In part two of our conversation with Sanjna:

Discover how citizens in Nigeria utilized Bitcoin to preserve their wealth during times of protest.

We touch on the reasons behind the attraction of Western countries for individuals seeking better opportunities and financial prospects. Hear some of the realities of living abroad and the sacrifices involved in pursuit of the "American Dream."

Additionally, we examine the significance of financial literacy in understanding the benefits of Bitcoin in the face of economic challenges.

Sanjna's Info:

Sanjna Mehta

Co-founder, Yzer

yzer.io

@sanjna_connect

Mentioned in this episode:

Free Market Kids Short

Get your HODL UP ("The best bitcoin game ever!") at www.freemarketkids.com.

Hi everybody, welcome to Orange Hatter.

Today is part two of my conversation with Sanjana.

So I think there's a lot more countries in El...

in, uh, Latin America that wanna follow.

It's still very new, of course, to see all the effects, but whatever we've seen

so far has just been completely positive.

And maybe we can't give a hundred percent credit to Bitcoin,

but we can give 80% here.

That's the only big change that's happened, right, in the past four years.

Yeah, so I would say, I would say El Salvador is a great example.

I would say Nigeria is another good example, as well.

There was a time where there were a lot of protests going on, and because

of that, governments decided to freeze all the protestors' bank accounts.

And because of this, citizens started preserving their wealth in Bitcoin,

and they started realizing that, okay, the government's not gonna help us, and

this is just always gonna be a problem.

So there, so that, that's why actually we get a lot of our users from

Nigeria and a large po uh, population of Nigeria has moved to Bitcoin.

And again, positive impacts that you see...

it's all, it is still very new to, you know, come to straight conclusions.

But yeah, China, Nigeria, Philippines, these are, these are

all countries that are facing a lot of restrictions from the government.

So they are gonna, they are gonna protest in ways where Bitcoin is involved.

It's, it's just, It's really an empowerment tool for human rights.

Yeah, I, those are all like really wonderful examples.

If you don't mind, I'm gonna ask you a personal question.

There's always a reason why, why a native would choose to move

to a different country, right?

So, I'm an immigrant.

I'm, I'm in the U.S.

My family story is...

more has to do with World War II, from my dad's side, which is what brought us here.

But for you and your family, what brought you guys out of India to Europe,

and what brought your husband's family out of India to the United States?

So, so my husband is also from India, and his parents

moved to the United States, and then my husband moved to Belgium.

So he's just been moving around a lot.

But yeah, basically to answer your question, it was just

business opportunities.

Like, there was, it wasn't...

I mean, my parents lived in a big city in India, so the situation wasn't

like, okay, we need to, we need to flee from this part of the, the country.

It's just, you know, not safe or there's a lot of issues...

'Cause I know that happens a lot around the world.

It was just about, it was a dream, where you just thought that, okay, the U.S.

and Europe has luxury, it has a lot of opportunities.

You're, you're gonna make money in, in dollars and euros and you can, you know,

send this money back to your family.

So I think at that point, a lot of it was just a dream.

And it's very difficult 'cause I've seen my parents live here and spend the past

30 years here and, okay, yeah, it has a lot of luxury, it's great, but it's...

At the end of it, you realize that you're, the grass is always greener on

the other side, and you're giving up a lot, because the rest of my extended

family all lives in India, right?

So it's still about, I've given up on living with all my siblings and

my parents to move to this country for a better future, for an education

for my children, for, for them to get exposure and, and all of that.

But now when you look at it, India is one of the fastest growing

economies in the world, and people are actually moving back to India.

People are starting businesses there.

So it's definitely the money factor that, that people get attracted to and they're

like, okay, if I feel like I can build a better future there, give my family

more, then that's what I'm going to do.

That, that, that just seems to be a priority for a lot of people.

And I think that's what they thought when they moved 30, 35 years ago.

And, and, and that's the way I think a lot of us are just built.

Like today, we're hustling, we're working.

If we think there's better opportunities in another country, we'll move, you know.

If, if it's if, if it...

of course, if it has to do with not giving up too much on your lifestyle and the

way you've already been brought up...

but I think the first thing you think about is where can I give

my kids the best future as well?

