Tokyo Citadel Builders
Brad’s Bitcoin Conference Beat
I'm looking for Skyline, as I drive my Skyline, I'm rockin' baby nape, like Neo went away I'm around Tokyo drifting, what Nakimoto gifted These dollars don't make sense, no longer on the fence Bitcoin only homie, Michael Salatomi Ain't no second best, no It's my one and only fear takin' nails, yeah Bitcoin doin' well, yeah I'm in Tokyo, yeah As it's said, Dell, hey! Welcome, welcome, welcome We got a cloudy, kind of grayish day, but not too bad A little bit cooler, unfortunately Brad, the dash to Englishmen is, I'm sure, happy about this weather Brad, what do you think about this? I'm lovin' it, it's been hot for too long Finally slept without an AC on last night It's amazing Fine, I'm the only one who enjoys nice weather The rest of you all like gray misery, but okay, fine The news of the week We will get into, no, we won't, no, we're gonna talk about Bitcoin Well, there was only one thing going on this week, as far as I know, Andy Yes, that's a good point Yes Anything else, any other relevant intro discussion points here? Well, we're just gonna get into the show today Let's dive in Dive in? Alright, well this one will be led by Sometimes, guest Bradley Brad, what are we talking about? Oh, Doc's my full name Sorry, sorry, I didn't know I didn't know there was a big stretch from Brad to Bradley No, I... Is there any... With advanced AI these days, Andy, you know, he could probably They could probably deduce that Yes Is there actually, this is a stupid question, and I'm almost entirely sure of the answer But can Brad be anything else besides Bradley? Yeah, I knew a guy named Bradford Oh, Bradford, okay, yeah, I've heard of that That's a very British-toning name Was that the UK? Yeah, it's in the UK There's a city in the UK called Bradford Is it a city or a town? I know it's a town, but they upgrade cities these days, but It is, that's what reason It is a small town that is, I believe the UK is eleventh largest city Oh, wow, okay And there will be change to Brad, Fert of Stan, within the next iteration Oh, yeah, they already call it that Sorry Yeah, Bitcoin Tokyo Happened this weekend, September 21, 22 I was anticipating it a long time I wanted to initially be involved with the organizing, but then Had to go back to the fiat mines So I told Koji that I wouldn't be able to help with the lead-up, but I was his on the weekend, and he really took that to heart I ended up moderating three sessions and emceeing Both days, which I found out When they said emceeing, that meant basically running the stage So, I was very busy On the planning, by the way, I had also been roped into the Planning, but that didn't, you know, the fiat mines calls, and I couldn't do it, do it I was sort of unceremoniously kicked out of the group That, you know, they had the telegram planning group Was it, were you kicked out as well, or do you know any of the background behind that? Did they have some sort of call of people who weren't helping in that telegram group? Oh, that's a good question, I totally forgot about that group Yeah, I just checked one, I was like, "I wonder how it's going and I look one day" And I wasn't, I was no longer in the group So, yeah, I, oh, I don't have telegram open I'm not sure, but I mean, I usually mute groups immediately So, I haven't been getting any notifications, but Yeah, yeah, maybe I got bounced as well Which is fair enough I mean, there must have been a lot that went into it I didn't attend in the end, I had family stuff and whatever But I don't know, maybe if we can start by If you give an overview on the sort of scale and everything Because I just have no, my frame of reference is sort of Nostraisia kind of thing, was it similar in scale to that or was it bigger, was it smaller? Yeah, so it took place in the Parco building in Shibuya There's a conference hall there called Dragon Gate Which I think the building is called Parco DG Building I think DG stands for digital garage Yeah, but then I realized Dragon Gate is also DG So maybe they just, maybe everything they do They find words that start with D and then G To keep their branding real tight But the size of the hall was similar to the Nostraisia venue I think Koji told me they sold about 500 tickets And they were sold out, so I think that was their max capacity And then they split the hall into two rooms, two stages Main stage and sub stage, probably about 400 on main 100 on sub Was the main, the Japanese truck then, and the sub was the English truck, okay Yeah, the first day, the main stage was almost all Japanese And the sub stage was almost all English The second day, the tracks were called Tech Track and Biz Track The tech track was the main stage, Biz Track was the, was the sub stage And it was much more mixed up in terms of language And definitely popularity of sessions as well I mean for the most part, the main stage had more people listening But for a few sessions, they just packed into the sub stage For example, the FSA session was incredibly popular And it was on the sub stage And you were MCing on the main stage the whole time? No, no, I was thankfully MCing the English track And then the Biz Track, which were both on the sub stage Okay, so you got to watch all of those sessions, all the sub stage Yeah, but so in the end, I was doing MC and running the slides Doing that audio and video machine, I don't even know what it's called I was googling how to use it the morning of the first day Because I realized I would... On the job training? Yeah, yeah, a mixer, maybe that's what it's called I was putting chairs on the stage, taking them off I was running the mic during Q&A sessions So sadly, I may not remember too much of the actual content But yeah, so for the most part, the languages were divided I think they did have simultaneous interpreting Some of the sessions, I think it