21 Futures: Financial Fallout Launch Party

Hey everybody, here's the book.

It does exist, it is real. Me and Niko usually get the books absolutely last out of everyone because we live in on islands where the post service is rubbish, but, um, I have received it. Awesome. All right, let's go. Oh, here we go. Well, this is just first off to say here are some pictures of loads of people with the book. You can see actually I do have a copy of the book. There's me, uh, at a conference recently, which is where I press-ganged some of these famous Bitcoiners and cypherpunks into, um, posing for a picture with some of our books. But there's some of them are great supporters. You've got Mick from Geyser there, Joe Nakamoto, Joe Bryan, Larry Lepard, Max of course, Robin, um, Robin Sayer. Got lots of great supporters, uh, Scheller from, uh, from Bitcoin Film Fest. And many other things. She's also published a story on the site. But yeah, just this is a note to say the book is buzzing its way around the world. If you've got a photo, send it over on Telegram or by email. I'd love to feature it on socials. It's always good to see faces of people with the book, and you should all be very proud for being part of it. So yeah, that's the first thing to say really, is a big thanks to everyone who's put in so much effort, so much time, and submitted a great story. We've come up with, I think, a really engaging book, and all we need is a worldwide financial disaster for it to become a bestseller. So, you know, it's just a matter of time, right? Just as a note on What it— what is involved in publishing a book like this, um, and, uh, achieving sales and getting into more people's hands? Reviews. Thanks to everyone who has left a review or who has asked others to do so. Uh, remember, you can always do that on Amazon or Goodreads. Anyone that you've sold the book to, that you've recommended the book to, that you know has read it, please ask them to leave an honest review. It means a lot. And if you go to Amazon and read something, Goodreads, and read some of the reviews, I'm sure you'd be very pleased because they're glowing. And, um, the thing I like is in these reviews, each review has a different favorite story, which is great. Uh, podcasts. I've been going on a few podcasts. Uh, I think Niko has too, right? You were recently on— have you been on any recently?

I was on Robin Sayer's podcast last time. We didn't talk much about 21 Futures.

Sure. I've been on a few. There's a few coming up as well. But if any of you know people in the freedom space or the Bitcoin space who want a guest to come on and talk about books and hopefully remember to bring it with them, for the recording, uh, just recommend me or let me know. We're always looking to like build that network. It's sort of in the name of ConsenSys Network. Conferences, uh, I went to Cheat Code in the UK and I'll be going to a couple more, uh, this year for sure to just promote the book and shake hands and talk to people. That's always a good way to spread the news and Just get it into the hands of people. Socials, yeah, I'm going to talk a little bit more about that. Obviously, we mainly operate on sort of X and Nosta, but have other socials too. And endorsements, we have, as you saw, a few famous faces supporting the books. That's really good. And again, if you know anyone that has a big following that would like a copy of the book, just give us a shout and we'll send it to them. Because, um, as long as it's something they will read and enjoy, and they'll hopefully enjoy, then that will help our mission. Okay, I'm just going to check in with the chat and see who's saying what. Let's put some of these on screen just so it's not me babbling on. Alex, hey there. Thanks for joining on YouTube. Eric K's favorite story is their favorite. Yeah, great. Paul, you've got a question, says Paul. Is the grammar detective— he's somebody I've done another podcast with. Is the future finance dystopic? Is that a word? I'm sure it is. Paul is a grammar detective. I would have said dystopian, but, um, why do you think so? Let's get to answering. Well, why don't we answer that now? Niko, what do you think? Is the future of finance dystopian or dystopic and why?

I hope not, but I'm probably wrong.

I don't know if it's, if it's been making this book, um, but I'm quite down on the future of finance. I do think that a Mandible-style situation may be, may be coming and that people should prepare.

Yeah, I agree with that. It's always good to be prepared. You know, I would love to be wrong about this. I don't think I am, but—

Well, I think another thing is there can be several truths and several stories and several things happening at once. So maybe in, you know, some sections of society, some countries, some time frames we will be entering into like serious depressions and inflationary periods and, uh, you know, problems with the, the financial system which we live in, which is essentially, Paul, printing lots of money, um, growing the debt to an unsustainable level and, and just increasing the burden on our, on our future. Um, Future humans, which is never a kind thing to do.

Related to that, it's actually interesting to follow the Bitcoin price. It went up right now. It's a few weeks delay from increasing the money supply. So it kind of— Bitcoin works as a meter for inflation. So it's not as much as Bitcoin is going up as the unit of account, which is dollars, going down. And because of that, I think the world is starting to be in a pretty bad shape already. I mean, we don't feel it quite as bad as in places, say, like Argentina 2001 or something like that, but I fear that it has to come to that before people say enough.

