The following transcript was created using artificial intelligence. There will be some grammatical errors below.

00:00:02:18 – 00:00:25:00

Richard Carthon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Crypto Current, your host here, Richard Carthon and today I got an extremely special guest all the way out in Atlanta. You’ve definitely seen his channel, you’ve definitely seen all of the amazing things that he’s sharing with everyone in the Crypto and Blockchain space. And if you haven’t, you’re sleeping on a rock. And if not, I’m going to expose you to someone you need to be paying attention to right now. We have been Ben Armstrong, AKA Bit Boy. How are you doing today? 

00:00:25:27 – 00:00:35:06

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): I’m doing fantastic today. Got some good weather out right now. So, you know, it’s good after a long winter and a lot of rain to get some good weather. And, you know, ready to talk Crypto, we love it. 

00:00:35:21 – 00:00:57:29

Richard Carthon: Absolutely man. Well, as everyone’s listening, as you know, we are going to the Miami Crypto Experience that is coming up this April in 2021, is going to be an amazing time and he’s going to be one of the keynote speakers. So, of course, I’m going to just open the floor to give you just a little bit of a tease, a little bit of a taste of what are some of the things that people can expect to hear when they come and listen to you. 

00:00:59:06 – 00:01:32:13

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah, so what we’re going to be talking about is DeFi, decentralized finance, for those that are unfamiliar. Like you said, if you’ve been under a rock, DeFi is decentralized finance. And, you know, it’s really interesting because when I go back and I look at some of the early things that I read and experienced in Crypto, I’ve been in Crypto since 2012, you know, one that really stands out is the Internet of Money by Andreas Antonopoulos. It’s a great book. It’s a fun book because it’s not, you know, narrative, it’s speech as each chapter is a different speech. It’s a totally different conversation for each thing throughout the book. 

00:01:32:24 – 00:02:23:19

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): And I’ll never forget him explaining Bitcoin, and talking about how the first layer of any new technology that we’re going to see from here on out is money. And what’s really interesting is at the time he was talking about Bitcoin being that money. We’ve seen a lot of changes to Bitcoin. Bitcoin has transformed from being an Internet currency, a digital currency, peer-to-peer into something that nobody wants to spin. Nobody wants to get rid of it because like Bank of America just put out a recent report, they said Bitcoin’s number one, you know, asset or value proposition is it appreciates in value. So, why would you ever want to get rid of something that appreciates in value? And so, you know, what we’re seeing now is Bitcoin is no longer digital currency, it’s digital gold. It’s a store of value asset. 

00:02:23:28 – 00:02:24:13

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:02:24:15 – 00:03:02:15

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Well, decentralized finance is that layer of money on Blockchain. So for me, thinking about how really DeFi offers everything that Bitcoin was kind of meant to be, but it’s changed is a really exciting opportunity. I think understanding that when it comes to Cryptocurrency, Cryptocurrency is money, so decentralized finance in the finance sector is going to be probably the very most disruptive thing, you know, in the world currently by Blockchain. And it’s really exciting to talk about because I hate banks, so, I want to get rid of them, it’s my sole mission. I wish to could explain to you how many problems we have with banks. 

00:03:02:28 – 00:03:03:13

Richard Carthon: Yeah.

00:03:03:15 – 00:03:08:29

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): They know about Cryptocurrency, they target us. We had all of our bank accounts shut down because they coinbased wire.

00:03:09:01 – 00:03:09:16

Richard Carthon: Wow.

00:03:09:18 – 00:03:14:26

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): We sent some money from Coinbase and one of our bank accounts was shut down, all of our accounts. So, you know, it’s my personal mission to get rid of these people. 

00:03:14:28 – 00:03:15:13

Richard Carthon: It’s ridiculous.

00:03:15:15 – 00:03:20:09

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): So, very excited to play a role in that, explain decentralized finance and how that puts those people out of the system.