didn't work And even when it did work, I didn't listen to it But you know how it is, you can even with the best interpreter You can never convey a hundred percent of the meaning Luke Dashier? Yeah, that is... Do I look after Junior or Luke Dashier? I never know how to say his name Yeah, if he had been on my stage, I would have found out But he was not, so I never did He had a unique approach Maybe you saw on Twitter, he asked someone to translate his speech into Japanese But all in Romaji So he could read it in Japanese or he could sound it out in Japanese Oh, you're kidding me And sadly, I wasn't able to watch it, but I am going to search high and low for a video Because I heard it was quite the thing to behold Like one sentence in English and then the same sentence in, well, Japanese Kind of, English, Japanese I don't know I think everyone was just blown away by the novelty Yeah, he's a character, right? Did you get to talk to him at all? I did, I did, yeah, very much a character Yeah, strong, strong views on a variety of things, I mean, I don't think I'm sharing anything out of school He has in his Twitter bio something about a certain sect of Roman Catholicism Being the one true sect I heard a little bit of the background on that Apparently, the last few pokes have been Oh, what did they call it? The church is completely talking about it Sadie or something like that, right? I forget the name But yeah, there was this takeover of the Catholic church around 1958 And it has never been the true church since So yeah, it was great to meet or like see all these well-known Bitcoiners that I only see on Twitter One of my big takeaways was that people are using Incredibly old Twitter profile photos Everyone is fatter than they leave on In Twitter, yeah, that's usually how that goes And actually not just not just the like well-known Bitcoiners I even had, I mean, you know how the the Japanese Bitcoin Twitter circle is very small And you get to know a few names that regularly pop up Talking about Bitcoin and Japanese I actually met a few of those people which was which was awesome It did kind of feel like meeting a celebrity Even though they're just like average people But like they came up to me and they're like, oh, hey, I'm so-and-so on Twitter And I was like, oh, oh, that's you Finally, nice to meet you Can you drop any nims? Yeah, yeah, so you know JPN Ledger? No Andy might know better than me I'm not sure you would recognize You'd recognize the the photo. Yeah, JPN Ledger Cryptograph file. Oh, I know him Yeah, yeah Both of them, I used to think they were Japanese like fully Japanese, but then at some point on Twitter, they they would like tweet in English And it's like, oh, you're kind of like fluent in English as well, so I mean, it was- was that a common thing with the with the the Japanese pleb you met like those guys They're like fully international Um Yes and no, I think it is still true that like not I mean, there's definitely the language barrier like Like it was way more good high quality content in English than in Japanese. So A lot of the Japanese Bitcoiners who like really get Bitcoin Um are the ones who are able to consume the the content in English um, but I did meet a number of Japanese people like I would say most most of the Japanese attendees at the conference um Do not have a particularly high Level of English and yet they're still very interested and and I think a lot of them Um very much into Bitcoin supportive of Bitcoin And uh, maybe not exclusively Bitcoin, but I saw so many tweets after the conference, especially About the lightning market a lot of people really excited to take home say an umbrella or a jade wallet or uh, even like a stuffed animal of that um that grumpy Bitcoin What is that? Do you know that uh, it's like that orange puppet. That's like a yeah a bit another one you talking about Yeah, there were some pictures of him walking around shibuya with some people in Uh kimonos and a lot of people around them taking photos Uh, so yeah, they were selling stuffed animals people were really into that Uh, so yeah, I guess this is kind of jumping the gun, but I was really encouraged by the conference like see how well it was attended and I mean, I didn't get To talk with a lot of the attendees, but in terms of the sessions. It was it was like Of course bitcoin only very pro bitcoin very anti uh altcoins So a pretty unique Event for japan, I would say and i'm judging by the responses like pretty positive. I think people were into it um Yeah, we can get into a few of the sessions later on, but uh It did it did kind of Change my perception because I think it's easy for us to think that oh japanese are just going along with what the authorities say what the with the government wants them to think and like bitcoin it's too too radical for for japanese to really get on board with but uh So one of the sessions for instance was with uh, um Someone from the fsa. Let me uh, let me find it so I get the uh His title, um Where is it? Here it is So the english title is how should bitcoiners and bitcoin startups collaborate with the fsa Which is a pretty monday and just to clarify. Yeah, it's this is the financial services agency japanese, so these are the regulators essentially. Yeah. Yeah, so it was uh keske hyashi the deputy director of the fsa which uh sounds like i'm pretty I think he's pretty high up and it was so it was him on stage with koji and koji went pretty hard uh in terms of the questions he was asking and Even like the persistence with which he asked them like at one point. I think um The the fsa guy was I mean the fsa fsa guy probably like feeling very constrained in what he can say and and uh and not at liberty to to Really express his personal opinion, which is fair enough But so he I think he was saying something like oh, we don't we don't take a view of like which