Ryan Blaney of Bolimini International Law Group has no doubt that cryptocurrency will become an international currency. When I asked on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being full of doubt, to 10 being non doubt, he said he’s a 10 on the future. He equates it to a conversation with an intelligent little old lady who recalled that when credit cards first came out 1958 people laughed and wondered who would accept a piece of plastic for payment.
Ryan continues to explain that in his role as an attorney, his clients’ biggest challenges right now are following the regulations. He talked about the brain drain he’s seeing as the creative crypto, NFT, and metaverse entrepreneurs relocated to places with more friendly regulations.
One client moved to Mexico to launch their BTM’s - an alternative to an ATM. A BTM is a Bitcoin teller machine for withdrawing and depositing bitcoin. With little luck launching in the US, they moved to Mexico and already have 7-8 BTM’s open.
Cities such as Miami, Atlanta, and Detroit already have laws allowing rent and tax payments with cryptocurrency. Countries such as Mexico, Singapore, El Salvador, Dubai, Spain, St. Kitts, Nevis, and certain countries in Africa and SE Asia allow more crypto usage.
There doesn’t seem to be similarities in the cities and countries that are early adopters. Ryan sees a commonality in that in LATAM and Africa, there is no infrastructure for traditional banking, so this solves an immediate need. Plus, it’s a multitrillion dollar industry so the potential is huge. The mayor of Miami recognizes this – thus contributing to the usage there. Plus, Miami is the gateway to LATAM where there is early acceptance.
One big piece of advice he gives his clients – KYC which stands for Know Your Client. Since transferring cryptocurrency is done electronically, there is no name or verifiable ID to check. He makes sure all his clients watch for money laundering. Money laundering is not condoned by the early adopters. Their aim is to build a better society. Many support the environment and the Blue Economy which the World Bank defines as the "sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem."
He continues to say that many non-profit organizations accept donations of cryptocurrency for three reasons:
- It’s easier to accept – it transfers in 2 seconds as opposed to days for a wire transfer.
- There are no fees.
- They have global access to translation.
Ryan’s advice to Global Leaders about cryptocurrency?
- Educate yourself – MIT has free videos to watch and learn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH6vE97qIP4)
- Understand that there are big variances in each cryptocurrency – they specialize in purchases, gaming, non-profits, education, and more.
Listen to learn more.
Links:
Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/
Connect with Ryan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanblaney/
Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
ATTENTION: Below is a machine generated transcription of the podcast. Yes, at Rapport International, we talk a lot about how machine translation is not good quality. Here you see an example of what a machine can do in your own your language. This transcription is provided as a gist and to give time indicators to find a topic of interest.
[00:00:34] Wendy: Bonjour! Buenos Dias! Guten Tag! Hi, Global Marketing Show listeners, I'm glad to have you here today. We've got a fun episode coming up. I know, I probably say this every time, but I'm always really excited to talk to the people that are coming on. And we've got Ryan Blaney coming on and I'll introduce him in just a minute, but I wanted to remind you before we get started that the podcast is sponsored by Rapport International, the company who provides high quality written translation and spoken interpretation services. And as you may or may not know, they do tidbits and release them on social media or on email, you can go to Rapporttranslations.com and sign up for tidbits if you like cultural and language, fun little factoids and today's is about doubt.
[00:01:30] We're gonna be talking about international cryptocurrency and I know a lot of people have doubt on that, but I'm very positive on my thinking of it, but we're gonna talk to Ryan more about that. So our tip of today is no doubt about! The longest word in the Finnish language is 47 letters long and it means doubtful. So I'm going to use phonetics to sound it out, but I'm sure I don't have it right. So if you speak Finnish and you're listening to this, please call me up and let me know how to say it. So, 47 letters long, epäjärjestelmällistyttämättömyydellänsäkäänköhä
[00:02:17] can you repeat that, ryan?
[00:02:19] Ryan: No, that's impressive.
[00:02:22] Wendy: Yeah, isn't it. So I, I love fun words like that. So thank you to the Finns for giving us something fun to , learn about today.