Before there's a reckoning. I agree. And I think, you know, we often measure the dollar as like, oh, well, that's the, you know, how are we doing as a World economy. Well, that's the strongest currency, right? By by far, or the the um the strongest major currency. Let's say, you know, Swiss franc or something. You know, most most people living on the planet have much worse time of it than earning and saving in dollars. Okay, let's move on away from dystopia. Can somebody drop a link to Order the book in the description. Yes, we've got nearly 80 people watching now, so, um, thanks for tuning in. And if you want to check out the book, go to 21futures.com/shop or just 21futures.com. You'll be able to watch the trailer, check it out, and read a bit more about it. And of course, you can pay Bitcoin or in fiat currency. We have an ebook as well. Great. All right, um, let's just move on, talk about the future of 21 Futures, then we will get to chatting with the authors. I have a feeling this is going to run over. I'm already babbling on. I wanted to just share a bit about, um, what 21 Futures is and where we're going with it. Obviously, we have our 2 wonderful books, our anthologies that we've published, but 21 Futures has grown to be a much bigger ecosystem and idea than just putting out books about, you know, uh, Bitcoin or freedom-based fiction. That's how it started. Um, now we're moving more into Nostr. If you don't know what Nostr is, I recommend that you check it out. It's a protocol, not a platform, but many of the clients that operate on the protocol, um, are like social media. You can publish notes, articles, videos, lots of different things. And it's great for being censorship resistant, being— claiming real ownership of what you publish because it's based on cryptography. And it's a cool space where you can also zap each other sats and add real value or share real value for the content that you consume. And to me as a publisher and an editor and a fiction writer, it's super interesting because I really hope that fiction goes this way, that we can either gate content, you know, pay $1 to read this story or to access it, or just operate on a tipping system. We are publishing 21 Future Stories from the anthologies on Nostr, and if you are on the platform, we can split the revenue that we receive from Zaps. That means if somebody likes a story and tips it $1 through Bitcoin Lightning, then you might get some of that. And I think it's just a really interesting way to, to run fiction and see where it goes. So follow us on Nosta or check out Nosta. Audiobooks are coming. The first book should be ready at the end of the month, I'm told. That'll be available on Amazon, and we'll be looking to do Financial Fallout as well, so people will be able to listen as well as read. 21 Futures, as well as being a website and a blog, is now paying authors. We want to be a paying market, and it's not easy to pay for short stories. If you were to look on Duotrope or Submissions Grinder or Submittable, you'll see there aren't that many, you know, magazines paying professional rates because it's hard to to make money and maintain a big audience, but we do want to pay authors a token amount for publishing with us. So that's really cool that we can pay $10 for a story, and please submit to us if you would like to publish more on our blog. Always looking for new stories. And we're now an imprint of ConsenSys Network as well, so if you have longer stories We're going to be looking to publish a couple of books this year. I don't think we can say too much about them, can we, Niko, or can we?

I think, yeah, you can say which books those are.

Well, I guess only one of those books is confirmed, which is a republication of Paul Rosenberg's book A Lodging of Wavering Men, which really fits in with our ethos. If you haven't read it, wait and buy it from us because it's an amazing book, and it'll be a great, um, reissue, um, with some cool new stuff in it. So, uh, yeah, we'll be publishing books, uh, sort of our own titles, and also helping authors to publish. So if you're looking to self-publish a fiction book and you want it you want help with that in terms of typesetting, covers, editing work, marketing, and more, get in touch because that is both my wheelhouse and Consensus Network's wheelhouse. That's how we help authors, but the stories must be on topic. We don't want to just publish anything, and we care about our freedom mission. So if it's not based on freedom, we don't care. If it is, send it to us. Okay, I'm rushing through this. We're going to launch some merch. Don't know when that's going to be, but I hope it's going to be this year, and it will be cool. Uh, sponsorship— that's one of the ways that we're looking to fund 21 Futures, so more about that later in the year. Um, of course, we need a bit of an audience first, so let's keep growing it. Um, and more stuff. So just to say, 21 Futures is growing. Um, we are looking to publish more and for it to become a real sort of community space. Thanks so much to everyone who's taken part, either publishing um, you know, sending the group to others or just being part of the chat. It's really brilliant to chat with everyone in the Telegram group and yeah, just hear more about what projects they're up to. All right, just checking in with the chat. Uh, yes, let's just put this on. Wait for the definitive edition of Lodging of Wayfaring Men. I rather rushed that when I said it's A Lodging of Wayfaring Men by Paul Rosenberg. Great chapter art, very nice. All right, well, this is our big news really, and the final thing before we get on to prizes and talking to authors. Uh, we will be going to Bitcoin— I say we, that's the royal we, me. I will be going to Warsaw at the end of May to pitch 21 Futures film project at Bitcoin Film Fest. I want to get more people on board with the mission of 21 Futures, and I think one of the ways we can do that is to make films. Now, films are not easy to make. Obviously, they need to be funded and well made, but we have a core team that I'm part of, and Niko and Sotiljanet as well. And the film which we're going to Pitch is Nico's story from our first book, The Node-Roid Saga. Nico wasn't the one who chose that, I did, because it's a story that I found really arresting and I think it resonates with Bitcoiners and with people who are just curious about Bitcoin. It's a really cool cyborg A story and a whole universe set in a realistic but fascinating future. So that's the story that we would like to get made into an animated short. That's our goal for funding, and we'll be launching a Geyser campaign that everybody can be a part of. Whether you contribute 1 sat or a million, it doesn't matter. You'll be able to be part of it and help get this film made, which will be awesome. And I am Really looking forward to going to Warsaw. Niko, how do you feel about your story becoming a film?