cryptocurrencies are legit or um, I think koji was kind of I mean it was like half question half criticism that seems like they spend a lot of time talking about nft's and web 3 and like crypto regulations and very relatively little time talking about um bitcoin regulation or what what uh bitcoin focus companies need to be able to operate like regulatory clarity and uh, so the guy was was I was saying that yeah, we we don't take a like particular view of of which are legit and koji just really like like stuck on that point like are you really like do you really think that nft's are Are equivalent in significance to bitcoin? I mean it would like from our perspective. It was a flash in the pan Like the trend is already over but you like do you really think that that nft's are are uh worthy of equal attention to bitcoin Um, so I was I mean we were kind of on the side. We were kind of laughing at how how persistent he was on some of the questions uh, and then they opened it up to q&a and first question is from Uh, this I think he's a professor Uh last name uchida. I think he's got that spoke. He was on the Speakers list. I think or I think he was. Yeah, and I think he's a pretty well-known twitter personality um and uh his question too was like uh like Sometimes we meet with You guys but then Like someone will change like a new person will come into the position and the things that you guys are saying will completely change To how are we supposed to deal with that? Like which like in japanese, it's a pretty direct question and he's also got his laptop open And I was kind of standing behind him so I could see he's got twitter open and he's like life tweeting the guy's answer Um, so I found myself thinking like maybe we've been a little bit too too paranoid like worried about uh, the government's gonna come after us because we're Because we like bitcoin because we're holding bitcoin and here these these people are like just brazenly criticizing and questioning the The fsa, you know in a you know very public forum. So I was I was encouraged and uh, yeah gave me some New perspective into japanese and And maybe the the potential for a little more uh, orneryness then then we maybe gave him credit for I think you got to be careful with that though because like Dash was not going to have any of this happiness. He was not going to allow any kind of All right, go ahead type. I'm low a little but it's like well coke like I think the key is leverage, right? And so you you know in japan, you know, if you if you have leverage like kurji has leverage because he lives in He lives outside japan and the professor has leverage because he's got that, you know title if you like So it's kind of hard to go after him You know, we we see what happens when you don't when you overstep your, you know, whatever you get up at issue We say and you don't have necessarily the the the kind of leverage like carlos goan you end up in jail or What was his name hoodie amount? uh, hoodie takafumi was it um the like the x live door co, um, you know, you can then he ends up in jail Right. So I I mean, I've seen the regime in japan in prison It's and it's enemies or perceived threats, right? And we will we've all seen that So I think you have to keep that in mind Um, but yeah, it's kind of hard to do that to a professor or or maybe koji who lives overseas You know, so that's a trend. I've seen with japanese who are outspoken It's it's you know, you're you typically you're like you're you're an you're an older Male like academic or you know tv maybe personality or you're like or you live overseas So that that yeah, I I don't think anybody can just go out shouting whatever they want in japan and not expects Some sort of you know Punishment or whatever so that's rather there's my two cents, but what do you think Andy? um Yeah, it's a hard one. I I tend to I think I I think I gravitate a little more towards You on this one bread. I I just the The They don't You know when when You know with us we're we're all three of us come from an american or british context where All-out war and and smashing you know any kind of dissent is is increasingly popular That seems less the case Here so I think you're I think I think I probably Have a little more resonance with your take on this one. Sorry dash, but you should be happy with this and uh take it take it as a small win despite your Natural inclination to turn any good news into bad news Fair enough um another Oh, yeah, yeah, um one thought I had I mean even if like you're probably right dash that these are at least in personality. These are somewhat uncharacteristic japanese people, but I still think it was important for Other attendees to see that like to not just have this facade of of oh, we're all working together and oh, we all bow down at the foot of the FSA for like uh, maybe a more more normia tendi or or even like a crypto attendee to hear that and and hear like the challenging then maybe they're emboldened to uh to like if they're starting a of business or something maybe emboldened to uh To try out their their novel idea. Uh, let's not get let's not get ahead of ourselves red Yeah, yeah, um one session that I moderated Actually in japanese was with it was supposed to be with like the ceos of various exchanges in the end the uh coin check I couldn't make it so it was just with the ceo of bit bank and the ceo of mer coin, which is the The subsidiary of meducadi that is In charge of their their bitcoin stuff and sadly now they're eat stuff No, so I had a session with them. Yeah, I was disappointed because when I first started preparing for the the session, I thought they were still bitcoin only and I was gonna I was gonna like ask about that and and uh and kind of praise them for that, but then I looked online and And uh, they've already added e but even with that. So one of my questions was was