[00:02:31] So Ryan is here. Ryan Blaney is of Bolimini Since 2005, he started his career in Barcelona, Spain, and he's bilingual so I bet you can guess which two languages he speaks. And over the past five years, he's become a legal expert in cryptocurrency, in the blockchain ecosystem. So he's got international experience with cryptocurrency and blockchain with tech and startups. Ryan welcome, welcome to The Global Marketing Show!
[00:03:05] Ryan: Thank you, thank you for having me.
[00:03:07] Wendy: Yeah, my pleasure. So, you know, I started out the, the show talking about doubt, you know, on a scale of one to 10, where one is really doubtful and 10 is no doubt at all. This is gonna be a success. Where would you fall on the cryptocurrency becoming an international currency?
[00:03:29] Ryan: I am going to, I'm gonna say 10 .
[00:03:35] Wendy: There's no doubt at all, that it is gonna become an international currency.
[00:03:39] Ryan: Yeah. Well, I think it already is. And, and, and that's not just one, like, there's so many different types of coins that we say, so it it'll be, you know, not just what we know as Bitcoin, but other coins too will, will have utilitarian uses.
[00:03:54] So yeah, I think that that train has left the.
[00:03:57] Absolutely
[00:03:58] Wendy: fascinating to me cuz that's, I'm pretty. Yeah. You know, I'd give it like an eight because I can just see the potential for it, but I don't know all the legalities and regulations behind it. So talk to me, what's going on? Like how do we even start wrapping our hands around? What's going on in the international currency market on this
[00:04:19] Ryan: mm-hmm it's definitely international right now.
[00:04:24] Very few countries have started to, you know, draft legislation to kind of wrap their heads around it, including the us Biden. Signed an order about two months ago, basically telling the federal government, you know, get a handle on this, you know, create some sort of regulatory space. So for clients we just have to navigate each state has their own regulations.
[00:04:49] That's evolving. Each country, some countries are more pro crypto than others. So it, you basically have to have your hand on the pulse of what's happening in every country in the world. And honestly, you know, it's unfortunate, there's a little bit of a grain drain in the us because a federal authorities and our banking institutions are tentative.
[00:05:12] About the cryptocurrency taking off. And of course they lose market share and control and all that. So a lot of my clients are leaving to Mexico, to Portugal, to Singapore, to Dubai El Salvador. And I hope that stops and we can retain some of the talent and, and, you know, amazing startups here. So I'm very positive about it right now.
[00:05:35] The price of crypto has gone down a little. Like in any traditional markets. And so there's all these naysayers, that's failing companies are collapsing. Well, just like any national ecosystem, there's people that are gonna, you know, create companies and they fail. And so that's completely normal. Right.
[00:05:54] Okay.
[00:05:54] Wendy: So that was one of the questions I was gonna ask is which countries are more open to it, but that's probably the country where your clients are going,
[00:06:03] Ryan: correct? Yeah. Countries like Spain want to attract also those investments. So they are. One of the few countries in the world that are passing legislation regulations for it.
[00:06:13] Countries like Mexico Andora, which is a very small country in the purines allow FinTech companies to your sandbox, essentially to do whatever they want in the crypto space to create these companies. As long as at the end of the two years, they can be audited by the federal government, cuz again, they wanna, they see it as a feature they don't, and they don't want to be, they don't wanna miss out on, on the feature growth of this industry.
[00:06:42] Wendy: That's fascinating. And what's the, I mean, you're naming countries that are scattered all over the world that I can't wrap my hand around any commonality. I don't think them as leading, you know, I don't think of all of them as leading head tech. I don't think of them as culturally the same. I don't see a regional difference.
[00:07:03] What is it about these countries that are making them more open to.
[00:07:08] Ryan: You're absolutely right. There is, there is no commonalities in countries in Asia and Southeast Asia, Africa are looking to attract as investment. Well I think it's twofold. I think one commonality is they see a multi-trillion dollar industry.