I feel excellent, Phil. This is something that came about quite early, I think, in the 21 Future saga, the idea of turning some of the stories, or maybe all of them, into movies. And we've been talking about it for quite a while, and I'm super psyched that it's actually happening now. So I'm really honored that you chose my story. I think it's a good story, even if I say so myself. There's a lot to explore, and I think it's something that has a chance to speak to a wider audience as well as the Bitcoin audience. So it's not just a film or a story made for Bitcoiners.

Yeah, I just want to give a little bit of background on, you know, I'm no expert in film funding or even pitching. I'm learning this as I go, but just to give a bit of background, we've been talking about it with various production companies and Bitcoin Film Fest before, but of course the question always comes up is, well, who's paying for this, right? It's never easy to get a film funded and somebody has to stump up the cash to get this thing made. The reason we've chosen one short is it can act as a proof of work, as a As a proof of concept, if you want, and then we can look into getting more shorts made. So the goal is that more of our stories in the anthologies, not just the ones that we cherry-pick, but lots of stories in the anthologies can end up becoming a series one day. Maybe it even may appear on a streaming website or something. The idea is to seed this film so that when it does come out, it will be free and it will go around the interwebs and millions of people will watch it, become fascinated by the universe. That's the idea. So I hope that, you know, who knows, 12 months, a couple of years down the line, we will be talking about making more of these into short films. I can't wait to see where it goes.

Yeah, I think the big idea with 21 Futures is how to popularize these ideas because because no one reads non-fiction. Like, regular people don't read books about Austrian economics or how Linux operating system works. It's quite dry and boring. So if we really want to reach and warn, first and foremost, people, regular people who are, most of them, consuming some kind of popular culture, usually in video form and usually in short films, So this seems to be the correct medium to do just that. So to get these ideas without necessarily so much— it's not about Bitcoin evangelism or, you know, presenting this ultimate solution to something, but rather deliver a message of warning in a palatable way that is easy to digest for just anyone, just anyone who is interested in stories. So it's the whole kind of a pivot we are doing at ConsenSys as well to try to serve the wider audience, to try to make the message heard. Because the message is good. We know the message. We know what's going on. But that's not good enough if what is left in the world that we are envisioning, unfortunately, in, for example, this book, Financial Fallout. If that's what we're headed for, then it's a little bit of a consolation to have a fat stack of sats for yourself. If the world has gone to shit. So I think this is a priority, and this, this is how we so-called sell the idea of— because like, it's difficult to convince somebody that you need something when they don't understand that they have a problem they need fixing. So we need to present the problem that they need to fix, and then Bitcoin is the logical solution to that.

Definitely. Uh, shout out to the video by Joe Bryan, What's the Problem, that proves that that is a key message in telling people, hey, you know, all of your problems really come down to broken money. And stories are just the way to make people care. Great. Uh, all right, let's carry on.

What is the Problem is a great, great example of that kind of a video, but it also suffers to some extent from the documentary factor because documentaries are also something that the majority don't consume. They want something with action, drama, romance, those kinds of things. These are what regular people care about. Yeah. So if we can plant the seeds in those kind of interesting stories, then I think we're cooking.

