From the Road: A Blog of a Crypto Vagabond

Ep. 6 SWAC StreamYard Audio

Mon, 8/10 5:04AM • 56:58

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

people, cryptocurrency, crypto, bitcoin, payments, blockchain, merchants, currency, transaction, world, digital currencies, cryptocurrencies, utilizing, talking, device, bank, west africa, technology, kyc, america

SPEAKERS

Elsa Ramon, Bill Deignan, Dee Duncan

Bill Deignan  00:00

Yeah. And we’re live.

Elsa Ramon  00:04

Billy! I have to tell. I have to say if you guys are watching the live stream right now, no bill is this close to a family getaway? on the lake, right. Going to the lake.

Bill Deignan  00:17

We got our little piece of land that we share with family on a creek that we really enjoy. And it’s been in the family for probably over 100 years. And so yeah, it’s just a nice getaway for the family plays together. So we’re after this recording, we’re heading out of town for a few days. You know, just kind of relax on the creek bank and drink a few beers and enjoy the kids.

Elsa Ramon  00:44

Yeah, how do you say down there in Georgia? It’s the Crick

Bill Deignan  00:49

Say what? The Creek? No, we don’t say the Crick. Creek say it’s great. All right, where is that? I think it’s for a lot of people in Tennessee when I lived there. years ago they would say Crick a lot down going down No, we’re creek people.

Elsa Ramon  01:05

Yeah, I say Creek. My I’m half Texan. Why do you know you know, my dad’s from Austin born and raised? My mom’s from Los Angeles. So I’m on I’m a weird mix but yeah, we say Creek in Texas. You can vouch for that. So I, you and I have talked a lot over the last couple of years about how blockchain and Bitcoin and digital currencies affect people in different ways.

They see the uses of it, depending on how marginalized they are, right some some more developed countries or countries like ours see it as a convenience maybe to use in the medical industry, the agriculture industry, that type of thing, but in in other countries. It’s really There’s a bigger meaning to it. And their freedom is attached to this type of technology. So we’ve talked about that many times that if there was a theme for all of you, it would be freedom, right?

Bill Deignan  02:13

Freedom for sure. I mean, I don’t think we know you. And I even really understand that well, as far as what that can really mean for people in other countries. You know, I think we have we imagine it. But, you know, I think I’ve seen a lot in the industry where people talk about what it can do for other people in other parts of the world and maybe we don’t even really comprehend it.

Right, I think we’re gonna we’re gonna find out I think as currencies are beginning to fail, you know more rapidly and we can see that more rapidly then I think we’ll really start to understand it and I think we just can’t possibly relate. You know, we’ve we’ve grown up in a world where we can always we’re banked, so to speak. You know, and we have different ideas on, you know, you know me, I’m all into privacy and, and, you know, anonymity but you know,

Elsa Ramon  03:11

the world. It’s going to be a very 

Bill Deignan  03:13

Yeah, for sure. But you know, but wasn’t it you know, a recent, we’ve got, yeah, but think about a podcast we recently had with the gentleman from India, Ashish Singhal. And he mentioned that people in India, they want to be known, you know, they’re, they’re living in a world where they, you know, privacy and anonymity or, you know, they’re already anonymous things just, they’re just sort of, you know, marginalized. So I think, probably can’t even comprehend what the use of cryptocurrency can mean to people in other parts of the world. I’m anxious to find out and I know you are too But

Elsa Ramon  03:52

Yeah, well, I mean, I think in different parts of the world. anonymity means different things to us. It means we want our privacy We’re entitled to o ur privacy. But I think in other countries, like you said, where people are marginalized, it means invisible. Andyou don’t want to be invisible anymore.

They want to be part of the global economy, they want to be part of their own economy, and communities. So you know, it means different things to be anonymous, but to us, because we have freedom here in America. It definitely means something different to us. So why don’t you bring in our next guest? Because,

Bill Deignan  04:37

Well, here’s the thing I’ve been I’ve been thinking about this. So everybody wants to know, you know, people say, well, who’s the CEO of Bitcoin? But, you know, as most of you probably know, there is no CEO of Bitcoin but apparently there’s a king of Bitcoin because we’ve got the BTC King on today.

Elsa Ramon  04:55

We have the king with us, right.

Bill Deignan  05:06

This is Dee Duncan, right?

Dee Duncan  05:09

Yes, sir. Aged me, anyone.

Bill Deignan  05:11

aka D Duncan.

Elsa Ramon  05:13

Yeah, dude, it’s BTC King, aka D. Duncan D, I want to thank you so much for joining us on our podcast. And as you know, I don’t know if before you and I have talked before just to get to know each other a little bit when we first met on crypto Twitter, but we talked about getting people all over the world to use this technology in the way they see fit.