00:03:20:27 – 00:03:56:09

Richard Carthon: For sure. And I mean, there’s so much that we can unpack with it. I know you’re going to unpack it during your conversation and doing your speech at the conference, but something I want to spend some time on right now is just like you said, like if you look at where the Internet is going and where finance, where traditional finance is now going into Cryptocurrency and Blockchain, DeFi are becoming the new banks. These are truly the new banking system of going into this next decade. And what I think people are failing to realize is that, like, you are really literally a pioneer to the next, like to the next wave of how money is going to be transferred, of how people do business.

00:03:56:11 – 00:03:56:26

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:03:56:28 – 00:03:58:28

Richard Carthon: Of how everything kind of revolves.

00:03:59:00 – 00:03:59:15

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Exciting.

00:03:59:17 – 00:04:00:02

Richard Carthon: And it’s exciting, right? 

00:04:00:13 – 00:04:18:27

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I mean, it’s funny, like me and my wife have had these conversations before about, you know, I just started a rinky dink YouTube channel out of, you know, my home office. Originally, I actually had a big plywood box that I built to do my videos inside, I thought it would help with the sound. I didn’t know what I was doing when I started this channel.

00:04:18:29 – 00:04:19:14

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:04:19:16 – 00:04:32:01

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): And, you know, I start with this rinky dink channel and now, you know, we’re the largest channel in Cryptocurrency. These conversations about how interesting it is that we started with like nothing and now we’re leading the new generation of money in the world. 

00:04:32:15 – 00:04:33:00

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:04:33:02 – 00:04:49:29

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): And so, anybody that’s taking part of this, that’s what we’re doing, we’re furthering a new message. And, you know, last year I went and talked at a college, a college group down in Florida and it was really interesting because there were some people there that worked in finance and they were very abrasive to the message of Cryptocurrency.

00:04:50:01 – 00:04:50:16

Richard Carthon: Yes.

00:04:50:18 – 00:05:06:16

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): They were very abrasive toward you don’t understand, we need credit card processors because, you know, these are jobs and this is the way that the system works. Get rid of that. It’s a new time, it’s a new system, new generation of money, we’re getting rid of that old guard. So, if that’s what you’re doing, you may want to find a new job.

00:05:06:18 – 00:05:12:15

Richard Carthon: Right. I mean, because it’s hard to hear something when you’re disrupting what they’ve been told their whole lives to go and do. 

00:05:12:19 – 00:05:13:04

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Absolutely.

00:05:13:06 – 00:05:24:05

Richard Carthon: But, what’s the beauty of Crypto and why I love things like the Miami Crypto Experience that’s about to come up, being able to go and listen to you speak, listen to workshops and all the other things, one is to be around other bright minds.

00:05:24:07 – 00:05:24:22

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:05:24:24 – 00:05:35:25

Richard Carthon: But then two, to find other ways that you can get involved and empowered to actually take action and do steps. And one of the things I enjoy about your channel is how active you are with giving people actionable steps to go and do things,

00:05:35:27 – 00:05:36:12

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:05:36:14 – 00:05:47:02

Richard Carthon: That will help change lives. I mean, I’m sure you can speak to it with the amount of views that you’ve gotten over the years, the amount of impact that you’ve really helped people take charge and power their financial freedom and go to that next step. 

00:05:47:27 – 00:06:00:12

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah, man. It’s been one of these things that, you know, even if you look back at what I used to do before I was, you know, full time Cryptocurrency, I ran a a nonprofit rehabilitation center for teenage boys with drug addictions. 

00:06:00:14 – 00:06:00:29

Richard Carthon: Wow.

00:06:01:01 – 00:06:07:26

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): And so, I’ve been helping people for a long time. I never thought I could help people with finance. Like that’s not a thing that I thought like ten years ago in my life, you know? 

00:06:08:25 – 00:06:09:10

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:06:09:12 – 00:06:50:00

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): But I really realized, I really realized, I realized the impact that we’re having on people. We recently went to Las Vegas. We did a podcast program with Graham Stephan out there, and we had a meetup. It was just kind of, you know, just we talked about it for a week. Two hundred and fifty people showed up to this meetup in the Venetian. And I had person after person after person come up to me and tell us, tell me about how much this channel has changed their lives. I had people show me million dollar portfolios, I had a girl talking to me crying like not because I’m the Beatles or something like certainly not like that, but because of the impact that we’ve had on her life financially. And like, we’ve changed it forever.

