins and they have nothing to do with Bitcoin. You know, a crypto exchange is a casino. That's like trying to blame, you know, Hard Rock Bets here in Florida for you losing uh sports betting. If if you're gonna bet on football, you can't blame them. And then so it's like the same thing. And it's like, no, Bitcoin is is not that. And so I think eventually people will come around. They'll realize that Bitcoin is here to stay. It's it's not some meme coin. It's not some scam. there is no CEO, you know, there there's no marketing team for it. So, it's like who's scamming you? Who who's the one promoting this Bitcoin scam? Because there is no single person. There's there's a collective of we call each other Bitcoiners, but we all understand what Bitcoin is. And the only reason we promote it is because we want to save you. It's almost you don't want to get like religious with it like I'm going to save you like Jesus, you know, but you're like I want a better life for you. I don't want you to be saving your money in a bank account that gives you.1% interest per year while they take your money and loan it out for 6 7%. And they keep the spread and tell you to be happy. And we want people to get better. We want their life to improve, not get worse. And um I've definitely seen more and more of you know my normie friends um they're really complaining about inflation right now. And I don't know if that's political because Trump's in office of course they talk about inflation versus when Biden was in office and inflation was actually spiking. It was like never on the news but now it's on the news all the time. gas prices with Iran and you know it's gone up like what 30 cents here in Florida and I'm like that's what it was like I don't know 12 months ago 18 months ago like it's come down it's going back up okay that sucks but people are noticing inflation and they don't know what's causing it and I don't think they know the solution I think a lot of the messaging behind it is you know corporate greed they want corporations to bring prices down or billionaires to pay pay their fair share because they're stealing all of your money. And it's like there's a little more to that. Uh, sure there's there's greedy corporations. There's always been greedy corporations. That's nothing new. There's always been rich people. Sure, there's plenty more rich people right now. It's called innovation. You know, like they create things, they create value, it makes them wealthy. That doesn't mean they owe the society more money. And I I think people will eventually see that. Uh especially if you have people promoting tax the rich and it's like, okay, that's fine. We can tax them 50%. We could tax them 100%. It's still not going to solve the national debt problem. It's still not going to solve inflation. If you could you could tax every billionaire in the United States right now. like the the top 1% maybe even the top I don't know three four 5% and you still won't solve any any issues here in America um regarding our national debt uh we have a spending problem our government spends too much money they print too much money and that's that's the root cause of it and we have a broken money system and people they refuse to believe that for some reason I don't know if it's if it goes against their beliefs or not. I don't understand why people don't get that like the people they're voting for and have been voting for are the ones causing it. It's it's not, you know, they point the fingers at someone else and people believe it. I don't know, but I think eventually people will um especially with people like you having a Bitcoin show. Um, that's why I kind of started mine just to to talk about these things because the more shows there are, the more content of real life people that, you know, I don't have a PhD. I'm not expert on CNN or something or uh MSNBC. Like, I'm just a normal dude. You're just a woman who's talking about Bitcoin, about things that you've realized. And so the more you know things that come out, uh, the more content that people, you know, produce about what's happening, I think it will happen. More people will realize and then they'll realize that the dollar is the scam, not not Bitcoin. >> Yeah, absolutely. Hi everyone. I'm excited to share that I'll be a speaker at BTC Prague 2026, the biggest and most influential Bitcoin only event in Europe from the 11th to the 13th of June. Come and join me to hear incredible speakers like Michael Sailor, Jack Malers, Frat Fenson, and many more. And connect with a community of true Bitcoiners. Get your tickets now before prices go up and use my link below for a discount. See you there. You know, I'm actually going to Vegas to talk about starting a podcast on a panel because it actually took me two years to start because I didn't think I had something to add. But I'm sure that what you also realize is as you go down the rabbit hole, you realize Bitcoin's much deeper than just fixing the money. What you said about the debt and all of that is so true. I don't think people understand how much debt that actually is because you said Jeff Boo coming on your show and he always says that debt is insolvent. They cannot pay it back because there'd be too much pain to us. But I I don't think people realize that. They're like, "No, no, they can work deals and pay it back." They don't realize it's not doesn't matter who's in there. Unfortunately, neither political party can pay that debt back. So, I recently saw that you paid off your student loans. Congratulations. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Do you think that is that debt is a result of the fiat mindset? And how do you think Bitcoin might change that? >> Yeah, I mean, debt I didn't understand debt for a very long time. Like you said, I paid off my student loans literally last night. Um, that was a very satisfying thing to pay off to pay off that debt that I've been carrying. You know, I graduated in 2013 and it's funny. I'm like, man, I should have just taken out that loan and bought Bitcoin back then and I I wouldn't >> I wouldn't even be on Twitter. I wouldn't be on X. I' I'd be I'd buy an island. No, I'm just kidding. Um, no, but uh but debt I mean it's part of our system. It's a debt based system. We use debt for almost everything. I mean, I I own a house own in quotation marks. You know, I I rent a house from the government, but um I bought it with debt. I put a down payment and they gave me an interest rate. You know, I took out a loan to go to school because I couldn't afford to pay, you know, however much it was every semester. So, I took out a loan and now I owe that back. Um, debt is interesting because you can use debt for good, but most people don't. I'm a big believer in going in trying to get debt free. I know other people like Mark Moss, you know, he he talks about uh using taking out uh a loan against your Bitcoin and things like that, which I'm for if you can if you can do it responsibly. Uh but if you're going to take out debt, it has to work for you. Taking out consumer debt is what drowns people. Uh, credit cards will crush you 25%. Uh, my wife and I pretty much never use credit cards anymore. Uh, I'll use like my Bitcoin one because I get SATs back or whatever and they'll have deals, you know, like 10% sats back. Like that's pretty good. And so then, but I paid off right away. Um, I'm sorry, what was the second part of that question? it was it was debt and then >> yeah it's a little bit of a fear mindset because we are conditioned to take out debt because that's what we've always done but like you're saying that debt is a trap for some people and whereas Bitcoin you're less likely to I know there are Bitcoin loans but you're less likely to over collateralize or that's the wrong word but you're less likely to overrisk your your Bitcoin Right? Because with a Bitcoin mindset, we tend to have more of a low time preference >> and don't take that risk because we know how valuable Bitcoin is. >> Oh, yeah. Like I I wouldn't I don't spend my Bitcoin on things that aren't valuable to me. Um I've I've actually I've spent my Bitcoin, but I replenish it right away. Um, you know, if if I go to a Bitcoin meetup and someone is selling a Bitcoin hat, I'll buy a Bitcoin for uh whatever like 20,000 sats or something. That's what it was when it was 100K is like 20 bucks. But so I'll I'll buy things using Bitcoin, but it's usually only to other Bitcoiners right now. Like I would not pay my taxes in Bitcoin. I think that's a terrible use case to spend your Bitcoin. But Bitcoin makes you want to buy things worth something. You know, you it has to be a value for value exchange. And right now, Bitcoin, I think, is very undervalued. So eventually, yeah, I'm going to I'll spend my Bitcoin on something like if I can buy a house for 0.5 Bitcoin, 0.1 Bitcoin, I mean, sure, I could use that trade. I'll I'll give you 0.1 Bitcoin for a for a house. And then, you know, that's that's why people get stuck into debt, though, is that they're spending money that that has no value and then they overspend and they don't realize how much they've spent and all of a sudden the bills come due. Um, I mean, you hear things like these layaways, you know, buy now, pay later, and it's like, oh, that's you hate to hear that because, you know, there's it's usually poor people that take advantage of that. It's people that don't have the money right now. And I read something like banks collected something like $89 billion in uh overdraft fees last year. Um that's from poor people. They're they're taking people's money that don't have money from people that overspent. They didn't realize it and they got they got an overdraft fee. It's usually, you know, 2550 $75. That's how many people are overdrafting their accounts. And it's awful. And it's it's so bad. And then so when their bank account gets low, what do they do? They go to credit cards. They use debt. And they don't realize that their credit card, even though it started out as a 0% interest for the first 6 to 12 months, after that period, it jumps up to like 25%. And now you're paying double for your things if you can't pay off that credit card right away. You know, if you leave that credit card debt or make minimal payments every month, all of a sudden you just paid, you know, one and a half times for an item that did you need it? Did you really need it? Did you need that video game? Did you need, you know, a console? Did you need to go to that concert? Even new cars. We've seen new cars explode in price. $80,000 for just a normal car. And I'm like, people are buying them. And I don't understand it. I'm like, why would I do that? I can get from A to B using my car. My wife and I both have our cars paid off and I'm going to drive that thing until it dies. I have no desire to get a new car. And the mindset shifts when you start to learn about Bitcoin. It's it's more of the low time preference. It's more of how do I save my time, my energy, and my money for the future, whether it's for yourself or for your kids or your grandkids. Um that's the kind of shift and and most people uh I I heard this too. It's like, you know, poor people think daytoday, middle class think monthto-month. Um, wealthier