[00:07:23] They want to be a part of. And secondly, when you talk to, when you speak about Latin American countries and Sub-Saharan African countries, Over 70% of the, of the people that live there don't have access to banking for whatever reason. There's no infrastructure. They can't get to a branch cuz they live in a rural community.
[00:07:44] They don't have bank accounts and these countries are realizing crypto allows them to have funds a source of funds from their phone.
[00:07:54] Wendy: Interesting. Okay. So that's the same sort of thing with a lot of. Places that are more rural. Didn't get wired phones in, but they got cell phones in mm-hmm . And so now they're not getting the banks. But they'll have access through their phone to cryptocurrency where they can work. So they're kind of leapfrogging over the traditional infrastructure.
[00:08:19] Ryan: Correct. And that makes the traditional financial industries nervous, of course. But for example, I have one client based in, in California and they're non-profit, they are helping indigenous Inca women in Peru that live in very remote portions of the Andes. They've never had bank accounts in their lives.
[00:08:39] Now they have phones with an app where they can sell their traditional shawls and scarves and hats and make money via Bitcoin, and then use those funds to buy water, food, housing, et cetera.
[00:08:56] Wendy: So Bitcoin is really out in the marketplace. Is there, is there, I mean, that's a great example because people from all over the world want the high quality ink and Andy's made goods.
[00:09:10] I mean, I have some from Peru, the bags that I have lasts for years. They're fantastic. Oh really?
[00:09:15] Ryan: I didn't know that.
[00:09:16] Wendy: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, we have, yeah. My dad was on the, on the board at the potato center. In Peru. And so he took trips down there and then I went a few years back and so everything we bring back from there is high quality.
[00:09:30] So it's nice.
[00:09:31] Ryan: Wow. My bucket list to go there for sure. Yeah. And then naysayers will say, well, see cryptocurrencies, if there's no internet, there's a whole industry dies. Well, if there's no internet. Our traditional financial institutions will die as well. so it's all our global economy is forever intertwined with the internet right now, so,
[00:09:54] Wendy: right, right.
[00:09:55] Naomi, if you just think about it that the internet dies all of us. Don't can't work. Exactly. We walk around going, well, I don't know what to do now. exactly. So many of our phones are linked into the internet. Yeah. Right. So how about so that's a client that you have in California. What other, what are some of the other cool client happenings?
[00:10:15] Ryan: Well, I have a one client who I'm very excited about. They were based in here in California and they had a hard, they, they kept getting bullied by federal authorities. So they got scared cuz they're not doing anything wrong. So they moved their operations to Acapulco, Mexico. And they've developed a network.
[00:10:35] What we call BTMS. So they're ATM machines where you can take out money or you can purchase Bitcoin and cash out your Bitcoin. And now they have, I believe seven or eight of these BTMS across the country. Some of them in very remote areas where just that, where locals, who never had bank accounts before can access cash through these BTMS And that's one.
[00:10:56] I have another client, that's an online exchange. So basically, you know, you can swap out or buy different coins on their website. And I don't know if you've heard of this thing. That's coming called the metaverse.
[00:11:11] Wendy: I have heard of it, but go ahead and explain it.
[00:11:14] Ryan: So I have several entertainment companies who are working with me now that they're building games on the metaverse.
[00:11:21] One example is a, a game. If you've ever played SIM city, I'm gonna age myself, but it's SIM city on steroids. You live in the metaverse. You can purchase in departments, you can manage a bookstore, you can run a business. You can buy things all through cryptocurrencies and basically you can live in this imaginary city for as long as you want.
[00:11:42] Wendy: Okay. I don't see the practical application like for that, except for gamers. So, you know, like if I wanna go to a. Billiards hall and put my quarters on the table and play GA you know, games of billiards I'm paying for that entertainment. So where does that metaverse convert over to anything beyond like it's purely entertainment.
[00:12:04] Ryan: And this is, this is aside from the cryptocurrency industry, but I read a very interesting legal journal. Just this weekend, by the way about the applicability of the metaverse for trials and say a domestic abuse, abuse victim, or a child abuse victim who are so scared to go into the courtroom and face their abuser.