00:06:50:02 – 00:06:50:17

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:06:50:19 – 00:07:03:06

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Like we’ve changed people’s lives forever on this channel. And, you know, in Cryptocurrency, it’s not always like that, right? Like we know bear markets, I’ve been through a few of them and they’re brutal and it makes you question a lot of what you believe about Cryptocurrency sometimes. 

00:07:03:17 – 00:07:04:02

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:07:04:04 – 00:07:22:02

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): And then these bull runs, though, that’s not what we see. We see a lot of people making money and we’re going to try to lead them to make the right decisions at the top of the market as well. It’s a little bit different than a lot of the stuff that was happening in 2017 with influencers and YouTubers. Not calling out anybody specific, I don’t think they understood the cycles yet as well back then. 

00:07:22:23 – 00:07:23:08

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:07:23:10 – 00:07:34:06

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): But it’s really cool to have an impact on people’s lives and seeing them change. And, you know, there’s nothing that I’m prouder of in what we’ve done than, you know, the people who have already retired. We have people who have retired already been watching this channel for years. 

00:07:34:21 – 00:07:52:24

Richard Carthon: And that’s incredible, man. Like and what’s probably even crazier is that when you first started, that wasn’t the end goal. Like, I want to go back to your like, core of like when you first got this off the ground, you’re like, I want to start this channel. I want to talk Crypto, like, what was the original game plan? And then, like, obviously, how has that transitioned and evolved over time? 

00:07:53:18 – 00:08:37:22

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah. Well, I mean, I would say in a lot of ways my channel has been a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it hasn’t really deviated from what my initial goal with this channel was. And why I say that is so, I bought Bitcoin in 2012, I was using it as a currency, not on the Silk Road. I was buying a software for a business that I had and they only took Bitcoin. They had some, you know, credit card processing problems and so, that’s why they decided to take it. And so, I was spending all kinds of Bitcoin on all this software in these systems and what happened is, is that one day I went and looked at this account and all of a sudden I had like what I consider to be, you know, like just change in there, like maybe 50 bucks was worth like $2,000. Like it was in November of 2013 when the price really popped up. 

00:08:38:09 – 00:08:38:24

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:08:38:26 – 00:09:02:09

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): And I was like, Man, wow, this is really cool. I just made $2,000. So, I went and met a guy from LocalBitcoins.com and we met at a McDonald’s over WiFi and he paid me and I gave him the Bitcoin. The guy’s probably a billionaire now. And, you know, I sat there and I was trying to understand what Bitcoin was. I had my laptop there and like, I couldn’t grasp it, like I couldn’t see the bigger picture. I mean, Bitcoin then wasn’t what Bitcoin is now in terms of, you know, having all the education resources out there. 

00:09:02:19 – 00:09:03:04

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:09:03:06 – 00:09:19:05

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): So the point is, I sold out very early. Now, Mt. Gox crashed. I would have lost it all anyways because that’s where I had it, so, it was a decent decision. But in 2017 when I was watching the numbers and I was thinking about how many tens of thousands of dollars that I put in Bitcoin and what it would be worth at that point, which was eight figures. 

00:09:19:14 – 00:09:19:29

Richard Carthon: Right. 

00:09:20:01 – 00:10:04:20

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): I said I don’t ever want anyone to go through this. I don’t want anyone to ever have this kind of opportunity in front of them and let it go by. And so, that’s actually why I started my channel, was to be able to show people what this was and the gigantic opportunity. And somehow within, you know, going full time in Crypto and doing this channel, I myself have done very well financially. And, you know, I’m not going to say I have as much now as I would have had if I would’ve held onto all my Bitcoin in 2012. But, you know, we’re doing well and we’re also accomplishing the goal of helping people on top of that. So to me, that’s even more valuable and rewarding than if I just would have made a bunch of money in 2012 or 2017 or retired. So, you know, helping people understand the opportunities in front of them through empowering them with education, that’s what we like to do. 

