When I first encountered Jeff Booth’s perspective on Bitcoin, I was struck by the clarity of his conviction: “if Bitcoin doesn’t become a widely used medium of exchange, it will fail.” That statement sets the tone for a deeper discussion about the nature of money, decentralization, and the responsibilities we each hold as participants in this ecosystem.
Jeff’s statement isn’t meant to provoke panic—it’s meant to inspire action. As he explained in our conversation, Bitcoin’s journey mirrors the progression of individual understanding. People first struggle to see it as a store of value. Then, over time, they come to embrace it as such. But even many of those who now “hodl” have trouble imagining Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. Jeff believes this will change as understanding deepens—but only if people use it.
The core issue is this: we’ve never truly lived in a free market. Our monetary systems—gold included—have always been subject to centralization and manipulation. Gold’s failure to become a true medium of exchange made it vulnerable. It was either suppressed through derivative instruments or physically confiscated. Bitcoin, if only stored and never used, faces similar risks. “If you’re just storing Bitcoin, you’re building fragility into the system,” Jeff warned.
That fragility shows up in the reliance on instruments like ETFs or stablecoins. As Jeff put it, “A stablecoin is a guaranteed loss coin against Bitcoin.” These instruments may offer short-term convenience, but they introduce counterparty risk and incentivize centralization—exactly what Bitcoin is designed to resist.
Jeff’s framework for investing through Ego Death Capital builds on these ideas. He and his partners look for founders who are not just chasing profit, but building on Bitcoin’s open, decentralized protocol to create real value. In Jeff’s words, “It’s the first non-zero-sum game the world has ever seen.” In this world, you gain Bitcoin by offering value to others on their terms. That’s the type of system that rewards innovation, not extraction.
Our conversation also dove into what it means to build in a deflationary world. The traditional mindset focuses on fractionalizing assets—slicing everything up to squeeze out more return. But in a Bitcoin-denominated world, prices fall and value creation matters more than financial engineering. Jeff contrasted most of the crypto space with what Bitcoin is really about: building a parallel system that offers freedom, transparency, and abundance.
One of the most compelling parts of our talk was when we touched on cultural contributions to Bitcoin—projects that aren’t necessarily profit-driven, like filmmaking, education, or community-building. Jeff believes a wave of support for cultural initiatives is coming. As wealth accrues in the Bitcoin economy, it will eventually find its way into the arts, into storytelling, into education.
We also talked about Bulgaria, where Jeff had spent time meeting local Bitcoiners. I’ve been lucky to work with some of those same people, including my friend and collaborator Ivan Makedonski. Jeff met Ivan at a Bitcoin event, and what followed was a classic example of permissionless contribution. Ivan just started doing the work—no job offer, no permission. He showed up, stayed in touch, and eventually landed a role at Breeze. His story, rooted in personal tragedy, became a mission to ensure no one else has to suffer from the failures of fiat systems.
Bitcoin is laying the foundation for the world’s first global free market, where the value flows to everyone in the system, not just the top of the hierarchy. As Jeff said, “You win by helping others.” That mindset shift—from scarcity to abundance, from extraction to contribution—is what pulled me back into creativity. Bitcoin gave me permission to pursue storytelling with meaning again.
In the end, our conversation reminded me that we’re not just trying to build new tools. We’re building new norms, new incentives, and new cultures. The question I left with was simple but profound: what can I do today to make this network stronger?
Full episode on YouTube here:
Watch/listen on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/12q7toPhMFgZRmcpA3z7zq
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Kyle Huber 