people, you know, they think year to year or decade to decade. And very wealthy people tend to think generation to generation. Um, they they want generational wealth. They're not thinking, you know, how can I spend this money right now to make my life better. It's what can I do with this money to make it last longer or grow. Uh cuz if your money isn't working for you, if it's not growing in any way and it's sitting there in a bank, sure, you're not getting taxed on it directly, but inflation is taxing you. It's a silent tax and that's killing your bank account. That money sitting there I what in the past year and a half or something, it's gone down about 30%. So, if you had $100 in your savings account, it's now worth about $70 uh in purchasing power. And that's just in in about 12 months since 2020. I think it's worse. Uh someone will fact check me on that, but you know, it's something like that, which is insane. So, you have to put your money to work. I mean, then that goes down another rabbit hole of, well, what about people that don't make enough money or don't have, you know, you they can't invest? And it's like, you don't have to invest a lot. Like, is $5 going to save you right now? No. But if you put $5 in Bitcoin every other day, uh, what you spend on coffee, and you do that for five years, yeah, that's going to make a big difference. even if it's, you know, a 50 bucks a month, like it doesn't have to be a crazy amount to get started. And then you then you start to see that grow and you realize my money sitting in a bank account is not growing. The purchasing power is going down. And so the money you're buying with uh putting into Bitcoin is exponentially growing and yeah, it it shifts your mind completely. >> Yeah, it certainly does. Did you have that low time preference a little bit before you came to Bitcoin or is that something that changed with Bitcoin? >> I did have it as a kid. I always saved my money. Um I was always like the responsible financial kid growing up. I have three siblings. My brother's the one who he gets a $10,000 check and he'll he bought a boat. My si my sisters will uh they'll upgrade their lives before they invest. Uh that's just how they are. I've always been like the financial one who I always saved my money. You know, you get like a check from grandma when you're like 5 years old and it's like the most exciting thing. And I was the one that saved it. My my siblings were the ones that went out and bought new clothes right away. And so I had it but I didn't know what it was. Uh it took a while. And then once I found Bitcoin, you know that when I first found Bitcoin, then it switched and I was like, this is what, you know, saving is, this is the low time preference. And so, yeah, now I'm even like more uh more that way. But I I had it. I just didn't know what it was. Uh >> and I ask you because I think Bitcoiners have that a little bit, right? the early adopters of Bitcoiners, we're either curious or we question authority a little bit. We don't. We question. We're freeth thinkers. And also, yeah. So, so like I've heard them say that's that ENTJ, INTJ on the MyersBriggs scale that certain types of people tend to gravitate to Bitcoin early. But we're hoping and I'm sure your channel too. We're hoping that more and more people see that we're not just crazy, we have something here. >> Yeah, absolutely. Uh I wonder if there is a correlation between entrepreneurs in Bitcoin, too. Um because I I don't I I haven't seen anything, but I've realized that a lot of Bitcoiners, like you said, are kind of self, you know, they're self-thinkers. They they question authority. they would rather work for themselves rather than someone else. Um, and that's why now they're saving in Bitcoin, right, to get away from that fiat job. Because when I was a kid, I was the one that would go around in the neighborhood and ask if I could mow your lawn for 20 bucks, you know, cuz that I don't know why did I need money at, you know, 10 years old? No. I grew up like middle class, lower middle class. We had money. We had food on the table. It was great. But I don't know. I wonder if there's a correlation between entrepreneurs and Bitcoiners. I bet there is. >> Yeah, I think so. Especially with early adopters. >> Holding your Bitcoin in self-custody is an important step towards self-s sovereignty, but writing your seed phrase on paper is risky. Paper can burn, fade, or get lost. Micro Seed helps you stamp your seed phrase onto a small steel washer. Buy the device once and use it forever. I love it. It's durable, precise, and easy to transport. Use my link below for 5% off. Now, back to the show. >> You told me before we began that you very into health right now. Is that also as a result of Bitcoin. Tell me a little bit about your health journey. >> Yeah. Um, so I I ran college and uh I ran college I ran track in college and uh so I I was fit but I was like the skinny kid, you know, like the I'm 6'2 and uh when I graduated high school, I was like 125 lbs. I was very skinny and I've always been like the skinny kid. But when I graduated college, I kind of fell into alcohol a little bit cuz in college it's acceptable, right? You're allowed to drink as much as you want and no one cares. Well, once you graduate college, you're supposed to kind of slow that down. Well, I I didn't I I kept it for a while. So, up until it was on and off. It was like a very roller coaster ride for me. I would slow down, pick it back up. When I found Bitcoin in 2020, I didn't I wasn't taking care of my health at all. Uh that's when I I was very much I was