This is going to be really the crux of my pitch at Bitcoin Film Fest, is, you know, trying not to poo-poo everyone else's documentaries, saying, hey guys, you know, we don't need another documentary on what is Bitcoin or why is Bitcoin necessary. Like, people, you know, I don't know, maybe we do, uh, but we certainly need more stories. Uh, hi, Will has made it. Great. Uh, Kevin, I can see there Yeah, I can see all the authors in the green room. Let's crack on and do some prize giving. I'm just going to double check before I announce the winner that I haven't been corrected. I haven't. All right. Well, this affiliate prize, I announced it a month ago and said, hey, you know, whoever is able to share their code and get people to buy the book through the, um, through our bitcoinbook.shop, through our website, um, the most copies is going to get awarded 21k sats from me. And it may be a surprise that, uh, this is not even going to a human. Is going to a real Bitcoin dog, Will, who has just arrived. Congratulations for winning the sats, and thank you so much for your support. Will is an absolute legend of this community who will stop at nothing to sell his own stories and the stories of others. I can see him there driving the car. Don't Don't crash now that you've won the lottery. Will even, uh, stumped up 20,000 sats to promote the, uh, the book, giving it away on Stacker News. So I mean, he's done a lot of great work. And yeah, thanks so much for continuing your work, and, um, we can't wait to publish more from you. He's pulling over. Great, we'll speak to you in a minute, Will. Uh, if you haven't signed up as an affiliate, I know it sounds boring and like a lot of work. It's not. It takes 30 seconds to sign up, share your code, and you earn 10% of the price of books. If you know people who like Bitcoin and freedom books, direct them to Consensus Network. They may buy Christmas presents for friends— fiction, non-fiction books, all the typical Bitcoin books and ones in lots of different languages as well. It's very easy to earn like $5, $10 if people are just buying some books. So share your code and sign up there if you haven't done already. All right, that's enough waffle from me. It's question time. What we're going to do is bring everyone on. I hope— in fact, I'm going to bring you on like one by one as we ask you questions because otherwise there might be too much lag on the recording. Niko, do you have a question for an author? This is how we're going to do it, just asking one question to one person and then you're going to answer and then ask a question to someone else. I hope everyone can see who is in the green room. We've got Graham, Luciano, me, Niko, Will, Kevin. Hi. I think that's everyone, and of course other people watching.

I can start. I have a question for Will.

Go for it. What's your question?

Is Will online? Will, you there?

He's here. I'll bring him on. Uh, just ask a question, I'll bring him on.

All right. Yeah, because Will, your, your story was, I would say, maybe the most unique in the latest anthology. So I just want to know how or why did you come up with this topic? The title is From Self-Immolation to Self-Custody.

Thanks, Niko. Hey, I'll take it. Most unique. I'll take those accolades. Hopefully that's a good thing. But yeah, I mean, ultimately the Inspiration from my story, So Sad, is actually based on a true story. So it was the case that in Lebanon, there was a guy who was a vendor, a street vendor, and he was trying to withdraw his own money from the bank in 2022. And it was the case that when he went to withdraw, They didn't, they didn't actually like process his withdrawal, which is what happens in my short story. And he did, he did go back and he did threaten to set himself on fire. And he did, he did get the money out. And but of course, like in the real world, the consequences follow you. And he was on the— he was either— I think he did actually get arrested. And the police then were talking to his spouse, you know, to his wife, to try to get the money back, actually. Like, again, his own money, but to have done this, they were like trying to get it back from her, and she was pleading her case. And it's actually the situation— and I'm smiling because I'm excited— it's actually a very tragic story, of course. But the thing that was so sad is he had copycats as well of Like I think three or four other people all did the same thing too because they found this was the only method to withdraw their money from the their fiat from the bank in Lebanon. But in other people's case, I think some of them really did set themselves on fire and ended up dying like as a protest. So that was the inspiration for the stories. You know, we always have these dystopic dystopia dystopian stories we hear in the real world, but this came and went in the bottom of the bear market, and I I couldn't believe it was just. Uh, like came and then forgotten. I mean, tragedy happens always, but I felt like that was a fitting story for Financial Fallout.

That is about as dark as it gets, and, uh, unfortunate to hear that it was a true story.

Yeah, of course I adapted, uh, you know, more, more dramatic for the sake of 21 Futures. And, uh, maybe 21 Futures could have more inspiration than the real world because then in my story the character does get introduced to a magic internet money at the end. So,

right.

We've just had this comment here to jump in. Uh, Aki, hi there, thanks for joining. Says, can you read a little bit of 21 Futures, for example? You can read plenty of things from 21 Futures. Just go to our website, 21futures.com. On there you'll find lots of the stories which are featured in the books and some other original stories too. Um, so just check out the website and you'll be able to read to your heart's content.

And Aki, I have to say, a fantastic short story was just published to 21futures.com. Actually, my first short story in the first volume of 21 Futures: Tales from the Timechain, Who Let the Bitcoin Dogs Out? And I've got Philip trapped on livestream again.

He never, he never stops selling.

Yeah, I never stopped selling.

The greatest, uh, 21 Futures salesman that ever lived. Just before you try and make me sing on livestream, Will, uh, it's time for you to answer— to ask a question to one of our other authors. We've got waiting in the wings, uh, Luciano, a double 21 Futures contributor. Graham Shimmin, wonderful Graham, the winner of our competition and the first prize, Kevin Morley, uh, and I think that's it. So those are your options. Let's bring someone else on then. What's— do you have a question for them?