But you and I were extremely excited and passionate about one continent and the countries in particular. And that was Africa. We really talked about what’s going on in Africa, not just giving the people financial power and the ability to bank and all of that But But companies from all over the world that are in blockchain and in this space are seeing the enormous potential that the people in Africa and the countries in Africa can add to the global economy.

Dee Duncan  06:16

Right, right. Yeah. It’s an interesting segue because unlike a lot of people I did not find out about cryptocurrency or Bitcoin here in America. I was in Mali, West Africa, in Bamako when I found out about cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. So, you know, I spent a lot of time traveling to that part of the world in West Africa. And I see firsthand the need for a new digital currency.

Mostly because when you’re dealing in West Africa, and mostly in the French speaking regions of West Africa, we’re talking again, we’re talking to Senegal, we’re talking Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, those areas, their currency is highly, highly debased, similar to what you see in Venezuela. And so, you know, they need something that is more viable, more stable. And a lot of those nations now are calling for a digital form of currency.

Elsa Ramon  07:27

But, but there was you and I had a conversation about what really struck you. When you initially had that aha moment that Bill and I have talked about many times, you know, Bill has referred to in the past as Bitcoin birthdays, when was your Bitcoin birthday? I kind of see it as like your aha moment, whatever however you describe it. You had that kind of epiphany where it all made sense to you. Tell everybody about that.

Dee Duncan  07:58

Well, you know, after my trip to Shortly after my trip to West Africa and Mali,  a friend of mine. I told him, I promised him, Hey, when I leave when we leave off to this trip, because we were there for a different reason. And so when I leave off for this trip, make sure that we connect, and you helped me set up my bitcoin wallet.

And so that aha moment happened when I gave $500 to him, and he helped me set up a bitcoin wallet with mycelium at the time. And I didn’t even pay attention to the crypto to the Bitcoin, I just let it sit for like six months. didn’t check it every day didn’t do anything.

I turn around and I looked, and this was like 20 end of 2015 going in 2016. I turn around the look. And that little $500 had done some numbers. And I was like, Oh, this is freedom right here. Like this really has a chance to change a lot of people’s lives. And so that was my aha moment because you have a currency that is literally portable to virtually any nation on Earth. And it has the the price volatility of the market. And so when I saw that, I was like, Okay, I’m, I’m all the way in

Elsa Ramon  09:26

Right? I mean, it’s, it’s hard to ignore that. But that’s also the volatility is also one of the things that people become afraid of to buy, you know, it’s you bet big you win big and vice versa, but it doesn’t. The thing about Bitcoin and and some of the alternative coins or Alt coins as people call them are, you know, you are taking a chance, but it’s a it’s a different kind of chance. Then stocks, would you would you agree with that and how is it different for people investing this way versus a traditional stock market?

Dee Duncan  10:10

Great question. My, my understanding and my opinion is that what cryptocurrencies when you purchase them, you literally own those cryptocurrencies, right. In most cases, nobody can freeze your account. Nobody can’t tell you where and who you can send those to. versus when you’re dealing with traditional markets, they can absolutely freeze your account.

They can absolutely restrict who has access to those types of things. And so, you know, that that kind of caters to the marginalization of a lot of people that may not have access to the financial system. And so, I see that crypto and blockchain technology In a right way, used in the right way can be an extension of the traditional financial system in markets.

Elsa Ramon  11:08

Well, there’s a couple of ways people feel strongly about how it should be used. There are people who say Bitcoin should be, you know, a store of value. And you know, there are others who say, well, you need to spend it to make it work and be valuable there. There are a couple of different ways to look at it.

But it’s not always so easy spending digital currencies if you have them because simply because there’s not a lot of payment systems that would allow you to convert your native currency to that type of payment. And and there aren’t a lot of places that accept cryptocurrencies or digital currencies as a form of payment because they don’t understand it yet or don’t know it yet or don’t see the need for it. Right, but that’s, that’s where you come in?

Yes. Yeah. Well, you know, we’ve been blessed to see and be in this space for a while. And, you know, when you’re in a space, and it’s nice and see, you can talk you can kind of tell when, when there are needs or demands for things to explode. And I believe that, you know, Bitcoin was used should be used as a form of payment. It’s literally a digital payment system that when you read the white paper of Satoshi that is what it was set up to be, you know, granted, it does have that store value mechanism to it.

But truly, it was designed and cryptocurrencies were designed for payment, you know, as a form of payment as one of their core of core uses or use cases and what we have done BTC King at has partnered with With some of the biggest and brightest payments companies in the payments industry that are globally recognized, and I’m talking about companies like Pax technologies, which we partner with to utilize their A 920, Pax A 920 device that allows for the x POS software, which is a blockchain based software that delivers cryptocurrency to merchants and retailers around the world. Start first starting here in the United States, of course.

