275. The Bitcoin Enlightenment with Ricardo Salinas Pliego

Great interview Peter. I’m so glad you did it. Thank you.

Big fan of yours.

Ok someone needs to tell me if this is planned theft or If the govt is really trying to minimise the risk of contamination of the big banks in event of extreme financial collapse. From discussing withDeepSeek it seems a lot of this came out of the collapse of bear sterns where toxic assets could not be separated from bank assets. Really need your ‘Guys Take’. This is really an important one.

Your point about bear markets sorting the wheat from the chaff is spot on. It links to Talib’s “antifragile”. At first I thought this was how bitcoin becomes antifragile but then I realised Bitcoin is just a protocol and it carries on regardless. What bear markets are really doing is making bitcoiners stronger. Making the bitcoiners who survive the bear market antifragile. Anyway. Loved the show.

Oh boy. You really tried Natalie but he really doesn’t understand bitcoin. And bitcoin is not intuitive. You really have to understand the protocol before you can be confident. He is however right about us not understanding how bad things can get. We are a bit complacent about how violent the state can become (Israel as an example).

Inspired by Darkside, I asked DeepSeek “Can you predict the outcomes from the global financial crisis in 2008, if bitcoin existed as it presently exist with the ETFs and treasury companies”. Answer is fascinating. Of course. This is a fascinating "what if" scenario that blends history, economics, and technology. Predicting outcomes requires considering how a decentralized, non-sovereign, and globally accessible asset like Bitcoin would have interacted with the specific causes and effects of the 2008 crisis. First, let's clarify the key elements of your question: * **The 2008 Crisis Core Problem:** A collapse of trust in counter-party risk within the traditional financial system. Institutions like Lehman Brothers, AIG, and Bear Stearns were found to be insolvent due to exposure to toxic mortgage-backed securities. Banks stopped lending to each other, freezing credit markets. * **Bitcoin "as it presently exists":** This implies: * A mature asset class with significant liquidity (~$1T+ market cap). * Spot Bitcoin ETFs (e.g., BlackRock's IBIT, Fidelity's FBTC) providing easy, regulated access for traditional investors. * Publicly traded companies (e.g., MicroStrategy) and national governments (e.g., El Salvador) holding Bitcoin on their treasury balance sheets. Here’s a predicted breakdown of the outcomes, categorized into likely positive and negative consequences. --- ### Likely Positive Outcomes & Mitigating Effects 1. **A Massive "Flight to Safety" and Store of Value:** * **Scenario:** As trust in banks and traditional assets (stocks, bonds, even some currencies) evaporated, investors would have desperately sought alternatives. Gold famously surged during this period. Bitcoin, with its defined monetary policy (hard cap of 21 million) and independence from any government or bank, would have been a prime candidate. * **Outcome:** We would have seen an enormous capital inflow into Bitcoin, far exceeding the 2017 or 2021 bull runs. Its price would have skyrocketed, pote…

Great read but chilling.

I’ve always wondered what ppl meant when they said bitcoin was perfect collateral. Thanks for explaining it.