Uh, my, uh, question of course is, um, just to say, um, uh, the— it's, it's tough, it's tough for me, but I mean, the, the grand prize winning story. I'm forgetting the— I'm thinking of, you know, Proxy Nos right now, but that wasn't the name of the first prize one. What was the first prize? Temit Proxy Nos was the second prize, right? So

yeah, Graham's story is called Infinite Debt. That was the first prize.

Yeah, so my question for him, author of the Infinite Debt story, is When, when you're, when you're writing your short story, are you ultimately like thinking out the plot for an amazing novel and then given a whole novel, like, what would be the scene to best capture for a short story? Or, you know, or do you start it like planning for it to be a short story, you know, before you start writing?

I think with that one it's quite interesting because I did talk to Philip about this briefly, that that short story is really the first and the last chapters of a novel just kind of squashed down into 3,000 words because that was the limit. Yeah, it could definitely be expanded. You could sort of imagine this— it's basically the setup and the denouement of a story and missing out the sort of central section of it, effectively. Yeah. So I wasn't thinking of it being a novel, but it could easily be a novel. I was thinking of the world more than anything, and because it was a competition, I was thinking of the criteria for the competition.

So that's kind of your process was for a 3,000-word short story, let me think of a premise for a novel, what would be the beginning, and then what would the ending be, and then just focus on that, like smash it together.

Yeah, and just I remember also because it did say that it wanted emotional stories that I tried to up the emotion in

it. All right, yeah, um, always the emotion. And my other, you know, very important question for Grim is, uh, do you want to hear Philip sing?

Always. Always.

Okay, okay, oh, he's ready, he's ready. Uh, I'm trying to— okay, I think it just goes like this, Philip. Uh, who let the Bitcoin dogs out?

Graham, it's time.

Am I supposed to do this? I thought Philip was supposed to.

No, please, please don't humor Will. Will, it's time for you to focus your eyes on your journey. Get back to driving wherever you're going in California. Thanks very much for your question. Uh, we'll see you maybe at the end for another chat. Uh, Graham, what's your question? Um, do you have a question? Who's it to?

Um, I would— I just—

Just in, in the wings, we've got, um, you can ask it to anybody and, um, okay, bring everyone on. Uh, we've got Kevin Morley waiting in the wings, author of Crushing. We've got Luciano, author of Digital Gold, in the first anthology. Slipping my mind what his, uh, what the second one was called.

I mean, I'd be interested in knowing what, um, of the authors, what do they really think is going to happen? Because obviously we, as, as authors, we wrote stories that were, you know, set in the future and, um, after a financial crash. And, um, which one did which of them— say you've read the stories— which of them is the most likely, or what's the most likely thing to happen over the next 10 years, say?

Great question. Uh, who— welcome to Kevin, uh, and to Luciano. Thanks so much for joining. Um, you're looking very comfy there, Luciano. I like it. Who wants to answer Graham's question? What's the most likely situation or, or story happening out of all of them that were included in the book.

Do people agree that there will be a financial dystopia in the relatively near future?

Yeah, I think probably.

I totally agree.

As drastic as in the stories or less drastic than that?

I mean, Elon Musk always says he thinks The funniest outcome is the most likely outcome. So probably the slugs then, the slugs giving slugs weapons to fight each other. That'll be the outcome.

I'm gutted Thomas isn't here to talk about slugs. I don't know what he's— he's probably focusing on some other cephalopods right now. Who knows? But what do we think? Any other stories that are likely to to come off? Or Kevin, I think your, your story was a pretty close, um, near future, right? That isn't that far removed from the tariff, uh, stuff that's happening at the moment. And, uh,

well, that's, that's correct.

It crashes.

I, uh, you can hear me, right? Yep. All right. I, uh, I focused on the, the kernel the idea came from the last financial crisis we had, which really kind of rolled out across the world in different ways, in different countries, for different people, under a bunch of different circumstances. So to answer Graham's earlier question, I don't think it's going to look the same anywhere. It's going to be different hits across different economies, and it'll affect people in very different ways. But I use the story of Crete, which kind of used a, uh, a buy-in method. Where they just kind of go in and they skim accounts and take all the cash they need to cover the balance sheet. Um, which, I mean, you can see what's happening in America right now with, uh, with what Elon's doing and cutting spending with Doge has raised a general outrage in people and firebombing businesses and stuff. You can imagine if every single American has money taken out of their accounts that it would be problematic. Um, and that's kind of where I go with the story. I knew how I wanted to start it, I knew how I wanted to end it, but all the stuff in between really kind of took a lot of study and review. And, and I've done that before in writing fiction, but this was just— this was different because I haven't done it in finance.