And so having having that partnership segwayed us be able to land a partnership with worldpay, which is the number one payment processor here in America, that that processes traditional payments in the form of debit and credit cards and contactless payments. And so we’re also a proud member of the rspa which is the world’s largest point of sales.

Found And membership group in association where the world leaders of payments, converge and share ideas as to what is next in the payments industry. And we’re working on some bigger and brighter partnerships as well that are about to roll out as well.

So I believe that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will go where payments go, right? Because these people are the gatekeepers of payments, you’re talking about a $24 trillion a year. industry, the payments industry in America that relates to about between two and 5 trillion a year. And so we have a unique opportunity to see cryptocurrency explode and retail locations utilizing this technology.

Elsa Ramon  14:51

So okay, so you say that the US accounts for two to 5 trillion a year in In the payments industry, what do you see these payment systems doing? for public opinion? Like when you have merchants that decide that they’re going to give, like say worldpay or Pon dx, which is another payment system? Am I correct that it’s another form? Yes. using digital currency crypto and Fiat. Yep. What is the kind of feedback you get from from people, businesses that implement these types of payment services? And how do you see the growth?

Dee Duncan  15:44

Great question. So our strategy for implementation is when we partner with the likes of worldpay and others, we tap into their verticals right and Get them to utilize the a 920 as their point of sales machine. And the pitch on the on the merchant side of the house is by utilizing you know, the x POS software that’s created by pu dx is that you have an alternative contactless payment solution that is international. And it drives new customers into your your store because people are also looking for ways to utilize cryptocurrency in the form of payment.

So that’s one element. The other element is what’s in it for the merchant retailer is that they’re generating extra passive income. By utilizing this technology, in the form of every time they someone comes in and makes a payment with it, or they’re able to sell cryptocurrency to their audience or to their customer base. They’re generating an additional revenue stream so That is an eye opening proposition for most retailers of medium, large and small.

Bill Deignan  17:08

So these devices that we’re looking at here on your website, they look like little cell phones to some degree, but they’re not. They’re really like, like little cash registers in a way or square devices, right?

Dee Duncan  17:22

Correct. They’re their handheld point of sales devices that what you’re looking at, right now within the payments industry, there’s there’s a big shift towards Android based point of sales hardware away from Microsoft. And the reason is because with Android obviously we all know that it’s more customizable and then it’s easy to update. And so these are the latest models from all of those companies.

You have Verifone there you have Ingenico. Both of those models are slated to come out later. And right now we have the PAX A 920, which is already ready. available for issuance and distribution. And so that is the wave of future is Android based point of sales devices.

Elsa Ramon  18:11

So, go ahead Billy. 

Bill Deignan  18:16

the Pundi X platform is that kind of like a visa platform but in other countries.

Dee Duncan  18:22

No, it’s a Pundi X is a blockchain software that is loaded on these devices. So it’s literally an application that is loaded in, in the, in this case, the PAX store. And we, when we have new merchants that come on, we just push that application onto their device, and then they have access to 20 different cryptocurrencies that they can accept and sell right away.

Bill Deignan  18:53

And then it becomes like an on ramp off ramp, you know, so they can correct convert that into fiat.

Dee Duncan  19:00

Correct. Yes, because you have, you know, the regular payment forms of Visa, MasterCard, American Express discover, as well as contactless payment solutions. Google pay Apple Pay and Samsung Pay already live on on that device. So it’s a very cool, it’s a very cool device and technology because it does it all. And it has more software than just payments. You can it has restaurant inventory, you can keep track of your your stocks and manage everything that you would need to manage in a bar scenario. You know, in a clothing environment, what have you all those apps are available on on that particular piece of technology right there.

Elsa Ramon  19:50

Okay, so aside from the obvious, which is it allows business owners to really open up the possibilities of accepting all forms If payment, native currency cryptocurrency digital currencies, credit cards, debit cards it, but what’s the bigger implication here? What, what else does this open up?

We’re talking about real volume of payments, right? We’re talking about scale of those payments, which we kind of see but most of that, as you know, Elsa, and we kind of see most of that volume coming from crypto exchanges, right? We have yet to see real usage of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and as a payment mechanism that is viably track. What I love about Pundi X is Pundi X is finishing up their test net function x, which is the blockchain for the XPOS ecosystem. We will be the first payment company that has all of its payments data on a blockchain has never been done before. And so main net is

Elsa Ramon  21:11

I’m sorry to interrupt. But so are you saying they’re going to be able to scale to handle that load of transactions? Because Bill and I have interviewed over the last couple of years, a lot of people in the industry who are building and I think the consensus is among almost all of them, if not all of them is that no one has been able to scale yet to the, to the degree of like, Visa, MasterCard, all the credit cards, to be able to hand on the banks to be able to handle that many transactions, you say there’s two to 5 trillion transactions, you know, a year just in the US alone. Multiply that on a global scale. Yeah, just it hasn’t been done before. At least to my knowledge on the blockchain

Dee Duncan  22:00

Yeah, yeah. Well that’s the beauty of what pun dx is working on with function x blockchain is the TPS is really really fast I’ve been playing around with the test net and things just you know when you submit a transaction, you know, it gets there, the TPS, the throughput everything is really really really fast so I don’t see any issues with scalability you know the devs are really working hard behind the scenes to make make those things happen.