00:10:05:02 – 00:10:24:19

Richard Carthon: Absolutely. And I mean, y’all are definitely doing that. And that’s even something that we really like, strive for here at Crypto Current. Like the first way that someone can grow as a person is to first know it exists and then from there giving them the tools to go and act on those things, right? And you know something that I really enjoy that I got to see you do this year was bring your family to the Super Bowl.

00:10:24:21 – 00:10:25:06

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:10:25:08 – 00:10:36:14

Richard Carthon: And being able to participate in that. And that’s all from the fruits of your labor of just going out there grinding like and being able to empower others by also empowering yourself. How you’re learning about all these different things, you’re acting on it.

00:10:36:16 – 00:10:37:01

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:10:37:03 – 00:11:00:03

Richard Carthon: And you continue to network and grow everything out. And with that, I’m sure you’ve gotten to meet a ton of amazing people, you’ve gotten to have all kinds of incredible interviews. You know, what are some of the, you don’t necessarily have to name drop anyone, but if you want to, by all means, do it, but like, what are some, like, memorable interviews where you, like, took some bits and pieces from it and then was like, Wow, I should like use this for the way that I even give out information?

00:11:01:08 – 00:11:25:20

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah. I mean, well, I would say that probably two of my most memorable interviews, I mean Graham Stephan was a big one that was recent, somebody not in Cryptocurrency. I mean he is a little bit. That was a good one, a very popular YouTuber, 3,000,000 subscribers. But two of the ones that I look back on and I remember very fondly CZ, when I interviewed CZ for my podcast, Beards and Bitcoins. Now it’s called New Money Game, they have a whole new different thing.

00:11:25:22 – 00:11:26:07

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:11:26:09 – 00:11:37:03

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): But we interviewed him and he just came off as like, such a normal like, down to earth guy and I love that. I love down to earth people. I’m down to earth, you know, I’m authentic, I’m transparent. And, you know, I’m just a regular guy. 

00:11:37:06 – 00:11:37:21

Richard Carthon: Yeah.

00:11:37:23 – 00:12:00:22

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): You know, people see my family, we do fun stuff, we have some money. but I’m a regular guy like everybody else. And seeing CZ, a billionaire, one of the most powerful people in Cryptocurrency just be like totally down to earth and be willing to answer questions and being very personable and friendly, I was like, Okay, I like this guy, I like what they’re doing. And it really just made me think, like, you know, give a different perspective of billionaires, you know, in a lot of ways. 

00:12:01:01 – 00:12:01:16

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:12:01:18 – 00:12:09:22

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): And then the other one is Charles Hoskinson. And I love Charles Hoskinson. You know, some people might say I have a man crush on Cardno itself, which I kind of do a little bit. I love Ethereum and Cardano.

00:12:09:27 – 00:12:10:12

Richard Carthon: Yeah.

00:12:10:14 – 00:12:22:14

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Vitalik won’t come on my channel, so, you know, because it does so, you know, Charles Hoskinson does. You know, but the big thing about Charles is and I think is such a big thing in the Crypto space, memes are so powerful. 

00:12:22:21 – 00:12:23:06

Richard Carthon: Yes, yes they are.

00:12:23:09 – 00:12:56:17

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): You got memes out there and they paint certain narratives and pictures of people that aren’t reality. And even I find myself sometimes buying into some of that stuff like you just go back to Roger Ver for instance. I interviewed him as well, another really great guy. And Roger Ver, like, you know, the famous picture of him or the video of him flicking the people off on the camera because they kept saying B Cash instead of Bitcoin Cash, and you just think this guy’s ridiculous, like, what a crazy person. Well, then you start researching and you realize like Bitcoin wouldn’t be where it is without him. Like he was the first online retailer to accept Bitcoin. 

00:12:56:26 – 00:12:57:11

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:12:57:13 – 00:13:07:29

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): He played such a role in investing in so many of the biggest Crypto companies today as a venture capitalist. The Bitcoin would not be where it’s out without Roger Ver. Now, obviously, Bitcoin Cash is a whole other thing.