drinking pretty heavily. I had very bad anxiety which was never experienced that. I had no idea what anxiety was. It came out of nowhere and that that was affecting me pretty bad. And so what I would do is I would drink alcohol to numb my mind after work. Uh I would come home drink and that would calm my anxiety because some some people would call it like severe anxiety where it's like you have fear of leaving the house type thing. Um, I would have, you know, these massive, uh, spurts of just crazy anxiety where you felt like you were going to almost pass out. And so I would get home and I would drink, right? And that's how I could relax in the evening and fall asleep. Well, when you drink alcohol and you wake up the next day, it actually makes your anxiety worse. And so I would wake up the next day, feel worse, go to work, come home, and do it all over again. And that was a cycle that I repeated for quite a while. Um, I couldn't tell you how many years, but it it was a long time that I was I was hurting my body pretty bad. Well, Bitcoiners, uh, I started to get involved on X a lot more. And Bitcoiners, you know, start talking about carnivore diet and, uh, you know, working out. You know, I I was I was kind of sickly, if you, if you could call it that. Uh, I have before pictures. Um, some of them I will not post on X because they're extremely embarrassing, but it's like I'm skinny with a beer belly type thing and I'm like I look unhealthy. And I decided, you know, about a year ago I was going to change that. And so what I decided to do was uh I quit drinking on February 15th of last year of 2025. So it's been about a year and a month. So, quit drinking completely. Have no problems with it. It's fantastic. And then I really got into carnivore diet and eating lots of protein. And I was um started out small, you know, eating steak every once in a while, buying more eggs, trying to look for healthy foods that didn't have seed oils, which is I still do because it's it's sometimes hard. And now I, you know, over the course of this the past 9 to 12 months, I feel like every month I get deeper and deeper into it where now I'm almost full carnivore. Um, I eat eggs for lunch. I still eat fruit and vegetables. I know that's not like technically allowed in carnivore, but I don't care. Um, and then yeah, I eat steak or chicken for dinner. And my wife and I, we still go out to eat. like we'll go we'll go out to dinner and I'll order a burger or, you know, pasta or something. So, I'm not like a super strict carnivore, but what I realized is, you know, my my body has responded so much. It's insane. Um, I sleep better. My anxiety is completely gone. I even I can tell you about my story getting off of SSRI cuz that's pretty crazy, man. If you're on those, I I feel for you. But, uh, I'll talk about that in a minute. Um, so yeah, changing, uh, getting off alcohol and working out, like my sleep got better. Um, I ended up gaining about 17 lbs of muscle and lost fat. So, I'm like down to probably like 15% body fat right now. And I'm still working on it. I I want to get bigger. I want to be jacked. that that was like my goal, you know, uh when I told my wife I was going to start doing this and get healthy for us and I was like, I I can't keep doing the the drinking and the anxiety thing cuz we're, you know, trying to have a kid and things like that. And I was like, I need to get myself together. If I can't take care of myself, what makes me think I can take care of a baby? So, I focused on myself. And uh it's been a journey. It's been a long journey. And uh but it's so good. >> That's an amazing journey. >> Yeah, >> your story is amazing. And just so SSRIs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and they used to treat anxiety or depression, >> but they have side effects, right? So tell us tell us about that because that's a powerful story. >> Yeah, so the the SSRI came in when I lived in Texas. Um I had really bad anxiety. Um, I moved away from home, right? And, uh, I was drinking pretty heavily and then it was like I had uh, you know, homesickness and I had really bad anxiety and like I couldn't eat. I I would have panic attacks and it was so bad. And then one day my mom called and was like, "I'm worried about you." Cuz I was like, "Yeah, I'm I'm depressed. Like life is not good right now." and she was very worried and she was like, "I need you to go see a doctor." And I was like, "Okay." And by the way, I've I don't think I've ever shared this on any show, so this is the first time I'm sharing it. But um so she told me to go see a doctor. And I did. And they put me on anti-anxiety and uh anti-depressants. It was one pill, escatelopram, and it was like 10 milligrams. It rocked my world. If you've ever been on SSRI, they I don't know if there's cussing allowed on your show, but it messes you up. Um I don't I won't cuss. Um >> it it it's a wild ride and I would nap all the time and it affects the the chemicals in your brain and then eventually it started helping which was really weird. SSRIs actually started helping me. And uh then as life went on, I was like, I don't really want to be taking these. And the big shift was um I tried to get off of them on my own. And I quit SSRI's uh cold turkey. And after about two weeks of not taking it, I got like the worst vertigo I've I've ever experienced where like sitting down, I felt like I was falling. I could I would be walking and it felt like I would fall through the floor and like I my anxiety was like back up to 10, you know, like I was so bad. So I got got back on them. you know, when you when you get off of