And so to have that pic functionality to have all of your payments data and all of your transactions on a blockchain that’s something that even you know the big guys in payments have have yet to succeed in doing so. It’s these are very exciting times.

Bill Deignan  22:50

So how does the How does or so if you’re using Pundi X as the blockchain for this, or did I misunderstand that?

No, you guys Right.

Bill Deignan  23:01

How do you get the finality of a Bitcoin transaction, get the speed that’s necessary to then have that translate to a transactions per second? at a level you’re talking about if people complain that Well, um, you know, bitcoins slow at this stage because you know, it takes a while for blocks to be rewarded and validated and all of those things. How do you Yeah, you know, are you Is this a case where Pundi X has or someone has a store of Bitcoin and then they settle that later? How does that work?

So, with with the XPOS software, the transaction is initiated via the XPOS, and then once it’s confirmed, either we have these cards called x pass cards or you can use the mobile app. Once the payment has been received by one of those issuant receiving mechanisms. The transaction is done. is finalized side chain. So it doesn’t it doesn’t slow up what’s happening in real time at the merchants desk. And so everything is confirmed on the side chain which gives Bitcoin enough time, you know to settle and confirm with the six transactions that it needs.

Bill Deignan  24:17

So then that settles sort of after the fact on the Bitcoin blockchain. So how do you have How then are you able to validate that a person actually has the Bitcoin? If the bit you know,

We give them the Bitcoin at immediately, right, and Poon dx takes the risk, you know, of the side chain side chain confirmation confirmation.

Elsa Ramon  24:47

So, I’m saying I’m sitting here as a business owner. In America, I’m seeing this and I’m like, you know, I’ve been kind of interested in learning more about Bitcoin and crypto and blockchain and all of that. But I, I’m a little afraid to implement this payment system because what, what kind of attention could that potentially draw from? The government taxes, IRS, that kind of thing?

I mean, sure, and all these things as a business owner, like, hackers, hackers, I mean, and and, you know, what if you know that you lose internet access or you lose power or you lose, you know, all of these things, I guess you have to think of when you’re a merchant that takes payment this way. Sure. Sure.

Dee Duncan  25:40

What I would say to that is, you know, we sit in a very sweet spot. When it comes to the payments industry. It helps to be partnered with the likes of worldpay. I can say that in order to get them on board, it took over 1000 emails. And a lot of a lot of going back and forth with their attorneys and you know, work well, you may not know, but worldpay has some of the top attorneys in payments in the payments industry.

So you know, to be able to have them give the thumbs up, because we’re utilizing this as a form of payment only, you know, to disseminate those transactions at scale.

They saw it as a viable option. And also, you know, we now have Brian Brooks, the as the head of the Office of the Comptroller here in the United States, which just last week, he gave banks the permission to custody, digital assets. And that’s, I think we’re going to continue to see regulations as a whole in America starting to loosen. And I think a lot of that has to do with the pandemic that that is kind of set the economy back.

And so now then, you knew new ways to create leverage and opportunities for investment. And so the only the only way to do that, that doesn’t, you know, look like the traditional markets is cryptocurrency. And so I’ve talked to regulators. I’ve actually shown them the technology firsthand.

And I asked them the tough questions of, you know, are we going to have any issues with with distributing this technology here in America? And they said, Absolutely not. And, you know, we, what I love about Poon dx as well is they go above and beyond to make sure that everything is compliant to the tune of every merchant has to KYC when they buy this technology from us, and

Elsa Ramon  27:45

users, because we do have, you know, people who are very, very new to this KYC means know your customer, which means when you are somebody who’s buying selling, or crypto on exchanges or or You know, payment systems like this. You have to present some sort of ID driver’s license identification.

Yes, Social Security, not necessarily just to pay for things. But if you’re on maybe exchanges and stuff like that, because they’re trying to everybody’s trying to be on the up and up on on the regulations and stuff like that. So I apologize. I just I don’t want anybody to ever feel left out when they’re listening to this stuff. No,

no, no, I appreciate well, appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah. And so that that’s kind of where we are, you know, same thing with the mobile application. You know, every every X wallet user has to go through KYC. And you know, that Pundi X has selected the top leaders in doing AML and KYC compliance. And kudos to Mr. David Benke, former UCLA graduate.