00:13:08:01 – 00:13:08:16

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:13:08:18 – 00:13:41:21

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): But he did so much positive stuff for the space. And really getting to know him and meet him, it made me really start realizing, like, you know, all these memes aren’t true about people. You see this stuff about Charles Hoskinson where he’s hard to work with and I’ve said some stuff like that on my channel before. And, you know, he’s very egotistical and you know, Cardano’s science and all stuff. Then you talk to him and you really get to understand everything that he has to offer in terms of, you know, helping you understand what Cardano is and why he believes all the things that he does about Cryptocurrency and you figure out like, Wow, this is really a very cool guy, you know.

00:13:41:24 – 00:13:42:09

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:13:42:11 – 00:14:00:05

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): And he definitely knows what he’s talking about and he’s really good for the space. But obviously, when you get all of these, you know, high, big brain people, you know, they may just not have the best, I don’t want to say he doesn’t have great social skills because he does, but, you know, it’s harder for them to communicate I think sometimes on a simple level to people and that puts people a little bit out of their comfort zone. 

00:14:00:07 – 00:14:00:22

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:14:00:24 – 00:14:06:20

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): So, those are three interviews that I know I did that I love Roger Ver and Charles Hoskinson and CZ, they’re all stand up guys. 

00:14:07:06 – 00:14:15:07

Richard Carthon: That’s amazing. And thanks for sharing those. And it’s amazing when you get these really, really high powered people who aren’t necessarily that articulate.

00:14:15:09 – 00:14:15:24

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:14:15:26 – 00:14:19:20

Richard Carthon: Nor like when they talk, they’re not necessarily as passionate, right? And I love interviewing and talking to people.

00:14:19:22 – 00:14:20:07

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah. 

00:14:20:09 – 00:14:21:17

Richard Carthon: Who have a lot of passion behind what they’re doing. 

00:14:22:06 – 00:14:22:21

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:14:22:23 – 00:14:28:20

Richard Carthon: But it doesn’t mean that you’re still not getting a lot of chunks of like, Wow, let me take all these notes down. You’re spitting gold for an hour straight. 

00:14:29:28 – 00:14:30:13

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): I know right.

00:14:30:15 – 00:14:45:03

Richard Carthon: You know what I’m saying? You can still get a ton of great nuggets from people, but it might not be received as well from the greater audience. But the beauty of Crypto and all the amazing projects that are within it is that you have this gigantic range of just projects. 

00:14:45:05 – 00:14:45:20

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:14:45:22 – 00:14:49:24

Richard Carthon: You know, one of the ones that came up recently that I was watching, that was when you did the video on Graft.

00:14:49:26 – 00:14:50:13

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:14:50:15 – 00:14:56:02

Richard Carthon: And when you explained how basically they’re basically trying to make the Google Blockchain, I was like this makes perfect sense. 

00:14:56:04 – 00:14:56:19

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:14:56:21 – 00:15:01:01

Richard Carthon: Like I wish someone would have explained this a lot simpler to me when it came out on Coinbase over a year ago, right? 

00:15:01:03 – 00:15:01:18

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:15:01:20 – 00:15:13:13

Richard Carthon: But like, it’s stuff like that where you get to find these little nuggets of like knowledge and have someone break it down simply where you’re like, this makes sense. Why wouldn’t someone want to potentially become a part of this and share it with others? 

00:15:14:18 – 00:15:24:15

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah, exactly. And that’s one thing we really focus on on my channel is being simple with stuff. Like I never and I’ve ran into this problem so many times in this space.

00:15:24:17 – 00:15:25:02

Richard Carthon: Yeah.

00:15:25:04 – 00:15:45:08

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): It’s like people are always trying to impress you with how much they know, like what is their knowledge or inner workings of the tech of a project. Ninety nine percent of people do not care. You know, I’ve got a cell phone right here, I have no idea how it works, but I use it every day. And that’s the goal of Crypto and Blockchain. If you can’t understand these concepts and you can’t explain them simply to people, then, you know, things are never going to take off. 

00:15:45:10 – 00:16:06:13

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): People need to either understand what it is or understand how to use it to a point where they don’t care how the tech works. And so, you know, I’m not going to be able to talk on my channel the in depth technicals of a project, in terms of the technology itself, like some other YouTubers are going to. But on my channel, problems, we’re going to promise we’re going to explain to you in a way that makes sense to you. And so, if we can’t do that, we’re not going to talk about it. 