SSRIs and get back on them, it takes about two weeks for your brain to adapt to them again. So, it took about two weeks and then we moved to Florida and what happened here is uh my doctor office in Houston, Texas, I called them and I was like, "Hey, I'm running out of these pills. Can you guys send me some more?" They're like, "No, you have to come into the office." And I'm like, "I don't live there anymore." and they were like, "Well, we can't help you then." And so I ran out. I ran out of my pills and uh I didn't have a doctor's office. And so I went through the whole thing again with vertigo and it was so bad. And I was drinking again. And drinking on SSRIs is not good. It it escalates everything. And then I found a doctor here in uh Florida. They gave me the pills and okay, everything was good again. And I was like, you just kind of are skating by in life. It's almost like that dark cloud. Um, you're numb. You're not happy, but you're not sad. You know, you smile, but it's it's not a real smile. Like, it's fake. And so, you're not happy. You're not happy at all. And then I decided to uh to quit alcohol. And when I quit alcohol, the SSRI started giving me anxiety. I would take it in the morning and my gosh, it would like it would like shock my brain. It was so weird. And so I was like, I have to get off these things. And so I started cutting them in half. And I would cut them in half and I would go through like a, you know, one to two week period of uh, you know, vertigo on and off and then I would stabilize and then I would cut them in half again a month later and then I would stabilize and then so I I weaned myself off of them and it it took probably 3 months to do so. three or four months to get off of them because they're powerful. And I was on a low dose, like a very low dose. 10 milligrams is nothing. Some people are up to 100 milligrams a day. And I was on a tenth of that. And it messes with your brain so bad. Like uh people call it brain zaps. And when you get them, I can't describe it. It's literally like something is zapping your brain. It's like shocking it. and you can't get away from it. And it's just it's the worst feeling ever. And so, yeah, it took me a long time to get off of these SSRIs, but I did it and I got off of them. Anxiety's gone. Don't have a problem with drinking. And I'm I'm probably the healthiest I've been since I was, you know, like 21. So, >> wow. That that's amazing. And it just shows that many of these drugs are really powerful and they do need to be weaned off. often with a medical profession. I wouldn't recommend anybody try on their own, but it's really good, you know, just to hear how that's some extreme side effects that you had to go through. It's almost like they don't want us to get off these drugs. >> No, I I mean, I I'll tell you the doctors don't want you off of them. Once you're on them, they don't want you to come off of them. And so even even here in Florida, Florida's a very, you know, conservative state in compared to other states. And I I asked them, I was like, you know, can I ever get off of these things? And they're like, no, most people that get on them stay on them for life because, you know, if you stop taking them, then your life can, you know, fall apart again and you'll have anxiety. And so it's just better to just keep taking them. And when I told him that I was cutting them in half from 10 10 millig down to five, he was he was like, "Well, I can give you 5 milligrams, but uh they don't make anything less than that." And I was like, "That's fine. I'll I'll take the 5 millig." And uh so once I got the 5 milligrams, I started cutting those in half. So now I was taking two and a half milligrams. And then uh I saw him 6 months later. And I was like, you know, he asked the questions. He's like, "How's your medication?" And I was like, "Oh, I don't take that anymore. I I'm off that." And he was like, "Why did you stop taking them?" I was like, "I don't need it. I quit drinking. Quit taking them. My anxietyy's completely gone. I switched my diet. Like, I'm all my labs came back. I'm completely healthy. the best labs I've ever had with like, you know, my liver, that blood work came back. But they want you to stay on them. It's It's kind of weird. They have this incentive to keep people on them. And I know there's financial incentives, but like what doctor would want someone living like that? Like you're I was literally just like a numb body. I didn't feel like myself at all. I felt like a different person and by the time I got off of them, I was back to myself. Like I'm I'm happy, which is like weird, you know? I didn't experience happiness for a couple years, which is a dark place to be when you're not happy for multiple years. Like, that's when people take their own life or do something stupid. when you don't see a way out of not being happy, it's not good. And so, yeah. >> Do you think that was partly because you weren't enjoying your job? And I mean, now you started a Bitcoin podcast. Do you feel like you have more purpose with Bitcoin? >> Yeah, absolutely. I mean, uh, there's no way I could have done a Bitcoin podcast when I was drinking and and, uh, had anxiety. There's no way. I was I was not functioning enough to do that. Bitcoin gave me like the financial hope. Um, like I said, like when you're not happy and you don't have hope for the future, that's not a good place to be mentally. Well, when you're when you're broke and there's not a financial future for you, that's also not a good place to be. And so Bitcoin gave me the financial hope and led me down the rabbit holes luckily