He was also the general counsel attorney for Microsoft China. He’s actually he’s the GC for Pundi X. So they take very, very take compliance very seriously around the world.

Elsa Ramon  29:09

You know, you brought up something that so really has to be divided in a bill. I think we may have talked about this or not, but you brought up the fact that, you know, the courts ruled, or that the banks have decided that they’re, the courts ruled that the banks were allowed to custody, digital currencies for customers. And for me, my first you know, I know I saw a lot of people on crypto Twitter and Social Media, who are you, everyone’s fighting for mass adoption.

But the first thought that I had was, wait a minute, that goes against everything that this is about. Bitcoin is about decentralization blockchain is about decentralization. It’s about distributing the power to everybody in the system. Who’s in the ledger who’s transacting in the ledger who’s doing contracts in the ledger, but and then now you’re asking a bank to custody your technology that was meant to kind of get rid of them.

And to me, my first thought was, yeah, that’s all great until, you know, the IRS decides to freeze your accounts in the bank, and that includes your cryptocurrency and therefore defeating the entire purpose of the whole thing. To begin with. There are people who are totally excited about that news. And then there are people like me who are like, Whoa, I don’t know if I don’t. I don’t like that.

Dee Duncan  30:37

Yeah, yeah. Well, I would definitely rest with you on that, right. classic old school statement and crypto and blockchain is that not your keys, not your crypto. And so, you know, if you have

Elsa Ramon  30:56

to explain to everybody what that means, because If you’re getting into crypto, you’re going to hear this a lot. Not your keys, not your coin.

Dee Duncan  31:05

Yeah, yeah. So what we’re talking about is unlike traditional markets to where, you know, you just utilize the US dollar. And truly, you know, if we want to get technical about it, we don’t own the US dollar even though we earn it, right through various means. It’s not our currencies. It’s, it’s regulated by the Federal Reserve and the United States government, right. With cryptocurrency when you purchase cryptocurrency, the best way to custody, custody means hold.

A hold that currency is in a form of a private, decentralized wallet. And what that does is no different than going to a car dealership. Finding that nice new sexy car that you’ve always wanted buying it. Right and then you take the delivery of the of the car. And that taking delivery of the car is similar to having a private key wallet that has in a lot of ways 12 to 20 word phrases that you write down into different places, right, and you save that that information in a very secure manner and the safe.

Maybe your family member has a second copy in the safe. But you also want to make sure that you have those private keys because when you have those pass codes, if something happens to your computer, or the device that’s holding your cryptocurrency, as long as you have those those past codes, you can buy a new device or login through the internet and still have access to that cryptocurrency. That is what private keys do. It literally gives you title ownership of your crypto

Elsa Ramon  32:57

and then also helps define When people say be your own bank, that’s another thing you hear, yes, in the cryptocurrency world. So now you can kind of see how, in a way, when you take custody of your digital currency on these external devices that you are essentially, in a way your own bank there, you’ve got it separate from any kind of centralized entity, and you have it on you. And you’re right, those those phrases that you get when you take custody of your digital assets onto a device.

It’s like your PIN number, except it’s a really low number. And unless you have an excellent memory and you’ll remember it forever, sometimes the password is 12 words, sometimes it’s 24 words. So you know, it’s kind of a I feel like a rudimentary system right now. Maybe in time. That’ll get better. But that’s, that’s what it is right now.

Bill Deignan  34:04

Yeah. Well, but so to your sort of to counter your point, also, I mean, you’re talking about mass adoption. And you know, that maybe banks custodying being private keys, runs against the sort of heart of the crypto, you know, sort of community. But for mass adoption, we really need people to be sort of unaware of private keys in a way and something they want to be able to transact like they do. Now.

They don’t think a lot about the bank or anything, they just me Just give me my card and get my stuff and go and, you know, think D’s on the forefront of trying to make that happen. And that’s the, you know, the point where people are using and transacting and not really having to consider much about keys and the like, and so, I think in order to have the mass adoption of cryptos you almost have to have have, you know, I think there’s a lot of people that don’t want to maintain their own private keys. You know, personally, you know,

Elsa Ramon  35:07

I don’t buy

Bill Deignan  35:09

crypto. But what I’m saying is, is that I did I’m kind of scared of it quite honestly. So I’m, you know, I’m kind of on both sides of the fence there. But, but for D, I’ve got a question about, you know, what you guys are up to? And what, since we’re talking about we, you know, I think you want nothing more than mass adoption, because that volume drives your business.

But what’s the real value proposition for both first the merchant? Like, why does a merchant want to take crypto? And then why does a person want to act in and where where is that going to happen? Because it’s not gonna happen in the United States. First, I think it’s got to be some other smaller country where it’s needed, but you know, kind of tell me about that.