like, okay, both both of your companies like deal with with different cryptocurrencies and and as it is in exchange like it's just a big list and and uh In terms of how it's presented. It's not really like bitcoin is Is anything special? But like how do you personally feel like is bitcoin special and and the bit bank ceo Did definitely um, I mean, maybe it was just lip service. Maybe just because of where he was he felt compelled to to uh To play up his affinity for bitcoin, but uh, but yeah, he was like, uh, like in my mind. Yeah, bitcoin is is of course like um Like very different very special. I want to see it thrive um So things like that. Yeah, you could you could say oh he was just pandering to the audience, but I still think it's important for um, the average japanese attendee to hear that and uh to Uh be forced to to think about that I think it's a great question. I just so just on that answer though because one thing I've noticed with shitcoiners Is they'll kind of dammit with what's the expression down with fame praise or something where they'll say oh, yeah, bitcoin's the original So it's special so it's always going to be special, but there's always within that answer at this new answer It's kind of old and it's kind of not there's for nostalgic reasons They think oh, yeah, but of course bitcoin especially it was the first it's the you know, oh g But dot dot dot, you know, I i'm into shitcoins because that's the kind of You know, the i'm looking for the next bitcoin sort of thing, right? So so I think a good like a follow-up is will white wise bitcoin special because You know, is it the case that bitcoin kind of was the was the you know the first in terms of digital scarcity It's kind of digital goal with the lindy effect etc and therefore, you know bitcoin has a solid use case. Where is it? Anything outside of bitcoin really doesn't hasn't found any genuine use case Right and and I think you'd have probably struggled to get him to Um admit to that because the fact is that his exchange launch Uh, i'm sorry lists all of the shitcoins alongside bitcoin as if as if they were equivalent, right? So so I I love your question, but it's like i've just noticed like shitcoiners have a have a Kind of slithery sneaky way out of that in that with the with the damning with fame praise kind of answer But do you do you think his answer was was like that? No, I I actually I think it In this case, it wasn't just like oh bitcoin is the original I think I mean part of it is that we've seen such a resurgence in in bitcoin's popularity. I mean globally like within Within the so-called crypto industry. I mean whether it's for legitimate reasons or not I mean a lot of it is is building that is ultimately kind of a turnout to be just as much a flash in the pan as as nft's or icos, but Even with the ETFs and like black rock pushing the digital gold narrative and um Then the sessions like the the kind of overarching narrative at bitcoin tokyo from kojis opening remarks where he had a timeline of all the big events in In bitcoin's history in japan like mount gox coin check And then of course things like the ico boom nft boom And really emphasizing that the one common strain was the bitcoin always survives and also that it's been consistently Misunderstood and underestimated. I think That we've At least right now we've kind of put to rest to that that narrative that oh bitcoin was the original but everything else is uh, an improvement or replacement of it because Like if things have gone on for long enough that we see bitcoin Continually surviving and thriving as as other things come and go So you could again argue that oh the big bank ceo recognizes that and and he's just Just really good at uh that paying lip service, but I I actually do think that he he genuinely uh appreciates bitcoin and Does want to see it thrive, but at the end of the day as an exchange They pursue profits and I don't like that wants to see it thrive thing though because like what does that mean? It's like it's like to me to understand bitcoin is to know that it it's going to thrive You know regardless of your like like bitcoin doesn't need you you need bitcoin, right? And that and that so that and that the use case is to preserve your wealth and purchasing power in this kind of Scarce asset highly decentralized not controlled by anyone And everything outside of bitcoin in the digital asset space is pretty much bullshit or improving Um, and once you've had that realization, I don't understand why you'd continue with your you know lining up all the coins as if they're all the same Okay, he's got his big exchange business model seems to rely on this to some extent Um So maybe that's it. I don't know. Maybe he's it. Maybe he's in a tough place if he genuinely has had that realization, right? But you know, it seems to me that you judge you judge people by their action more than their words and it's So so that would make me think it was more lip service. He was giving than than anything, but I don't know you were there So i'll defer to you. It's it's fair enough Uh, I mean, I'll let me amend my statement to say once to see it thrive in japan because there's the all like like bitcoin Bitcoin is always going to do fine, but uh, or you can't ban bitcoin, but you can certainly ban yourself from bitcoin So I mean bitcoin will be fine, but how it does in japan is going to be a an open question I don't know. I'll labor the point. So I'll make this my last point on this But I when when I think shitcoin is say, oh, I want to see bitcoin thrive I think it's because like we see in bear markets all shitcoin has become bitcoin is again Because they know either, you know, they know it intellectually or they know it's on some level Intuitively that without bitcoin pumping their shitcoins don't pump And that's why i offer. Hey, he's becomes a bitcoiner again and