of getting sober, eating healthy, working out, you know, religiously. I I like have to work out now. It's just part of my daily routine. It's not a it's not a contingency. I can't be like, "Hey, should I work out today?" No, when am I working out today? It I'm going to. It's going to happen. And so Bitcoin led me down those rabbit holes. And if I didn't find Bitcoin, I don't know if I would have found the health aspects, you know, that I that I was looking for. I don't know if I would have found people that were like, "Hey, you should probably get sunlight. You should probably eat healthy and carnivore and eggs and, you know, you should go to the gym and not drink alcohol." And I don't know if I would have found that if it wasn't for Bitcoin to be honest because that's what led me to it. It's that's I I think that's why I'm so passionate about it because I know that this it can help someone else because I mean the way it changed my life and I' I've talked to multiple people on my podcast that are like my life was in the dumps or um I don't know if you've talked to Yeah, you have. Um Joshua uh Dirty Hands Clean Money. >> Yeah. you know, he he he had a similar story and I talked to him too and I'm like, it's insane the amount of people that by finding a a hope for your financial future makes you turn around your, you know, your happiness gauge, your health future, your family future. It it changes all your preferences. It's amazing. >> The same thing happened to me. Um, I'm at a little later stage of life, but I realized I hadn't saved enough. And it was the same thing. I I got this like sinking feeling because I really do want to take care of myself. I don't want to take from the government. I wanted to do it myself. And and when you're working and saving in fiat, it's like you're on this hamster wheel. You can't keep up because the goals keep shifting. You need more and more. We used to need a million in retirement. then two, then three, then I mean that's in the US. The rest of the world's different. But yeah, it it it's kind of depressing for those of us who really want to take care of ourselves. And then when you realize that, wow, Bitcoin gives me this hope that I can, then it opens up to everything else and then you want to help others too. And even sometimes then you look within. >> Yeah, absolutely. And I mean now my you know my goals have shifted even further like you know I I'm like I want land. I want a house with land with with cows and goats and you know I want to have my own garden and uh my own self- sustaining house. Like the less I can get from the government the better. It's like I I want to be you know self-sustaining on my own and that's that's part of it. Absolutely. >> Yeah. And that brings me to self- sovereignty. So that is obviously important because you can now be self- sovereign with your money and you're you're a believer in self-custody, right? >> Yes. >> So So is that all along the same lines? Self- sovereign in every part of your life. >> Yeah. I mean I'm not there yet. Like I said, like I I don't have, you know, my own ranch where I'm self- sustaining. Um, but Bitcoin terms, yeah, I mean, being able to hold your own money is a different kind of feeling because I think once people realize that the money in the bank isn't there and it's not yours anyway, like that's an IOU from the bank and they don't have to pay it back if they don't want to. Uh, once you realize that, then you're like, "Wow, I don't own anything." And so, Bitcoin is almost like the only thing that you can own truly. Um, sure they can take it from you by force. If you know they raid your house with guns and force you to give up your seed phrase, that's about the only way that they can get it from you. But even then, you don't have to give up a seed phrase if it's, you know, memorized in your head, if there's nowhere to find it. So, yeah, it's it's the only thing that you can truly own. And it it makes you self- sovereign. It makes you not dependable on other people. It makes you reliable for yourself and your family. It makes you take responsibility for your own actions. It builds a lot. It builds a lot of character in you to to become self- sovereign. And I think it's extremely important. And that's it's completely lost on most people. Most people do rely on some sort of help from others, you know, which is fine. Getting help from parents, grandparents, that's that's lovely. I that's my goal, right? is I want to pass that down to my kids and grandkids. And I I feel like that's lost. Like so so many people are like I don't know that they just their retirement plan is social security and their 401k, you know, and that's I'm like you're you're so reliant on the government to feed you at that point. Like you you are basically a slave to the system for your entire life if you cannot get financially free. And the best way to do that is with Bitcoin cuz you can hold it and they can't print more of it. So the more you own, the more free you'll be. So when Bitcoin's dipping, you can buy more freedom is essentially what it comes down to. >> If you truly understand Bitcoin, you know why it's so important to be your own bank. Without full self-custody, you're trusting a third party that knows who you are and how much Bitcoin you hold. Bitcoin is about eliminating counterparty risk. It's about self-s sovereignty. The Bitcoin way is the best way to learn the skills for this level of freedom. Their one-on-one approach teaches you how to take self-custody without ever needing to know who you are or how big your stack is. Go to the Bitcoin way and book a free 