[00:12:25] If they have these trials in the metaverse using avatars, they can from the living room, go into trial, be a witness and not be scared cuz they know they're not in the same room as the abuse.
[00:12:35] Oh, and so that kinda blew my mind.
[00:12:42] Wendy: Because if you own your avatar, like, and it's tied to your social security number or whatever, or your thumbprint or whatever, so they can verify that it's you and not somebody else that it's your personal avatar.
[00:12:55] Ryan: Yeah. Correct. Mm-hmm so there might be some real world scenario again, we're very the first inning of the metaverse.
[00:13:02] So I, I don't know that. I think the possibilities could be endless. Oh, yeah, I, well, this is entertainment, but I just saw on the news this morning that the first ever metaverse pop star, who has 2 million followers on, in, on tos and now she she's reaching out. She, I I'm using air quotes is reaching out to stars, like Arian the Grande to do live shows between Ariana and the hologram of.
[00:13:34] Wendy: So it's a hologram. It's not a person behind, it's not like an avatar. It's just a purely made
[00:13:39] Ryan: up in the metaverse. It's an avatar. So clearly someone's is doing the voiceover, but it's not a real person. And her last concert in the metaverse got like 300,000 attendees.
[00:13:53] It would
[00:13:54] Wendy: pretty much be a consistent voice. So wouldn't it be that person?
[00:13:59] Ryan: I, I don't know. I don't know.
[00:14:05] Wendy: Right. But, but what it does say is that you can be in your home, performing and people are gonna accept. Attendance at a metaverse rather than going down to the stadium in the city to, to hear
[00:14:20] Ryan: somebody.
[00:14:20] Right. Right, right. So it has the potential of expanding, you know what we call creators, you know, people can become creators who aren't necessarily. A professional artist. So I think it's a good thing. Going back to NF to crypto, one thing I've seen really rise are NFTs.
[00:14:38] Wendy: It's just gonna bring that up.
[00:14:39] Yes,
[00:14:41] Ryan: so I'm an artist by heart. I went to law school cause I thought I needed to pay the bills, but I love to paint and I've seen NFT. The artists are loving this technology because they said they have expos worldwide exposure that they've never had before. So, you know, you, you do your art, you put it in a gallery in say, Boston, Massachusetts, no, one's gonna steal the art unless they're in Boston.
[00:15:05] Now with NFTs, they have buyers from all over the world and they think it's, the technology is amazing. Yeah, I still
[00:15:14] Wendy: can't wrap my head around buying one, 1000000th of a van go. saying I own that because I'm still not getting the pleasure of seeing the actual art. And is it any better than seeing. It online on a really good computer screen.
[00:15:32] So I, I'm not my head. Hasn't wrapped around that. And I know, I know companies we're, we've got a potential client that has skyrocketed their revenues because they've got some cool NFT art. Products that they're, that they're doing, where I see the NFTs is kind of like what you were talking about. Like, if you own your avatar and it's recognized in a courtroom, you save that travel.
[00:15:57] It's still verified that it's, you, you don't have to show up there. And how do you own that? Or how do you own an NFT of your property? So, you know, it doesn't have to go through a title research every time. It, it exchanges. Right. So that was, I, I can completely wrap my head around the, the art I'm still having in trouble with cuz it is, you know, or the experiences of, of doing something.
[00:16:22] But, you know,
[00:16:23] Ryan: I mean, I would agree. I'm still wrapping my head around it. However, I did go, speaking of the metaverse, I was invited to a gallery showing in the metaverse. I created my avatar and I walked into this again, I'm using air quotes. I walked into this building in the metaverse and I walked around for about an hour looking at all this cool art on the walls.
[00:16:42] And it was kind of, it was interesting. Then how
[00:16:45] Wendy: did you walk around? Were you doing it with your keyboard?
[00:16:49] Ryan: Yep. Mm-hmm . Pressing the arrow buttons and move it around.