00:16:07:01 – 00:16:18:03

Richard Carthon: Right. And that’s so crucial and you know on that, something else that I’m pretty excited about, you know, as we are getting closer to the Miami Crypto Experience and being there, is being back around people again, right? 

00:16:18:05 – 00:16:18:20

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Oh I know.

00:16:18:22 – 00:16:29:16

Richard Carthon: And also being around Crypto people, being able to do it in a social way and in a safe way. But, you know, what are some things within the conference itself besides being able to speak like what are you looking forward to with like just being able to go and attend something like that right now? 

00:16:30:14 – 00:16:36:24

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah. Well, I mean, a lot of my closest friends in the world, I think pretty much all my closest friends in the world are involved in Cryptocurrency.

00:16:36:26 – 00:16:37:11

Richard Carthon: Yeah.

00:16:37:13 – 00:16:41:22

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): So, you know, being able to see like a lot of friends, like, you know, Crypto Wendy. You know, Wendy O.

00:16:41:28 – 00:16:42:13

Richard Carthon: Yeah.

00:16:42:15 – 00:17:10:23

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): She’s a really great friend of mine and I know she’s going to be going. And then there’s other people that are going to be going as well. And just being able to kind of reunite with a lot of those people that I haven’t seen in a really long time is going to be definitely, you know, pretty fun to be able to do that with different people at different conferences. You know, and not everybody can go to every conference. But that’s one thing that we definitely love is being able to connect with people we know. But then in addition, you know, I mean, I can’t lie, like, you know, the last time I was going to a conference, I had like 9,000 subscribers, you know.

00:17:10:25 – 00:17:11:10

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:17:11:12 – 00:17:39:27

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): And if somebody came up to me and they were like, Oh, I know you, I was  like, honored, like, Oh, you know, my channel, wow. I was looking at all these other people I’d be on the stage with and I’d be like, I know you know who all they are. And so, it’ll be a different experience for us. You know, I have, you know, 20 employees, so we’ll be bringing different employees down with us to these events as well. We’ve got a, you know, a full time v-logger who v-logs everything that we do. And so, it’s just going to be a totally different kind of experience from us, you know, on this side. I know, like in the past, we would have to, like, beg for tickets to stuff.

00:17:39:29 – 00:17:40:14

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:17:40:16 – 00:17:50:08

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): And now people want us to come. And it’s good being on, you know, being on this side of things. And excited to see, like, a lot of our fans and, you know, so there’s definitely that aspect of it as well.

00:17:50:26 – 00:17:58:14

Richard Carthon: For sure man. And I’m sure it’s been a journey to go from that side of, like just getting the foot in the door to now being one of the keynotes. 

00:17:58:16 – 00:17:59:01

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:17:59:03 – 00:18:04:04

Richard Carthon: Right? And just like you said, being able to reunite with friends, we also had Crypto Wendy on the show previously as well.

00:18:04:06 – 00:18:04:21

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah.

00:18:04:23 – 00:18:12:16

Richard Carthon: So, I’m also looking forward to reconnecting with some people, as well as making some new relationships. You know, it’s been a while before it’s an in-person meet and network with humans.

00:18:12:18 – 00:18:13:03

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): I know.

00:18:13:05 – 00:18:19:24

Richard Carthon: And so, definitely looking forward to that as well. But man, as we kind of wrap this up, there’s just a couple more topics that I want to kind of touch on. 

00:18:19:29 – 00:18:20:14

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Sure.

00:18:20:16 – 00:18:31:10

Richard Carthon: One is, you know, if you could take a step back and look at where we are in 2021 right now and where things are headed, I know DeFi’s a big thing that you’re looking at, but are there any other big subject matters that also have your attention right now? 