30inut consult. Don't delay. Your freedom is at stake. >> Which is exactly where we are now, right? Do you do you think we're in a bare market and this is just part of the cycle? >> Yeah, I think this I think the cycles are uh still intact. Um I was I was hoping that uh the cycles would break and we wouldn't have a draw down, but we did. Um I I think the cycles are changing though. Um every cycle is different. So I don't think we're going to have, you know, the 85% draw down. Um, I forget where that would put us. 126K and 85% draw down. That would put us in like the 20s or 30s, I believe. I don't think we're going to see that. Um, it's going to be more shallow. Uh, we didn't have a blowoff top uh last year. I think 50% off right now is incredible. Like, I think Bitcoin is so undervalued for what's going on in the world right now. I don't understand how Bitcoin's not sitting at 500K. Like, easy. Like, we should be in a bare market at 500K right now. Not a bare market at 70,000. Like, this is a gift. If you're just getting into Bitcoin right now, like, you're you're not late. You're extremely early because 99% of the world doesn't even own it or doesn't even realize it. And so, at 70K, not financial advice, like I'm I'm buying. Um, I just doubled my DCA the other day because I did pay off my debt. And so I'm like everything that was going into my student loans every month is now going into Bitcoin. And then uh that's like one of my goals this year is to like cancel out uh subscriptions and dumb things that I pay for monthly. Like this is the year to get rid of that stuff and double down on your DCA. No one has a crystal ball. I have no idea how how low we could go. I personally think we will go lower. I think uh 58K gang is going to make an appearance again. I think we'll see them uh and the memes are going to be great for it, but uh I'm here for it. I still think we see below 60,000 and uh I I'm ready to buy. I do have some cash set aside just in case, but if we don't go down, I've already upped my DCA enough where I think I'm accumulating a good amount right now. Or I'm trying to I'm trying to cuz Yeah, that's all you can do. >> I think that's a good plan. And like you said, and and keep learning because if if you're going to buy Bitcoin, you got to keep learning. It'll be interesting to see if you're right because I guess if the war gets worse and if we go into something that I'm hoping we don't then yes it definitely could go lower in fiat dollars. Jeff Booth always reminds me when we price in US dollars we're actually making that system stronger but it's so hard not to because we're buying in US dollars. But I think and when I did question him on that, he said it's, you know, if you're already all in Bitcoin, it doesn't matter because he really believes it's going to be a whole new protocol that is going to eat the whole other protocol. So that's, you know, what I continue to study and to get to. But in the meantime, if you're buying Bitcoin in fiat terms, this is a good time to accumulate. >> Yeah, absolutely. It's so hard. Um, I don't live on a Bitcoin standard yet. Like most of my money has been in Bitcoin for, you know, like I said, for the past couple years. Like a lot of it just goes flows into Bitcoin. But on the other hand, I'm not dumb. Um, when the price comes down, I price it, you know, I I look at it and I'm like, "Yeah, that's $70,000 Bitcoin. That's cheap Bitcoin. It's it's pretty much 50% off, you know. It's uh it's a good discount. It's like going to Target and you see 50% off. Like what do you do? You think it's a bargain and you buy. So that's what that's what I see. And I I see it in dollar signs right now. Uh eventually I agree with Jeff Booth. I do think eventually people will be able to live very comfortably on a Bitcoin standard where it's a unit of account and you can spend your Bitcoin just like you can dollars if you want. you know, there's plenty of wallets out there that do a great job with that. And I hope we get to that point, you know, in my lifetime. I would love to see it. Uh I would love to be able to to live on a full Bitcoin standard. And like I said, I won't pay my taxes in Bitcoin. I will I will give dollars as long as I can for that cuz what a waste of Bitcoin that would be. But uh I mean, I I pay some I pay my mom in Bitcoin. She uh I'm still actually on her phone plan, which is funny. My parents phone plan. As a 35year-old, yes, I know it's like embarrassing, but it's cheap. It's cheaper than uh going out and getting my own phone plan for just me and my wife. And so, yeah, me and my siblings are still on my parents' phone plan. And uh every month since I got her into Bitcoin a couple months ago, she actually came to me and was like, "How do I buy Bitcoin?" And I was like, "It's because I started my podcast." And she started seeing me post about it. Uh she follows my Instagram account. And she was like, "I see you're posting every day about these little clips." And she's like, "How do I buy Bitcoin?" So I walked her through how to buy Bitcoin. We haven't gotten to self-custody yet. Which is fine. She she's she's okay. I know other people tell me differently. I need to get on that. I get it. But right now, she's under she's trying to understand it. And so what I do is every time my phone bill is due, I ask her, "Do you want it in dollars or Bitcoin?" Most of the time she says, "I don't care." Or she just says, "Bitcoin." And so I send it to her every month in Bitcoin. And then I I buy my Bitcoin back. So I'm like, you know, it comes out of my bank account into my Bitcoin, but I send her Bitcoin and I