[00:16:56] Wendy: Just like we did with attending conferences during COVID then.
[00:17:00] Ryan: Oh, exactly. Exactly. Mm-hmm and all these NFTs sitting on on these virtual walls were for sale.
[00:17:07] You could put a bit in and it, I mean, I, I was fascinated because it, it did feel somewhat like walking into the Lou in Paris. I mean, it's not the same experience, but you know, I did have to spend, I'd have to spend $3,000 on a plane.
[00:17:21] Wendy: Right, right, exactly. Or get the exercise from walking around or looking for water or a bathroom cause you're hot or
[00:17:29] Ryan: true.
[00:17:30] Wendy: Very true. And this is yeah. What do you think the biggest legal challenge is gonna be internationally for? All the cryptocurrencies.
[00:17:38] Ryan: To, well, for right now, the biggest challenge for crypto companies is trying to find out what the regulations are. You know, it's like a moving goal post, they constantly change and shift.
[00:17:50] You can, if you have say an online exchange, you can operate in the state of Florida based on the certain guidelines, what you can in Arkansas, or you can't in. France. So right now, the challenge in my clients is they pay me to stay in the pulse of what's going on. So they know they don't you know, break any laws per se and and you want to make sure you have in place a very robust, what we call KYC protocols which is, means know your client.
[00:18:19] And you have to really make sure the person on the other side of your company is who they said they are. And you want to make sure you're not exposed to any type of money launder.
[00:18:31] Wendy: Oh, okay. So if you're getting involved in that and taking money from somebody
[00:18:39] Ryan: who might then want to funnel that money somewhere else out of the country and not pay taxes, which is, you know, what the that's, why it's high risk for our traditional banking institutions is because.
[00:18:53] Nobody sees it. It's all digital. And there's no names associated with these, you know, basically blocks in the blockchain. So, you know, they want, you know, uncle Sam wants to make sure they get their taxes. So you wanna make sure you're dealing with somebody who's real. And who's who says who, you know, who they are verify their identification and their banking source and, and, and limit your exposure to money laundering.
[00:19:17] Because at the end of the day, you could become reliable.
[00:19:19] Wendy: Now back to the scale of one to 10, fold out at number one. And you're no doubt at number 10 that this is gonna launch. Now, you've just brought up a whole bunch of stuff for those doubters to say, it's never gonna work because you've got state regulation, country regulation, international regulation, and you've got no identity to it.
[00:19:40] So it looks like it just is a can of warmth. So how does it work? Like how do you trust it?
[00:19:47] Ryan: Well, the one good. The one positive element of it is, is it's unhackable. So I always recommend if you can not to use an online platform, like say Robin hood or Cracken, if you can get a digital wallet that you can put in your safe, because that way nobody could ever steal your funds
[00:20:05] Wendy: that would be
[00:20:06] Ryan: like a Coinbase Coinbase is also an online platform.
[00:20:08] Yeah. And there's always a risk of being hacked on those. So,
[00:20:12] Wendy: how do you get a digital wallet then?
[00:20:14] Ryan: Talk to a broker or even those companies that you mentioned, Coinbase they'll sell digital wallet. And they're very easy to use and you can buy and sell via those digital wallets. I have one, I have it in my safe.
[00:20:26] And in terms of all these differing regulations, I think it'll happen at some point, you know, the world economies will get on the same page in terms of regulating this and, and trying to figure out how it works, you know, at the end of the day, I listened to an, an older woman who was so cute and I'll never forget what she told me when I was telling her about the people who are say are all one on your scale of doubt with crypto.
[00:20:52] And she said, I remember when the first credit cards came out and my parents said who's ever gonna trust is piece of plastic to, to hold my money. And guess what? , to me, it's the same thing.
[00:21:06] Wendy: When did the first credit cards come out? I don't know if she remembered and she's still alive. That's definitely within the last hundred years. So
[00:21:19] Ryan: that, oh, definitely. Yeah. I'm gonna say forties.
[00:21:24] Wendy: That's what I was gonna guess. Thirties, forties. Yeah.