00:18:31:29 – 00:19:05:22

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah. I love DeFi and I was asked to speak about DeFi, so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m very passionate about it. But I mean, obviously right now the hottest thing is NFTs. And so, NFTs in a lot of ways are kind of a sub niche of decentralized finance. They have DeFi elements to them. But you know, we’re getting a lot of, you know, questions from people about NFTs, what they are. I’ve got a very large TikTok account. I know the TikTok audience is very interested in NFTs and collectibles, and so that’s definitely the huge trend that we’re watching now. We feel like the trend DeFi was over the summer of 2020, that’s where we’re heading to with NFTs. 

00:19:05:27 – 00:19:42:15

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): And then, I mean, another thing, you know, I’m very passionate about is the smart contract space. I mean, because, yes, I got into this channel to be educate people about Cryptocurrency, but one of the things that really drew me to Cryptocurrency the most was the idea of a decentralized Internet, decentralized Internet and, you know, things that are censorship resistant. We love that, social media Blockchains. You know, we hate Facebook in the way that they just screwed everybody over by, you know, pretty much ruining a whole generation of data. And so, we hate that, you know, everybody that works here, we’re big now, we have to use Facebook because that’s an audience there. You know, we want to tap in to educate about things that Facebook does.

00:19:43:10 – 00:19:43:25

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:19:43:27 – 00:20:07:20

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): But, you know, smart contracts and that entire space, Cardano, Ethereum and, you know, Polkadot, these are all projects, Cosmos, Solana. These are also, you know, things that we think aren’t just like a hot niche, these are going to be things that are going to change the world forever. And of course, DeFi’s going to be run using a lot of those platforms. So, those are two of the things that I’m the most interested in at all times in Crypto, NFTs and smart contract platforms. 

00:20:08:02 – 00:20:43:20

Richard Carthon: Yeah. And thanks for putting that on everyone’s horizon. We definitely speak on that pretty frequently. It’s also we have a ton of guests who come on and talk about those things, but again, everyone go back and listen to that a second time and just make sure that you are staying up to date on all those things, because I agree that when you look at a lot of these things that are looking at platforms and you’re building up these great infrastructure so more and more can be built upon it, I think those are great opportunities. But outside of that man, just two more fun questions for you. One, all the knowledge that you’ve been able to gain over the years and if you could take your knowledge right now and go impart wisdom to yourself back at the beginning, what are like the top two or three things that you would let yourself know?

00:20:45:16 – 00:21:09:06

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): I would say it’s kind of hard to wrap this up into a specific phrase, but I would say, like, the market cycles are real, you know. Like that’s one of the biggest things that screwed a lot of people, was like thinking that we’re at the beginning of this burgeoning new technology that’s super exciting and people thinking that’s just going to go up forever because of that. 

00:21:09:13 – 00:21:09:28

Richard Carthon: Right.

00:21:10:00 – 00:22:04:14

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): That’s not the way the markets work. But the fact is, is that, you know, there are going to be ups, there are going to be down downs, FUDD and FOMO are real. And, you know, those are things you’ve got to pay attention to in the market, and that’s from an investing standpoint. The other thing that I would tell myself is, you know, get ready, because you’re going to see the same tired narratives over and over and over again. And we see the market cycles, we also see the media cycles. Just today, like we covered some stories about, you know, Crypto is bad for the environment and, you know, a bunch of hippie stuff. So, we know if you actually take the entirety of Bitcoin mining in the world and equate it over again, they’re going to try to make you sell. And then also understanding the market cycles, I think that’s probably the most important wisdom I could have imparted to myself. 

00:22:05:15 – 00:22:20:06

Richard Carthon: Gotcha. And I think something might have happened with my computer right at the end, so, basically, some of the biggest things were just making sure that, actually if you don’t mind, could you go back and say, like probably like, the last like 20 seconds or so? I’ll go back and edit this. 

00:22:21:13 – 00:22:24:00

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah, about the media narratives? 

00:22:24:09 – 00:22:24:24

Richard Carthon: Yeah. 