tell her, "Don't sell your Bitcoin until you absolutely have to or hopefully you don't." But I was like, "Just hang on to it." And she's like, "Okay, I'll just keep buying every month." And if if you can buy things in Bitcoin, like I want to go to a farmers market and be able to buy almost everything in Bitcoin if I can. That would be fantastic. Uh that's what I'm looking forward to. That's why I'm trying to buy as much as I can right now. >> I think that's amazing. You orange peeled your mom. That's a great way to spend Bitcoin. like you said, you're spending and replacing because I think it really is important for us to support the network and spend and replace for, you know, for those of us who not on the Bitcoin standard. But that's amazing. What is your main message to your followers and your channel? What what are you trying to get out there? >> Well, I mean, I'm I'm trying to get out I'm I'm really focused on the health stuff right now. Um, Bitcoin education comes along with it as well. So, I mean, I want people to get healthy and stop eating the processed food because first of all, that that helps your brain. It fixes what's, you know, the anxieties and the stresses. It does it doesn't happen overnight, but it does help and it takes time. And then it's like what we talked about earlier, you know, you fix your health and you have a happy future. you know, you fix your money and study Bitcoin and you can have a happy financial future. And so that's my message is what I'm trying to get to people is, you know, inflation isn't going to go away. It's not going to stop. The government can't stop printing money. It's physically impossible for them to stop without collapsing the entire system. So don't rely on the government to solve your problems. Solve them for yourself. go out and, you know, read a book, whether it's on Audible or, uh, the physical book. Um, I do both. You know, I I listen to a podcast every day at the gym or a book. And then when we go to the beach, I bring a book every single time. And it's usually about Bitcoin. And it's like, that's what you have to do to to educate yourself about Bitcoin. And I hope I mean, that's what I try to teach on my on my channel. Um, I try to get guests on that have uh life experiences like mine and yours that aren't, you know, the the super early adopters who got rich off Bitcoin because that there's not that many of us that got, you know, they got rich off Bitcoin. There's not many of them. Um, most people are just starting out still. And, uh, just because you're just starting out doesn't mean, you know, you're late. The earlier you learn about it, the earlier you'll adopt it. because I've never met anyone that's studied Bitcoin for long enough and said they don't want to hold it. Eventually, you'll understand it. And whether that takes you 6 months or a year to understand, that's okay. Uh just start somewhere and you don't have to buy a full Bitcoin. Put a little bit in. Stop buying coffee. maybe instead of going out to eat, uh, make food at home and, you know, pay yourself back for that and put $20 into Bitcoin instead of, you know, buying a a meal out to eat. And those little changes within five years or so, you'll see such a big difference. And once you start investing, or I mean, I shouldn't even say investing in Bitcoin, once you start saving in Bitcoin, you'll start paying attention to it a lot more. And that's that's what happened to me is you'll start listening to podcasts. You'll find you'll find podcasts if you follow Paula's podcast and follow her on X or Twitter. Uh you'll see the people she interacts with, the people that she interviews, and then you'll follow those people. And then you'll start to realize and you'll start to educate yourself and realize like, holy crap, like maybe maybe we're not all psychos. And uh then you'll join us. That's a great message and I love that you're bringing the health in because if you aren't feeling good and if you aren't clearminded, the rest doesn't matter. Like your journey says, you got to get off anything that's, you know, really causing you problems. And fat food does cause you problems. It's just a lot slower than than than other things. So, eating clean and all of the things you have talked about are so important and I I really love that your message is amazing. Vince, keep going and tell us where people can find you. >> Yeah. Yeah, I'll keep going. Uh I I feel like my journey is like just getting started, you know. But anyway, you can find me on X uh Huddle Florida. I think it's just a picture of me in this hat. I think. Um >> Awesome. >> Yeah. Uh, and then, um, you can find me on YouTube. Um, that's where my podcast is. It's also on, uh, Spotify, Apple, and Rumble. And that's the the Bitcoin broadcast or the BTC broadcast. Uh, cuz someone already stole the Bitcoin broadcast on like one of them. Anyway, uh, yeah, the BTC broadcast or the Bitcoin broadcast. I'm on Instagram, too. Uh, I'm trying to be more active on Instagram because I think Instagram has more reach to newcomers. I would say X. I'm like in my own bubble of Bitcoiners, which is fantastic. Uh, but it's hard to reach new people on X. Uh, pretty much everyone that finds me is already a Bitcoiner. So, I'm I'm trying to be more active on Instagram. That's my goal. uh and more active on YouTube and produce better videos, better content for uh for people. So, follow me on there, subscribe. I've only been doing it for a couple months and it's it's growing, so I'm enjoying it. >> Wow. Good for you. And I'll put links below. Thanks so much joining me. >> Thank you so much, Paula.