[00:21:29] Ryan: So change is hard, especially when it comes to our. You know, we want to be able to trust whatever new technology is coming out to move money around.
[00:21:37] And I understand that, but I, you know, it'll happen and people will start to feel more comfortable once they somewhat understand how it works.
[00:21:46] Wendy: Right. So who will regulate it internationally?
[00:21:51] Ryan: That's a very good question. Maybe the international monetary funds, you know, could be one Some have even mentioned the United nations.
[00:21:58] Just because a lot of coins or companies in that space tie their, their companies to one of the, the climate action goals of the UN, I believe there's like 13. And so when they raise funds or make a sale, a portion of those goes to. Protect the oceans reduce carbon emissions and sometimes saying, well, maybe the United nations would be one place that could regulate internationally this ecosystem.
[00:22:28] Wow.
[00:22:29] Wendy: That's fascinating. I hadn't heard that. Okay. So when a coin, a cryptocurrency raises funds. Correct. Explain that to me. I thought they, I thought you had to mine them to make them, how do they raise funds?
[00:22:49] Ryan: Investors or sales. So what people don't understand, there's a lot of philanthropy in the cryptocurrency space.
[00:22:55] I also do a lot of work in the blue tech space, which basically startups that somehow relate to the ocean and they're selling NFTs. They're making money off NFTs or they go through a round of investing under investors. That's the money that they make and they put that money back into one of the sustainability goals.
[00:23:14] Didn't know that mm-hmm specifically NFTs, but a, a lot of nonprofits around the world are, are using cryptocurrencies to raise funds and to use those funds for, for good, basically.
[00:23:27] Wendy: Why would that be well, prob I was gonna say, why would it be more apt to the nonprofits, be more apt to use cryptocurrency, but right now there's the people who are heavily involved in it are making money.
[00:23:42] Ryan: It's easier. The transaction takes 0.2 seconds versus a wire will take you a day or two. There's no currently transaction fees and you have access to a wider net of funding all over the world.
[00:23:53] Wendy: Same reason that it would make sense. I mean, I look at. Rapport International who takes and pays money all over the world. And it would be so much easier to not think through which platform makes sense. What's the currency exchange, what are the fees and doing the different things. It ma it would make more sense to just have one global currency to pay fast.
[00:24:18] Ryan: Right. I just did that today. I was invoicing a client in Barcelona and I was like, what's the year now? And it's like, it's such a headache.
[00:24:28] Wendy: right. Right. So any idea of, well, before I jump into that question, what recommendations do you have for business leaders who are doing global marketing and how. They look at cryptocurrency,
[00:24:51] Ryan: I would say first, just educate yourself.
[00:24:53] I know it's scary, but educate yourself a little bit, like how it works. The different types of utility that are for different coins. Like not every coin is used for Purchasing goods and services. Some are used for, like you said, gaming. Some are used for nonprofit and nonprofit endeavors. Some are used with children now for education.
[00:25:14] So I would say educate yourself and see how maybe it could benefit your company internationally. MIT online has wonderful free resources for cryptocurrencies. There's like 20 videos you can watch for free and just. You know, expand your knowledge base and see, you know, if you can use it for marketing, maybe not.
[00:25:36] I don't know if every company would benefit from the technology, but, but some may.
[00:25:40] Wendy: Okay. So number one is educate yourself and go to MIT online and watch free video. So you can understand about the cryptocurrency. And then once you understand the generalities, then you can start thinking about what the different cryptocurrencies and where they are. Across which specialty. Right? So there's which ones are you seeing?
[00:26:01] Like you mentioned the Peruvian women and you mentioned Mexico and all the different countries. Are, are you seeing a commonality for purchasing?
[00:26:10] Ryan: I would say the one, a major commonality for purchasing is a coin called Ethereum. That seems to be the one that goes to not to get technical, but all NFTs are built on the Ethereum blockchain.