bulaji because they know and like until bitcoin gets firing Nothing else gets firing and then of course once the bull market ramps up again that they're shitcoining again Immediate so I think when he says he wants to see it thrive in japan, he just wants to get he sees it as a kindle to get the fire going Again and make a ton of fear money is You know, I have never met the guy and I wasn't there and I'm you know, so I might be way off base here But I don't know just my genuine just my general kind of experience with shitcoin is that's typically how they think so I would imagine that's how he thinks but I might be wrong Yeah on the on the bit bank front They actually announced maybe you saw this they announced at the conference that they're They're enabling lightning withdrawals. Mm. That's cool Jonathan Underwood is their chief bitcoin officer. You've you've probably seen his tweets on On twitter. It's nice to meet him. Yeah, he's uh, he's definitely a bitcoiner Uh, I don't know how he's been able to Survive working at a at a crypto exchange for so long, but I do I mean kind of similarly to how I at coin post hoped like like you you want to have bitcoiners at these companies because they have such a huge reach, but on the other hand, it is hard as a bitcoin or two to Function at a company where you you have to do a lot of other stuff as well. I mean joe mia motos in the same position Yeah, yeah, yeah programmer where like he's he's pushing for these Like for the company to to move in directions that bitcoiners would love to see but it's always it's a constant negotiation with all the other forces at play Um Let's see maybe one more point on the on that exchange session the the midu kari guy had a a few slides on their user base of like who's using bitcoin On the exchange and I think I think they added eth pretty recently. So I think these stats are mostly just for bitcoin But in terms of the demographics that is very different than the average crypto exchange like a pretty broad distribution age wise and then also um Well gender wise What else I can't remember how granular they got. Oh, yeah, a lot of people Touching bitcoin for the first time So again, me you could say they don't allow withdrawals like what kind of what kind of bitcoin um Bitcoin company is that but It was still interesting and maybe i'm just an eternal optimist but encouraging to see a lot of people Very interested in bitcoin at least in some in some very limited capacity The play there I always assumed was like people see it as a points thing where the points can appreciate in value You kind of get that you kind of get like a gambling and a points thing all in one Is that is that kind of the play there? I think so um I mean now that they've added eth it kind of seems like they're they're going to try to become a full-on crypto exchange But if they were to do that they would have to at least enable with bitcoin Withdrawals at some point so that could still be useful if we use medicare be able to Stack some bitcoin and withdraw it Um Speaking of other Japanese companies who are more into bitcoin than I thought they were Um, you guys may have heard about tepko mining bitcoin Uh, I think it's their subsidiary called agile energy x A guy from that company was was a speaker at the conference I wasn't able to see it because it was on the other stage, but Um, he did I saw one of the slides one of the diagrams posted on twitter afterwards Uh, so they are I think they're particularly interested in bitcoin because There are peak times like during the day when there's a lot of wasted energy Um That they've I think in some places the government has actually asked some power generators to shut down or curtail their, um, power production because It's it's uh It's unnecessary. It's wasted So now they're starting to use that to mine bitcoin improve their profitability and also fund build out of more energy sources So I think that's pretty exciting How needed is that in japan do you think? Because it's been very popular in the states right in was it texas where they have this demand response Um, and it's been very effective. I believe for stabilize grids and You know as you say, I'm kind of make it more profitable to maintain these kind of base loads which have Would typically largely be wasted in off pikos but is In from what you know what you heard there at the conference is that a similar You know just japan have a similar sort of energy use profile as the states and It's that and so we can we can just expect to see the same kind of Businesses develop out here. I think That it is extremely needed from the perspective of energy independence So when you think about how much energy japan imports and how much that affects Wow things like inflation and and purchasing power when when the yen is so weak and yet they still have to import that energy Uh for consumers. So if it can fund the build out of of domestic energy sources, I mean I think right now there's a lot of talk about uh funding renewables Solar and wind which I know are are not stable base load But still think it could help with uh with japan's Energy profile energy independence Uh, so that's my perspective um And that probably would help with with things like extreme weather events like like we saw in texas where Where because they the bitcoin miners enable uh oversupply of energy then Then they have they have more supply when when things like that happen Hmm Uh, that is my limited perspective So it sounds like there's a fair amount of not fair amount, but a good nucleus maybe or there's a few How do you say like uh bullish seeds there almost like it feels like let's like it's you know, maybe japan bitcoin scene isn't thriving, but There's some potential shoots just showing Um as long as the regulator isn't coming in crush it and it sounds like that's not really on the cards because