Dee Duncan  35:55

You’d be surprised but the benefits of of transacting in crypto solves a huge, huge, huge pain, pain point in the payments industry. And what I’m talking about is chargebacks. Right? A lot of merchants have to battle with third party entities. Because people come in the store, they’ll buy their product and then they’ll get on the phone shortly after and say, Hey, I didn’t authorize this transaction. Right? When you accept cryptocurrency and you are utilizing cryptocurrency, there’s no operator to call.

Once that transaction is sent, it’s over. It’s final, you know, and so that gives merchants and retailers a real sense of security, knowing that hey, if I if I do this transaction and cryptocurrency I don’t have to worry, lose any sleep at night worrying about Okay, what is my chargeback percentage for the month this is a real issue.

You know, and in, even in today’s markets, where we’re dealing with this pandemic, those chargebacks have increased. And so, you know, that’s that’s just another checkpoint. And and Hooray for for cryptocurrencies because we are we solve a huge pain point in doing payments and transactions.

Bill Deignan  37:20

Right and I assume also, you know, I know merchants personally who say, Man, you know, I’m already on a thin margin and if I can save two 3% on my transaction you know, yeah, money in my pocket. So, so now what about the person that would want to use crypto to transact you know, the average person what, what’s their value proposition?

Dee Duncan  37:44

their value proposition is, you know, merchants will just like any type of new marketing scheme or program. Hey, come in, come in, use cryptocurrency in our stores and will give you x amount of percentage off of your purchase. And so that really socializes the community to begin the process of utilizing cryptocurrencies, instead of using regular payments, you know, that you can build rewards programs around, utilizing this stuff.

These cards can be utilized in the scheme of gift cards, you know, we’re given a free gift card away and this is loaded with cryptocurrency, by the way, this is a wallet, this is literally a wallet. Um, and so, you know, those types of things that we those are the types of things that we see happening with, with this technology.

Bill Deignan  38:36

Okay, so, you know, that, certainly, to me looks like a transaction that, you know, we’re accustomed to here in the United States. Where is it? You know, where are you seeing in the rest of the world where, you know, maybe it’s developing society, you know, culture where developing nation where the people on the street are faced with maybe a shortage of their current Or, you know, they just are looking for options like they’re almost ham, you know, their hands are tied, they can’t even transact. Where are you seeing? Yes, today starting to hold.

Brazil, Argentina, basically in Latin America is the hugest market that we’re in right now. And, you know, shout out to Maker DAO, you know, with the DAI partnership, we’ve seen a huge uptick in, in usage, because DAI is a stable coin that’s backed by aetherium, which is much better than just, you know, a regularly pegged stable coin.

So, there’s a huge demand for DAI in Latin America. And we as a payment system, can deliver that seamlessly to both merchants and retailers. And we’ve seen a lot of that activity starts to pick up there.

Bill Deignan  39:52

What do you think they’re, they’re leaning towards using that currency as opposed to others.

Talking about extreme hyperinflation environments. They’re in Latin America. Just kind of give you an idea in Venezuela. There, the Venezuelan bolivar has lost nearly 10,000% of its value just last year.

Bill Deignan  40:18

Right? No, I think we’re all so many people are so I guess aware of that. But you mentioned Maker DAO like, why that cryptocurrency over like Ethereum, or because it’s literally a stable coin.

It’s a stable coin. And so, you know, they don’t have to worry about price volatility, dealing with the stable coin versus using Bitcoin or aetherium. in those environments. Yeah.

Bill Deignan  40:47

So that’s, that brings up a great point about volatility and or the lack thereof and how important that is to people just on the, you know, main street level.

Yeah, it does. It That’s why our system with the X POS system, it protects the merchants. So when you set up an account with the X POS, you hold your your value of dollars let’s say you have $1,000 worth of crypto loaded on the X POS, it stays a stable coin and you can choose between Maker DAO’s DAI which is my own personal one that I use or you can use USD

Tether and so by by ordering in a stable coin, it insulates the merchants and retailers from price volatility. So and also offers the the the community that the merchant or retailer selling to the opportunity to use stable coins unless the customer wants to buy bitcoin for you know for value sake or what have you.

Bill Deignan  41:48

And then what’s this XPass  card how are you getting people to pick up and start using that?

Well, the good thing about the XPass card is like I said, it is a digital wallet and You can load 20 different cryptocurrencies on those white on those cards and interacts with the mobile app called X wallet. Those cards are literally customizable to any make look or feel that you want as a retail business so you can have your own branding with that card in your store.

And it’s just an extension of your brand at that point. And so it really drives customers to utilize it. And like I said, you know, there are many ways to create marketing directives to the sales of those cards and also the usage of the cards.