[00:26:22] So it's easier just to use that as a source of funds. But then. Also, depending what sector is you're in, for example, I invested in a small, a coin that has a small market cap now called Tron T R O N. And it's basically a coin for creators. Think of like to TikTok on steroids. You can use that coin to build videos and music.
[00:26:45] And I think it's, it's a, it's, it's a powerful resource for, for creators. So I'm pro entran. So all depends what you, what you.
[00:26:53] Explain this to
[00:26:53] Wendy: me, you can use Tron for creators. So I would pay a creator to create something for me in Tron. Is that what you mean? You
[00:27:01] Ryan: can also, but the underlying blockchain technology that is used to create the Tron coin can be used to develop videos, entertainment factors. Oh,
[00:27:13] Wendy: I see the technology behind it creates Tron, but it's also very good at doing the creating things.
[00:27:20] So whoever developed that platform was probably more of a creative type person.
[00:27:26] Ryan: For sure. For sure. Yeah. Like Ethereum was created as a coin, but then the underlying technology is what was used to develop NFTs. So that's what you call utility coin. Some coins are have value, but they also serve a purpose or have a utility in my mind.
[00:27:43] Those are the ones that are gonna be the most successful. If you have a coin that has some sort of value, but has no utility, well, it's kind of sketchy. Like then how do you determine the value?
[00:27:54] So if
[00:27:55] Wendy: you have you've got Ethereum for purchasing, cuz it built and a lot of the Ts are coming out. You've got Tron for the creative. Is there something that's more recognized in the non-profit or the gaming or education areas?
[00:28:12] Ryan: No, I think Bitcoin is still still the, the golden standard of use. But I wouldn't say there's one that's more popular than another for, you know, education or, or entertainment.
[00:28:25] Wendy: Okay. So you're seeing Ethereum in purchasing in those different places, but Bitcoin is. Is popular all over the world too, or in the us, or where are you?
[00:28:36] Ryan: Big Bitcoin. The original, the most widely known has the biggest market cap. So it's known all over the world. Yeah. Ethereum, if I was gonna compartmentalize, I would say Ethereum, in terms of the art world is the go to for artists unlock.
[00:28:52] sorry. And then maybe for some creators, but beyond that, Bitcoin is still, you know, the. The granddaddy of crypto.
[00:29:02] Wendy: Okay. Okay. So it's Bitcoin and Ethereum are the ones that are, you see surfacing up more on the international trade and paying. Sure. Yeah. But then you've got these followings of the other coins, which certainly makes sense from the activity.
[00:29:18] I see.
[00:29:19] Ryan: Yeah. And then some, also some countries decide to go all in on one, for example, another coin's called Bitcoin cash. Which is, is allowed as a national. Mess out of payment and say St. Kits and nevi in some Caribbean island nations. So in those nations, they decided to partner with the creators of Bitcoin cash and this used widely in those countries.
[00:29:41] But that's still an anomaly on the worldwide stage. And the us specifically, you have cities that have doubled down Atlanta, Georgia, Miami, Detroit. These are all cities now that you can pay your rents and your taxes with.
[00:29:54] Why there? Good question. I don't know. I know south Florida has become. A huge crypto ecosystem. And I think it has to do with their, their mayor. Who's been pro Bitcoin has passed all these ordinances to allow local restaurants and forcing utilities to accept payments in Bitcoin. So somebody in those cities is pro and they decided to, to, to take a risk and, and branch out and, and have an alternative source of funding.
[00:30:26] Wendy: That makes sense. And Detroit, I know has seen a Ren Renaissance ever since TurboTax has taken over there. The city's now beautiful. So that could be more the technological push, but I would've guessed, you know, some of the, is it San Antonio and Texas that has a good technology reputation or Lincoln, Nebraska, or even California?
[00:30:53] I would've expected.
[00:30:54] Ryan: I would've said, why not San Francisco or the capital of tech and they don't even have accepted yet. So I don't know what's going on in my state.
[00:31:02] Wendy: it might be that they're they're now the behemoth tech. They're not the young scrappy startups could
[00:31:08] Ryan: be a lot of crypto companies from Silicon valley have migrated to Miami.