00:22:25:14 – 00:23:05:25

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Okay. So, the other thing would have been to just be prepared for all these tired media narratives that we hear. You know, it’s like a pounding drum, you know, just you’re always hearing the same stories like, you know, Oh, this time, you know, Bitcoin’s going to crash or Bitcoin’s over, the governments are going to ban Bitcoin, Bitcoin’s bad for the environment. You just hear those same stories over and over again. I think in the beginning of a person’s journey in Cryptocurrency, they hear those things and they give them a lot more credence. But once you’ve heard them, like nine or 10 times, like, you know, it’s just coming around. It’s a, you know, media narrative cycle. So, I think understanding the market cycles and the media cycles of Cryptocurrency is probably extremely important, you know, for people newer in Crypto. 

00:23:06:15 – 00:23:47:08

Richard Carthon: Absolutely, man. And just myself, having gone through the 2018 when we went from the top of the market down to the bears going through and now we’re in this next bull cycle, I definitely see how media can definitely bring a lot of impact into the narrative around, like how good or bad Crypto is as a whole. But for those who are in it for the long run and you’re playing the long game, a lot of people have had a lot of success and are doing extremely well and have a lot of great things going. So, definitely appreciate that imparted wisdom. But man, I really do appreciate you spending some time with us. I’m excited to come listen to you at the Miami Crypto Experience and hearing your keynote. But as we kind of wrap all this up and put a bow on it, what is the final thought that you want to leave with all of our listeners here today? 

00:23:49:03 – 00:24:37:11

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah, a final thought I would leave with your listeners is, you know, you kind of touched on this earlier, one thing we do on the channel is we empower people. And, you know, if you look back, I love this example, I’d say it on so many shows I go on, kind of one of the things that got me started in going full time in Crypto is understanding that if you know, if you go back to the gold rush in 1800s, 90 percent of people that went out to California to find gold, they didn’t find gold, only about 10 percent did. A company or a man named Henry Wells Fargo, one of the enemies of our system now, but Henry may not have been that bad of a guy. He went out there during the gold rush and he decided he was going to start a company where they were going to sell the shovels and pickaxes and the flashlights and the helmets to all the people who want to go out there and mine gold. And he basically had hedged himself. Didn’t matter if he found gold or not, he was going to do well. 

00:24:37:13 – 00:25:13:10

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): And so, in Cryptocurrency and Blockchain, it’s a similar opportunity where there’s a lot of ways you can make money, but selling the shovels, you know, selling the shovels is what I like to do. I empower people through education, I sell education. Of course, everything on the channel is free on YouTube, all the YouTube videos are free, but I decided a long time ago I wanted to be part of Cryptocurrency. And so, for anybody that’s newer, it’s not just about throwing some money and some coins and hoping to make some money, find ways to get involved. We know AI is going to be taking a lot of jobs over the next several years, and so, the better you can position yourself into Cryptocurrency for the long run, the better off you’re going to be and the better chance you have to change your life. 

00:25:13:24 – 00:26:03:18

Richard Carthon: Absolutely. Man, that was the absolute gold nugget gem of a final thought. Everyone go back and listen to that. Right now if you look at, again, from the test of time, if you look at these big names that you still see today, they went and found a unique way to get involved in the unique opportunity at the time, selling shovels. Also, I believe Levi’s sold the jeans to all the people that were going and doing the work, right? So, there are a lot of companies in the Crypto space that are creating the tools that are ultimately going to drive this next generation of financial freedom forward, so, keep finding ways to get involved with those. And a great way to do that is to keep up with Mr. Ben Armstrong, AKA Bit Boy. Follow his channel, get some great information, come out to Miami Crypto Experience, listen to him talk. But, Mr. Ben, what are some ways that people can connect with you and learn more about all the amazing content that you’re putting out there? And of course, we’re going to share this in the show notes as well. 

00:26:04:02 – 00:26:18:18

Ben Armstrong (Bit Boy): Yeah, of course. I mean, you guys can go to BitBoyCrypto.com or any platform you go to, you can search Bit Bo Crypto. We’re verified on most platforms except for Twitter. Come on, Twitter. You can find us on Twitter. BitBoy_Crypto. But if you just search Bit Boy, you’ll pretty much find us everywhere.

00:26:19:08 – 00:26:25:10

Richard Carthon: Awesome. Well, again, looking forward to meeting you at the conference coming up. And of course, everyone listening, Stay Crypto Current.