Elsa Ramon  42:43

Okay, so if that doesn’t drive some mass adoption, I don’t know what will but it’s certainly a very big step in the right direction. I just think you know, I know people though, that in you see here in America, we, we feel like, hey, we’ve got our banks, our money’s in the bank, we have our debit cards, we have our credit cards, I’m fine. This whole crypto thing’s kind of foreign to me, it scares me.

I don’t like this idea that, you know, it’s kind of floating out there on the internet. And you know, there are all these questions that people you know, who’ve had the luxury of being banked might Yeah, be legitimately concerned about, but what I mean, the way I try to explain it is, well, you know, when you’re using your debit cards and credit cards, are you actually physically handing over the money? Um, you swipe your card, you type in your pin, or whatever you sign and that’s it.

You don’t see the dollars you know, magically fly in front of you over to this the register the cashier, right. So right. Um, you know, I try to explain explain it that way. However, some of the ways you try to explain to people that they might want to give this a try.

Bill Deignan  44:08

You know might be a little controversial, but I’m a big, big fan of owning your stuff. Know, this is an unpopular opinion for a lot of people in America because we’ve been hypnotized with the US dollar. We don’t own that dollar. We do not own that dollar. And, you know, it can be confiscated. It can be frozen, especially now that they’ve removed the element of paper cash where, you know, all the paper cash element is literally eroding right before our eyes. So that puts everything in good.

Bill Deignan  44:48

Order right now. Yeah, anymore.

Right. So do I trust and here’s the controversy do I trust the United States Government to act fair on my behalf when it comes to the United States dollar. I don’t I don’t have they don’t have a good track record in that department. You know,

Elsa Ramon  45:13

That’s a whole other show. Great.

To stay on point. There’s nothing like ownership, right? That’s that’s the bedrock of the American dream when you own your stuff. And cryptocurrency for the first time probably in 100 plus years gives Americans and the world the title to ownership of currency that before before this this is absolutely unheard of in our lifetime.

Elsa Ramon  45:52

So that i think that i think that sums that up beautifully in my opinion. Think about that. You’re The owner, you have the power. Right now, the banks and the Federal Reserve are the owners of the currency and yes, power. Now you ask yourself, why would they be fighting so hard for me to not own my currency? There you go.

Dee Duncan  46:19

All right. So

Elsa Ramon  46:21

I’ll let a viewer the listener, you know, explore that. But there’s something you know, to make you go Hmm.

Dee Duncan  46:34

Aha moment right there.

Elsa Ramon  46:36

That right. There you go. I mean, a lot of it is though, but there are a lot of ways people have their aha moment. There are different elements of this world that people resonate with or that resonates with them. But that one right there I think is a good argument for people at least to start exploring it for themselves and doing their own research.

Dee Duncan  46:59

Yeah. And another to really drive the nail home.In the last hundred years, the US dollar has lost value year over year. And that’s due to the Feder Reserve printing at levels we’ve never seen before. So the more that the Federal Reserve’s prints money, the less purchasing power the US dollar has right. Cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin don’t have them problems, because the code limits the amount of circulating supply of Bitcoin and so those many other cryptocurrencies and so here lies the difference. Does my value fluctuate in contrast to the US dollar, not as much and that’s why you see other countries outside of the US, flock to cryptocurrencies and use that for transaction say versus using the local currency because the high hyperinflation far surpasses what the volatility is happening in crypto currencies. These are just pure facts.

Elsa Ramon  48:10

Boom.Yes, it’s, it’s I, I personally happen to agree with you people will come to their own conclusions. But, but yes, so imagine, you know, you’ve got a big giant entity over here. And you’re a little guy. It’s like the David and Goliath situation. But, you know, instead, great analogy. You know, then you set up your own little thing and people start transacting with this other currency and then they get stronger and stronger and stronger. And in the meantime, that Goliath starts losing power. And, yeah, there’s the struggle.

Dee Duncan  48:48

There’s a struggle. So, you know, that’s just my take on it. And this is what I share with a lot of people. You know, America wasn’t is known for ownership, you know, of land, of our own food or water, all resources. You know, it’s only in the last in the modern era that that’s kind of slipped away from us but those are truly the underpinnings of freedom. And so we need to go back to those those those whales if you will of title ownership, especially when it comes to currency. So, okay, I’m off my high horse.

Elsa Ramon  49:30

This is why we bring people on here because we like to get people’s different opinions on what really resonated with you to help you spread the message. If it’s one you believe, yeah, you know, so.

Bill Deignan  49:45

Where can people find you?