[00:31:14] Wendy: Okay, which has very international feel touching down in the Caribbean in Mexico and exactly, and
[00:31:21] Ryan: a lot opening up to it more now. And you know, a couple Latin American countries are the first in the world to legalize Bitcoin on a federal level. So Miami, you know, is on the post of those companies like El Salvador, legalized Bitcoin.
[00:31:36] And I think Al will be Peru and Brazil.
[00:31:41] Wendy: Oh, okay. So there's a big movement in Latin America. Yeah. Okay. Huh? Stuff. I mean, I believe we'll get there and I love the analogy with the credit card. You know, who's gonna accept a little piece of plastic, you know, now it's, who's gonna accept something. You can't touch
[00:32:02] Exactly,
[00:32:03] Ryan: exactly.
[00:32:03] Wendy: But we already, we already do that with, with, you know, buying online, all our stuff. So I think it's fascinating. All right. Yeah. I think, you know, at the end of the podcast, I always like to ask people what their favorite foreign word. Did I catch you by surprise
[00:32:19] Ryan: A little bit, but I, I, I think I have one.
[00:32:22] Wendy: You think you do? I was okay. I was gonna give you time and say, you know, foreign is defined loosely so it can be any language, cuz any language is foreign to somebody. And it could be anything that is meaningful to you. So go ahead. Tell us what your favorite foreign
[00:32:37] Ryan: word is.
[00:32:38] I think my business name Bo.
[00:32:40] Wendy: I was gonna ask, yeah. How you got that name or gave her that, that name.
[00:32:45] Ryan: I hold a lot of significance to me. My mother's from Northeastern Spain, so we speak a different language there called Catalan. And she's from a very small village where the soil is very, very red.
[00:32:55] It's a volcanic clay and the Catalan word for that clay is bull and meaning. And I like this, the spring of it. And then also. There's a cave that on land that my mom still owns a very large cave that in 1930s, when Spain was going through the civil war, my grandmother and her cousin lived in that cave with about a thousand other villagers for about nine months to escape the bombings of who would then become dictator Franco.
[00:33:22] So, you know, my marketing spin is I my, my legal firm is gonna protect you just like this K protected my fam.
[00:33:31] Wendy: Oh my gosh, what a fabulous story. I was trying to figure out how red clay tied in. And that is so, so heartwarming is just this cave protected a thousand people. And that's why I'm here to protect you.
[00:33:48] Ryan: Yep. Yep. Thank you. Wow. Especially going on now with Ukraine, it, it holds even more Of a purpose
[00:33:56] Wendy: does it certainly does that, that it can happen to anyone anywhere. And the people that make it through are so strong mm-hmm so I'm so glad. Yeah. So Bini is spelled B O L. I am as in Mary, I N as in Nancy, I, if you have any interest in Bitcoin and legal regulations or talking about it, certainly reach out to Ryan.
[00:34:22] Blaney, he's full of knowledge about this. So Ryan, any final words of advice and where can people find you?
[00:34:31] Ryan: You can find me on my website, bini.us. And yeah, just for, just have an open mind and open hearts.
[00:34:38] Wendy: right. Open mind and open hearts. That's great advice for anybody doing international work. Mm-hmm okay. And so Bumi bini.us is the best place to find you. Okay, well, listeners, thank you so much for tuning in today. I hope you learned something and if you didn't understand this at all, his advice was go to MIT and look for the free videos and watch it so you can learn about Bitcoin because I think it's definitely coming.
[00:35:10] And, and on that scale of one to 10, so does. And he's more knowledgeable than me, so thank you, Ryan. I really appreciate you being
[00:35:19] Ryan: here. Thank you for having me. This is wonderful.
[00:35:21] Wendy: Yeah. And listeners, if you have something you wanna say about this conversation, certainly go to Facebook and join the global growth.
[00:35:29] Global marketing and growth group. That's where we have conversations about the different episodes. So we'll talk to you next time and don't remember to follow us so you can hear the ne next episode that comes out.
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