the regulator is kind of Maybe non-committal on things, but certainly isn't like hostile I think so. Yeah, yeah um There was a session about uh weather japan will have a we'll get a bitcoin ETF and uh sounds like that is going to happen next year So away Yeah, yeah, so uh I mean Like regardless of how we feel about the the merits of an ETF I think that is definitely like a stamp of if not a stamp of approval than a stamp of apathy Like it's not going to it's not going to get shut down Yeah Um speaking of bullish seeds uh one very unique session was um by uh This sakura this um What would you call it society or group from saucya university? It's called givers. It's a volunteer group, but it's um It's uh tied to el Salvador And so they're actually very bitcoin focused like they've gone to el Salvador and and Helped people learn how to use lightning wallets. Of course. They themselves had to learn how to use them first. It's also very Oh, I heard I heard a sharp intake of breath dash Well, that's no this this sounds too good to be true, but where Where is the where is the funding and the coming and is it is this some sort of el Salvador? El Salvador in angio. I was thinking it's like but clearly sending out Ngo's but or like who's who's behind this? Do you know? Uh I haven't looked into it. I I mean that was my first time hearing about this group. It's called givers Maybe I already mentioned I wouldn't be surprised if there's funding from the el Salvadorian government. I mean they're um they're uh, what was it ambassador or Minister someone was at the conference. Um, this is awesome. Andy. Did you know about this? Um if I say Yes, do I get credit for knowing shit? Despite the fact that I have nothing to comment on because I'm just hearing about this for the first time. No, I had no idea We need to dig into this. This is this sounds really bullish It's uh, and it's actually so they said their group is uh much more women than men like uh, I mean They just said that women are very unbolished volunteering Oh, yeah, you know, he hated you would have hated this presentation. It was uh, it was all about how how to reach them gen z with uh with bitcoin I want to have bitcoin education. I I don't know. I think they're very smart Maybe they're using the enemies tactics against them. It's like um It's an elsa. I'm in my my imagination is running wild here But it's like an el Salvadorian NGO that's using regime Talking points against it. It's all it's all women and they're called givers and but really they're all about bringing you know um hard money and accountability to government and I don't know so it sounds It sounds bullish to me. I want to I want to learn more It was exciting. I mean, yeah, three uh, three Young women gave the presentation Um to to a room full of men basically. I mean there was There were women at the conference. Of course the ratio. No, there were not but There were actually A decent number of women. Oh, hang on. When we let's define a woman. Are we are we like a democrat? Very important women. Oh, yeah, yeah Uh biologically female, right? How many how many come on? Well, yeah, you know, I went around with my upskirt analysis so uh I have the exact numbers actually apparently there was uh this cafe Also in the parko building It's called botul cafe, which which means like verbal abuse cafe This was not related to the conference, but um, but I think some of the conference goers ended up Uh going there in some cases multiple times, but it's this cafe where you go and and the staff are not only Like extremely rude to you, but they'll actually like just bully you Just make fun of you for for whatever and uh, and people love it apparently Yeah, okay All right moving strictly on from that Um, what else did I want to talk about? Oh, yeah, so there was a speaker dinner, uh hosted by mempool dot space Uh, it was uh, it was at the oak door in rapongi hills steak steak dinner Probably the best steak I've ever had in my life. It was well incredible And I realized I mean and this is like, you know, all the all the speakers like all the Well-known bitcoiners from overseas and and I'm like Rubbing elbows with them. I realized the secret is to become a moderator at at these conferences Because you just have to be good at asking questions like how hard is that just uh Just just get on the radar of these organizers as someone who is able to ask questions And uh, then you're you're you're you're in the same category as these elite speakers And even if you're not good at asking questions these days, you just do chat gpt five minutes before you go up right and you have a list Yeah, yeah, okay Life hack there listeners Um, so did you make any good connections? Are you your best friends without him back now? Oh, I didn't I didn't uh Speak with adam, but he everyone who talked with him said he was incredibly friendly And uh, I mean, yeah kudos to him for still like traveling around the world coming to these Inaugural events, um He's got bags to pump Yeah, I mean as you can see from the price bitcoin chocchio is really uh Actually, don't pull down today. I guess that doesn't really work as a joke because it is up Up up you bastard. It's up enough enough of you dash. It is up. No, I will stay up and it was going to go up for a little bit Okay, so we can all get We can all get behind that. I just do my dash can get behind that Number go up fine. Okay Um, so that so that so that book the trend as well because usually the conference crashes the price. So it's nice of koji to arrange that Yeah Um So what what was the breakdown of? Japanese versus non-Japanese in terms of the attendees was it like 50/50 or more Japanese? No, no um It was probably similar to the stage Ratio like 400 to 100 Something like that 400 Japanese. Yeah, okay Um Yeah an interesting I mean, yeah, it's it's easier to imagine what kind of non-Japanese