I think that's where writing a story about intergalactic slugs is a bit easier because you're not going to get pulled up on accuracy. You know, a lot of, a lot of research goes into realistic fiction, doesn't it?

Well, I noticed that picture of you and Larry Lepard, and I actually mentioned Larry in my book, so— or in my stories. He was the person I was referring to.

Yeah, he is a lovely gentleman, Larry Lepard. He never takes that windbreaker off, if anyone's wondering. I was with him all weekend for that conference and it never came off. Yeah, he's got a really great view on all of this stuff. And he also brought the book with him on the plane. He was like, I'm going to read it on the plane back. So I hope he has.

Yeah, I would say some things are already happening. So proxy Temit Nos, using your identity to pay for things at the grocery store, something scanning your palm. I think Amazon grocery stores just already trying to do that. I know China already, that dystopian world. Um, I'll be curious if we ever get a Dystopian Futures author actually from mainland China. Um, that would, that would really be a unique perspective. Um, but, uh, the other thing, I think the, the most boring future is gonna be the most likely one, Grim, that, um, the government, probably the EU first, they're gonna just offer people to make a new EU bank account, like an ECB, uh, European Central Bank account directly with the European Central Bank, not just, um, like Revolut or something. And they're going to offer €1,000 worth of CBDC to get you started. Like, sign up, you get a free €1,000 CBDC. And people are just gonna say, oh, I love that. It did, you know, €1,000 free digital euros in my free bank account. And they definitely won't question where the funds are coming from. They've

just— they've been printed from, from nothing.

Yeah, exactly. So it's, it's not gonna be like some coercion from the government. Like, people are gonna willingly, voluntarily sign up for this, you know, at the appeal of free digital euro. That's, that's my guess. You know, the, the future is, uh, boring when we hit that dystopia, but we know the real ramifications of Of course.

Interesting. I'd agree that that Temet Nosce one, yeah, the sort of facial recognition. I mean, it's already really, you know, I pay— I haven't paid for anything with actual cash for a long time. It's just always like with my phone and that's using facial recognition. It's not far from that to just facial recognition altogether being following you around.

Yeah, and when I do cash, it's usually because it's a small business saying they'll charge an extra 3% if you pay with a credit card.

So

like that, it's more a financial incentive for me to use cash than the privacy incentive. But yeah, it just all depends. People will sacrifice their privacy for the sake of a financial advantage, is my guess, on how we—

Or just for convenience, really.

Yeah.

Sure.

Well, the people are like water. They want to find the path of least resistance. And if you're a Bitcoiner, you, you're like a salmon. You're swimming upstream. So

we love a bit of resistance. Luciano, what do you think? What's, um, what's your take on a likely financial future? Yours was another quite realistic near-future story.

Well, we Latin Americans say that the dystopian sceneries are not our future but our past, because we have lived so many sceneries that made— that looks like a dystopia for American, European, developing people from developing countries. But now But here in Latin America, there are past— we've had confiscation, we've had blocking, blocked check accounts. And so I think the most close, the closest scenario from a dystopia for us Brazilians At least, it's a CBDC. CBDC, it's the most dangerous dystopian scenery right now, especially for us in Brazil. Now we already have instant payment system that calls Pix, P-I-X, and I was terrified because our government has launched this, the Pix, in 2020, November 2020, and only 5 months later, almost 80% of Brazilian people has already adopted Pix, which is controlled by the government. So I think, and Pix, the government itself tells us that Pix is inspired by Bitcoin. They create Pix to try to stop Bitcoin and crypto advancement, which is very popular in Brazil. Here in Brazil, we have more Bitcoin investors Bitcoin holders than investors in stock exchange. So the government created the PIX to just to try to block Bitcoin's advancement. And unfortunately, I have to say that they succeeded on this because the adoption of PIX was Terrifyingly speedy, terrifyingly quickly. Now almost almost ninety percent of Brazilian population has adopted the Pix, and now the government here has own CBDC, its own CBDC, which is called Drex D R E X, and. It's one of the most advanced projects, CBDC projects in the world. The government is expecting to start the trial phase this year, this year 2025, or next year. So I think that a CBDC scenario, central bank, is the most scenery and the most and the closest to us, unfortunately, because we Brazilians are very easy to adopt technology. We like technology. That's one of the reasons, that's one of the reasons that Bitcoin is much widespread adopted here. We have the most, the biggest Bitcoin community in the world, which is located in the south of Brazil. A city called Holante, which has more of 2,000 shopping places that accept Bitcoin. But for the negative side, fast to adopt technologies that can be used to control us, especially government technologies like PIX and the upcoming DREX. So unfortunately, my biggest fear here in Brazil is the widespread of an upcoming, uh, CBDC adoption.