On Twitter, Bitcoin Bitcoin Kingdom. You can find me there. I’m mostly they’re on Instagram. I’m on Instagram. You can find me there. I know LinkedIn, just look up Dee Duncan. I’m on LinkedIn as well. Those are platforms that I yeah, those are the platforms that I use mostly. And I’ll be

Bill Deignan  50:11

in our show notes, but we’re also we’ve been showing on the screen here as we livestream that you’ve got this website btcking.us

BTCKing.us Yeah. Okay. And also because of my relationship with because of my relationship with Worldpay you can actually buy cryptocurrency from my website.

Elsa Ramon  50:34

Oh, okay. So people can just go to a website and you know, say I’m somebody who has no clue never bought crypto Bitcoin anything. I go to your website. What do I do?

Dee Duncan  50:49

You click on the buy bitcoin buy cryptocurrency tab can’t be in a browser. What is it called? brave browser, just a regular browser.

Bill Deignan  50:58

I’m into privacy so I’m using Brave.

Elsa Ramon  51:03

I do too. But if you go there you literally put your your does KYC and you put the amount of crypto that you want and you provide the wallet that you want the crypto to be sent to it. Your keys your crypto, yeah, right. And it’s delivered in your into your wallet and it’s very easy to do.

Elsa Ramon  51:28

So you have to have your own wallet digital wallet before you buy the crypto Okay, so yeah, before you go to the website here and buy you want to set up your own digital wallet. So you can do research on that you’ll basically get a QR code right for your digital wallet and then for what you buy on your website. man you know make them talk to each other and that money just or currency flows over to your little external digital wallet and If it’s on your phone, card whatever way you decide to hold it.

Dee Duncan  52:07

Yeah, definitely.

Elsa Ramon  52:10

All right. Well, Dee, I, I can’t thank you enough for joining us today. I really appreciate it. I really love your takes on on how you view currency because I personally, I feel like once people understand that the way you summed it up, then the light bulb goes off and goes, they go, okay. All right, I’m listening. So, hopefully, we’ve done that with a few people with this podcast for them to be able to start asking some questions and checking it out for themselves.

Dee Duncan  52:45

You know, I would say thank you so much for the opportunity to be here and I literally travel all over the world. I meet with enterprises, I meet with governments talking about this issue. And so this is just really the heartbeat and posts of what I’m all about is helping people to understand the importance of ownership when it comes to currency. Elsa, I extend to you a public invitation. When you when whenever this COVID-19 thing passes and the state we can fly. You are welcome to travel with me to West Africa. See how blockchain is being utilized in Africa.

Elsa Ramon  53:30

That Bill and I have been dreaming about that for a while. Well, come on. We had hoped to be able to do that this year, because you and I have talked about before in our phone conversations, how exciting it is, or it would be to go to countries in Africa and see what’s being built there. So yeah, we will take you up on that invitation. Would love to,

Bill Deignan  53:55

you know, I know this podcast is an extension of the show we’re trying to put together for you called Adventures In Crypto which can be found at adventuresincrypto.tv with you know we’ve got some footage there that can preview things but you know Africa has been like foremost on our list of places to go because we foresee that’s where the people will need this more than ever, you know more than probably anywhere else in the world. So we’re there man I mean, I hope you were inviting me to I don’t know maybe you just want

Elsa Ramon  54:30

The crews got to come cuz we got it.

Bill Deignan  54:34

Yeah, can you can you tote some cases for us Dee because we’re gonna have a lot of gear.

54:40

We’re all gonna do what it all carries.

Elsa Ramon  54:45

This Yes, once we can travel again, it’ll be very exciting. But in the meantime, this is how we’re keeping the conversation going and learning and continuing to learn and discuss while we are waiting out this, this COVID crisis Hear in the world. So hopefully, by the end of the year, beginning of next year, we can pack our bags and get back on the road again, and I really look forward to taking that journey with you. Dee that would be great man.

We know. I’ve been blessed to know the leaders in that part of the world in West Africa that are really building real stuff, real solutions. So be happy to make the introduction for you guys. And another thing that I wanted to say I’m so glad to have people like Elsa Ramon that comes from a professional background, right? I’ve seen you on television when I lived in Orange County.

Okay, I’ve seen you so that to see you doing things and cryptocurrency and blockchain Bill you as well thank you to your whole team for coming into this environment and bringing real awareness and driving real sharp conversations and guides  around this technology. We need more people like yourself and your team to do these types of things. And that, too, plays a huge part of of cryptocurrency and blockchain awareness and expansion and adoption around the world to have those types of platforms. So thank you guys so much for doing what you do. 

Elsa Ramon  56:23

I’m lucky to have found it. We I think we both feel pretty lucky to have found this world. I don’t know how I normally am but I’m gonna try to normalize it as much as I can.  But thank you again. D you have a fantastic day.

Dee Duncan  56:46

You too, guys and much love to everybody. Be safe out there. And thank you again for the opportunity.

Elsa Ramon  56:53

Of course. Take care.

56:56

Bye bye