were there Obviously you had the the the speakers and other hardcore Or bitcoin ogees who can just travel around the world and and come to these conferences And then you had the the locals who are also you figure pretty pretty hardcore into bitcoin a little harder to Assess what kind of Japanese people were there? Um, obviously you had you had some hardcore bitcoiners. You had uh some crypto Industry people and then probably some crypto curious uh a decent number of academics after one of the so after the after the lightning network developer AMA this Japanese guy came up to me and because We hadn't been able to get to his question He wanted to ask the speakers directly because they were still standing around But he couldn't speak english so he wanted me to translate it and it was such a such a hard question It was like about it was about zero knowledge proofs and Oh Like algebra and algebraic geometry and oh man like I hate that I've had that experience, right? You're like, yeah, I speak I speak Japanese speaking which but I don't speak engineer It's like I'm not gonna be able to help here but um Laolou the I think he's the cto at at lightning labs Um, he was all about it. He just went up and I mean This guy he speaks he speaks like 2x when he's on on stage Like there were some great memes that came out of that actually like Japanese people trying to understand laolou speaking at a conference um but uh He slowed it down a little bit In conversation afterwards, but yeah, it was still like I could only I could only give the highlights to to the guy and Uh, and of course some some useful URLs, but uh, yeah, it was actually from a publisher Japanese publisher that puts out books about encryption and cryptography and I think like uh the the mathematics side of that so he uh, yeah, he was very interested. I mean, it's probably part of this wave of people coming back to bitcoin and and uh Like realizing that they can do more on bitcoin than they thought Which again, not that all of that necessarily has merit, but I think it's cool to see um people like that like because he he's the kind of person who probably would have been all about ethereum for for most of the past number of years and You know smart smart contracts and and zero knowledge and roll-ups and whatever, but then now even if he's just an observer observing that that uh So many people are are now taking a another look at bitcoin um It's uh, it's interesting interesting and uh, maybe i'm cautiously optimistic on that But yeah, oh, sorry derailed from my uh, my assessment of the japanese crowd Uh, yeah a lot of academics Um a few few people in in politics um Yeah, yeah hard to say exactly what kind of people but um Definitely generated a lot of a lot of conversation both on my offline and and online Which I think then has a ripple effect and I think a lot of the benefits of a conference are are somewhat intangible But it's still like especially in a place like japan where Legitimacy is is paramount like Like just being like something having the appearance of legitimacy Uh, makes it legitimate in people's minds And I think throwing a conference like this even if like to hardcore bitcoiners it feels like really corporate or or uh superficial, I think it it's still pretty valuable in in uh um showing legitimacy to to people outside Yeah, that's a fair point. We've been a bit Critical on on a couple of shows leading up to it that it just felt like a bit sort of 2020ish or whatever like it was a look But then I guess japanese is a little bit behind in terms like especially the states, right? So maybe the timings right and like you say that kind of The air of legitimacy is probably something we were missing and that's that's very important to A lot of japanese and when you've got like as you say the regulator there um You tabco etc. It sounds like you know some real a sort of a listors in terms of that in terms of adding credibility and legitimacy to the To the whole thing that's but then that's probably been Um They probably succeed like how would you probably succeed in that right in in in in look could sort of legitimizing the the bitcoin only Mm thesis. I think so. Yeah, it definitely got a boost at least Mm Um, I do think it was too expensive like I think you guys have probably mentioned that previously like the the general tickets were two and a half mon Around what 25,000 yen and then the VIP tickets were like around 10 times that so what would that be in dollars like 18 Yeah Well like 180 maybe something under $200 and and for the VIP like something under 2,000 Dollars which yeah, it does make it hard like there are people I know who I would have liked to have invited like even Like they're they're somewhat into bitcoin. They're just not gonna pay uh 150 $200 to go to a conference. I brought a bitcoin show. I'm not paying $200 But he he sold out, right Yeah, so yeah, I guess in the end and then there was no there was no like getting in on the door, right? It was I mean it was he was sold out sold out It was sold out. I even heard there were people who had bought flights to japan who no for some reason didn't buy their Conference tickets and were not able to get in. Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah. Yeah Um, so yeah, the the like it would be nice if there was There were cheaper tickets, but on the other hand, I I don't think I mean I'm not I don't have a view of the finances but I don't imagine they made much money if if any Never in the history of conferences has anyone made money that is just that is the bitcoin conference is the path toward blowing your entire stack But we appreciate code you sacrifices now poor yeah, so I don't know how to solve that like like if there's any way other than just having a very Uh charitable sponsor like like a jack dorsey or or someone who who believes in the mission and is happy to take a loss Like I mean it feels like not very sustainable. You would want it to at least break even um, but Yeah, I I also realized like for example, the the closing party like we had to pay and at a at a crypto conference That would be unthinkable like you have for a eight to get into the afterparty, but I realized um, either you ask people to pay for For some things or you have tron sponsor your conference. Those are kind of the the options They should have done tron. I thought that would that would have been great. I think Justin's son sponsoring this conference would have been icing on the cake He gets around So and oh, oh, sorry. Go ahead. Um Do you think they're going to do this again? Everyone in the speaker chat wanted them to or wants them to um, I think they are Just exhausted like a térico and koji for sure. Uh, so they don't want to even think about doing another one in a year's time Uh, I really hope they do and I think I'm gonna try to be more available To help them do one because there's clearly The the demand for it both both in japan and abroad Uh, so yeah, I sure hope so, but it's not guaranteed at this point It sounds like it was a success then. I mean Because and and Koji can't have known this going in. I mean, he's he's taken a leap of faith. Obviously Could have completely fallen flat, right? You could have ended up only selling 100 tickets I mean, he said he sold the thing out. Um, it sounds like there was some really like meaningful discussions that happened with the regulator with tapco, etc Um, and it sounds like there's been as you say you've sort of identified or Uh, what's the word that verif kind of verified that there is there is something in japan like a real bitcoin Only movement. So I mean that that for me sounds like a sort of 10 out of 10 in terms of You've met you've met your goals, you know that in terms of That the conference has been a success Um, would you would you agree with that or was there maybe a little bit of also constructive criticism you could add and and Things things that you could be improved for next time Yeah, yeah, I would agree. Um, yeah, I mean, obviously like Like from an operational side because it was the first time there there's uh, there's all kinds of things that could have been um, better planned better run Um, but conferences are are interesting, especially when you have such a supportive attendee base where It's like you you realize like there are all these things. Oh, we didn't like we didn't we don't we don't have staff for this hour we're running late or or uh, like all these things are going wrong, but at the end of the day people are very Forgiving if they even notice so many things feel like chaos behind the scenes and and then the attendees are like, oh, I've never been to such a Well-run conference like they don't even notice. So, um, yeah, plenty of plenty of things Even just from the standpoint of making the organizers lives better. I mean really like people like Koji and Teruko you want I mean, you want them to plan it, but then have the staff kind of running the thing on the day so they can just circulate and and talk with people so like from that perspective, you have plenty of Plenty of potential improvements for next year, but yeah, I think I think you're right uh about like the the successes the um the um Yeah, the Well, yeah, the successes. I think it was a very successful Conference and that the overall feeling was like, oh, why haven't we done this sooner? Well, that sounds like a good place to end on with uh people needing to get get to work and whatnot glad it went well Glad you were there. Uh, thanks for the report. Um, I'm sure dash will take his optimism and turn it into something miserable by the end of the day Um, not sure what Uh, uh, what the general sentiment, uh, will be but i'm we'll we'll check in later. Um, hopefully All those who uh did it at a good time and uh, i'm be curious to hear an update, you know later on see if anything Anything kind of springboards off of this or if it uh, yeah, it was more just kind of fun. Um, but any final words Yeah, that you're right. That is the true Task like six months or even a year from now. What kind of things have have grown out of the conference. Uh, it'll be Interesting to watch that For me, um, it's not true at all that, um, i'm going to be i'm going to be bullish. I did the el Salvador NGO coming out here and Spreading bouquély propaganda has really cheered me up. I'm going to look into that Um, i'm going to remain bullish. I'm i'm i'm i'm happy. So how do you lying bastard? But all right, we'll take it. All right, gentlemen. Good talk. See you soon. See ya. Thank you Yeah My life Tokyo said School I'm looking at skyline as I drive my skyline. I'm rocking baby name like neo went away Tokyo drifting what naki moto gifted These dollars don't make sense no longer on the fence. No bitcoin only homie Michael sailor told me ain't no second best. No, it's my one and only fear taking else. Yeah bitcoin doing well i'm in tokyo That's a sit bill. Hey konichi. Wow white light red dot gti DC a2 btc stock and saus manicha Hey konichi wa white light red dot gti DC a2 btc stock and saus manicha Tik tok next block. This is a major e-park my seed phrase. I keep locked Don't worry about what we got what he got what she got this bitcoin We good breath in bitcoin. We good breath is bitcoin. We good breath that ain't got thousand flows Done a hundred shows check the proof of work. Yeah, I'm out. It really shows Said the del living beat the bee. We keep on giving out. You know what we're all about Purple kid. I'll increase in bitcoin adoption so many plebs i've adopted tick the top next block You know we ain't gonna stop it increasing bitcoin adoption so many plebs i've adopted tick the top next block. You know we ain't gonna stop it My question Now Now Tell You Think It's