Yeah, thanks for that. I think, um, I kind of agree with, um, Kevin. I think you have to— if you need— if anyone needs to rush off, uh, feel free to do so, and thanks for joining. I just want to say I agree with What Kevin said, people want to take the path of least resistance. But we also have like all these lessons from the past, social media and, you know, getting hooked on that and giving our data away for free, which we shouldn't be, which, you know, now we know how valuable it is. You know, hopefully more stories, more fiction about the dangers of, you know, total government control of money can help people become a bit aware of it.

Niko? Yeah, about learning the lessons of history, I'm not so bullish. I live on the island of Madeira, and when I moved here almost 4 years ago, I was doing some research on Portugal in particular, and I found out that the most devastating earthquake in Europe happened here in the 1700s, killed a lot of people in Lisbon. And when I looked into it, because I got morbidly curious on what happened, what happened is that, you know, people were heavily religious at that time. And they were praying in the churches to be saved from the earthquake and the tsunami. And the churches collapsed on the people and killed even more. And in the aftermath, in the fallout, who did the people blame? Was it God? Was it the government? No, it was the people who weren't in the churches praying. So it was the fault of the people who weren't praying enough that this calamity happened. So this is history. This is what has happened and continues to happen, except now we have state religion. We don't— we, of course, we have Christianity and we have other religions as well, but I think the majority religion is state religion. And you do not question the high priests of the state, the politicians and policymakers. You trust them. You trust them with your life. And if you question them, that is to question your very own being because you have surrendered yourself to the state. So, so much for learning about history. So what else is there? Like, how do we break through that? That's, I guess, my question to everybody.

I think, I think, Niko, definitely, uh, education. Because, uh, like you're talking about, uh, if, uh, if, if the government gets all the people to adopt CBDCs like they're imminently about to in Brazil with the DREX. So there you go, Grim, you know, we're talking about a dystopic future and Luciano's right, like, no, that's the Latin past, that's already happened. Brasilians giving everyone an app to use, and again we're smiling. It's not happy news, but but it's it's all it's already happened there. And yeah, it could turn to where they're blaming the Bitcoiners that aren't using Pix, or they're you know they're blaming the people of Holante or whatever that city was called where they're all trading with Bitcoin instead of it. So but Yeah, I guess like you, like you say, Niko, all the time, it's, it's human action ultimately. You know, we can spread the Bitcoin, or we can spread the education, we can sell the books, but, um, getting people to actually participate, be part of live streams like this, actually, uh, write in the chat, you know, Aki writing in the chat, like, oh, you know, actually real people getting involved, that doesn't sound easy, but I think that's what we'll need.

One thing, um, I'm very happy about with the 21 Futures project and community— we've got nearly 200 people that have been watching us throughout the show, thanks so much for sticking with us, and you're going to get a chance to win some prizes in just a second— um, is that people do participate from all around the world. And I think in Western Europe and the States and Canada, we're very guilty of like thinking, oh, are things aren't that bad, you know, and, oh well, you know, I've got my stocks and savings and house. And it's really not true for most people around the world. And we have published, you know, stories from, I think even in the first book it was something like 11 different nationalities, and even more in total added in the second book. So yeah, it's really great to have opinions from people in the Global South, developing countries, whatever you want to call it, as well as English-speaking countries. So thanks for taking part, everyone. Just before we get too depressed— and this is supposed to be a party, guys, it's supposed to be like a launch party— and start talking about—

Sorry, Phil.

The statist religions.

I got into a rant mode for a while. I'll shut up now.

This is my gentle moderation, right? We're going back to having a quiz. I'm just going to turn my camera off there. We want to share the screen again. So I'm going to take you off screen, guys. Thanks so much for joining and stick around for the quiz. Everyone is welcome to enter. You can type it into the chat. And thanks, Graham, for coming. Who else I'm going to take? I'm going to take everyone off the screen. Why not? Luciano, see you later. Thanks very much for coming. Nico, I'll take you off the screen as well. Um, yeah, we're just going to do this quiz and then say goodbye, so stick around for the chance to win. All right, let's see what you can win and what the questions are. Now, the rules I should say before I show you the first question: the first person to type the correct answer into the chat of whatever platform you're watching this on. It should appear where I can see it in my chat. So first person to hit the correct answer will win the prize. The first question is this. These are questions which you should know, or you, you should know if you've got Plenty of 21 Futures knowledge. How many stories are there in both anthologies in total? Now there's a bit of a clue in the name. It might not be exactly what you think, so type your answers into the chat. I hope I'll receive them. We've got one answer in from Graham. Unfortunately, that's not correct. It's not 42. That's not the correct answer. Uh, oh great, we've— I'm just gonna share. Someone's joining us from Sweden. Great, thanks for joining us, Dick. I see another answer in my chat, 44. It's also not 44. That's closer, but it's not correct. Uh, there's more than 21 stories in each of the anthologies. always put at least 21 in. And remember, this question is about 2 anthologies. The correct answer— it's just come in from Will, and I didn't say that you can't answer twice— so the correct answer is 45. Uh, Will, I don't think we've done an interview with you on the blog, have we? So that could be the perfect chance for you to— or Alex, you're a bit slow there, but it's 45 is the answer, not All right, great. So that's your prize. I'll get in touch with you and we can just feature what you're doing, more about your work and your other books and your other writing, and ask you some questions. So we'll be featuring you on the blog soon. Well done. Don't forget and just badge me if I don't get in touch. Question 2. This is a chance to win some editing feedback from me. If you have a story, if you're a writer, You know, within reason, I can't look at a whole book for you, but if it's a short story and you want my opinion on some fiction and some editing feedback, then I will give it to you. So you'll be able to send me that story. Now, how many authors have been featured in both books? So this means authors which had a story in Book 1 and Book 2, not the total number of authors, but the authors which are in Book 1 and Book 2. How many? All right, get your answers in. I'm going to give you a clue: it's a lower answer than the first one. In fact, it's lower than 21. All right, we've got the guesses, they're coming in. 5, that's not correct, it's not 5 authors. Someone else, let's go. Just type a number into the chat, guys. Let's see what, what comes up. Maybe it's a bit slow coming in, some of these answers. I think the chat may be a little delayed. Can I give you a clue? 21. It's not 21. It's less than 21. Graham. Graham, you were correct. Good guess with your first guess. Surprisingly, I counted these up and I was surprised it's 9. All of these people have had 2 stories, or 1 story in each of the anthologies. Hope I spelled everyone's names right. And shout out to everyone on the list and everyone who's contributed to 21 Futures. So Graham, thanks very much. If you want to send me a story, you want some feedback, I'll be happy to give it to you. So just email it to write@21futures.com and I'll get back to you when I can. All right, final question. This is a harder one and it is a cool prize. You're going to win some merch. It's not going to be yet because it'll be out later this year, but the first merch that we get— hat, t-shirt, and more or we will send some to you. You want to be rocking that 21 Futures gear. Now, who created the title of our first anthology? I'm going to give you a bit more information. I came up with the title 21 Futures, but that's sort of the brand. So the title of the first book, Tales from the Time Chain, I wonder if anyone knows. This will take a 21 Futures superfan. I don't know. Or insider to know. Graham says he's happy to donate his prize to someone from the writing group. Great. Well, I'll let people know in in our Telegram group. Thanks very much for that, Graham. Very gracious. Will says Tales from the Time Chain was Nico. Incorrect. Any other guesses? I'm going to give everyone some options. Was it? It's not Nikosan either. Okay, three options. Was it A. Knut Svanholm, B. Lind Alden, or C. Toma Strolight? Knut Svanholm, Lyn Alden, or Toma Strolight? 3 fiction-loving Bitcoin fans or famous people. Uh, what do we think? A, B, or C? Uh, Alex says 3. I'm not sure what that answers to. I think that might be slow coming in for the last one. Uh, Will says Toma for sure. That's incorrect. It wasn't. Was it? Who's gonna win this match? Let the audience have a go. Yeah, it's slow coming in, guys. You've got two options. Let's hope that somebody's typing something in and it's just taking an age to make its way through the digital airwaves to me. Dick Larson. You've got it. I wouldn't say it won because I did give the options. It was Knut Svanholm. Yeah, uh, contributor to the first anthology. You can read his story on our website as well. It was— I forgot that until I was writing this quiz. Um, but yes, it was Knut Svanholm. Uh, a fellow Swede. Dick, I don't know if you're Swedish. Got a Swedish surname. Congratulations. Just how is best to do this? Perhaps either email write at 21futures.com or connect with us on X or Nosta, the 21 Futures account. And when we have merch, I promise it will be this year, but. Can't say when, and it will be cool. We will get it to you. So congrats. Thanks for winning that. Thanks for answering. Brilliant. All right. I think, guys, that's it. Knutsvall. Correct answer. All right. Thanks so much for coming, everybody. If you have any more questions or ideas or just comments, just drop them in any of the channels that you watched this on. It's been really fun hanging out with the other— with the authors and getting all miserable about our financial dystopia future. And thanks so much everyone for watching. We've had a really great audience, and keep watching 21 Futures and we'll keep you up to date with all of our latest releases and A final shout to head over to Twitter or X, whatever you want to call it. Check out our pinned post. You can win tickets to Bitcoin Film Fest and come meet me in Poland. I'll give you some books as well. Great. So thanks for coming, everybody. I'll just stop sharing the screen so you can see me wave off properly. Thanks for coming. See you next time. All right. Bye, everyone.