And I'll move there.

I don't know where that is tomorrow, but that, that was the U.S., and

that was Europe 30 years ago.

So, that's what was just going on in their mind, I think.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think that's probably why 90% of the people who immigrate, that's probably why

they immigrate, is because they think that there are better opportunities elsewhere.

So I'm...

I wanna just kind of circle back and talk again about why they would think that

there's better opportunities out there...

you know, to choose to leave their families and friends

and everything that they know.

Like, for my mom leaving her, her understanding of the world

and coming to a foreign place, you know, it's very difficult and

it's not just a language barrier.

You have a lot of cultural differences and it's a huge, huge, huge sacrifice

to move from country to country.

Why do people do that?

For money?

Yes, but why, why wouldn't they think that they have the same

opportunity where they are?

Yeah, that's.

I think that's a really, really good question.

I think that does come down to the fact that India...

okay, India is very different from what it was 30 years ago.

It is still a developing country.

It is one of the fastest growing economies now, but at that

time, there was no exposure...

is is what I feel.

I think I, I...

there's also this weird thing with Indians where they, you know, they

wanna be exposed to the whole world.

They get this very, they get very attracted to, like, the Western lifestyle.

I don't know if this is in, in all Asian countries, but it is a very Indian thing.

And Indians also kind of like being around their community.

So it, like, Belgium, Antwerp, where I live is a very different situation

'cause there's a lot of Indians here.

It's like they kind of all migrated together, and they created this

own, their own community over here.

Which is kind of nice, so I feel like they're, they're, they didn't miss

out on that whole, you know, we, we miss our people aspect or something.

But yeah, I think, I think there was always this attraction that, and even

today, if you speak to a lot of Indians in the smaller cities in India, they're

like, oh, he studies in America.

Or, oh, she's, she has a job in America.

Like, it just, it still sounds so great in your head, you know.

And in, in India, like, if you are a doctor, you're a professional.

It's like the biggest deal.

It's, it's now people are going into different fields and there's so much

creativity there, but like back in the day, it's like, okay, if he went there

and he did his undergrad there, he studied there, he became a doctor there...

it's like it's reputation, and Indians really believe in this stuff as well.

It's like it's a big deal.

It's more about the name, whether you've achieved that or not, but

it's, it's just like there is a sense of community and bragging and where

you're like, okay, like, yeah, they've, they've studied abroad, they've

worked, they've lived abroad, you know.

And now they come, they come back twice a year and, like, they're

sending money to their families.

And yeah, when you're earning in dollars and you're sending back money, you know,

to your families in India, it is a lot more money, but it comes with sacrifice,

and it comes with a lot of negatives I think, that, that people don't see.

But yeah, I, I, I...

I think it's two aspects.

I think it's just the dream of living a Western life and it's, it's that, okay,

there's so many issues in our own country when it comes to corruption and government

and politics, and you just think the U.S.

Or Europe will be so much easier, but that's just not the reality of it, sadly.

Yeah.

Let's talk about that more.

So the grass is greener on the other side, and people outside the Western nations

think that it must be so much easier here.

And yet we literally started this segment talking about why you came into

the Bitcoin space in the first place.

And it was because of the Canadian trucker strike, in the news, right?

So would you like to talk a little bit more about, about expectation

versus reality, especially when it comes to the, the monetary system and

how did it affects society in Europe?

And then also in India?

So I think let's talk about the U.S., just 'cause they're the

most powerful country right now.

And, you know, countries follow what the U.S.

is doing.

Uh, just, like, in terms of policies, the U.S.

Dollar being the reserve currency, all of that, right?

So you go to America, you think that U.S.

Dollar is the strongest currency, and then the more, and then the

deeper you get into the news and the finance of it and all of that, you

realize that it's just printing money.

It's just...

that is such a big issue, right?

Like, it's, you would think that...

why is printing money such a big deal?

Why is it so bad?

And I actually, when, when we went for a conference in San Diego, we were

speaking to a VC investor in, in FinTech.

And we were just trying to talk to her and you know, like have a

casual conversation about Bitcoin.

And she's like, okay, but you know what?

I don't care about Bitcoin.

It makes no difference to my life.

And I'm like, but, do you, do you know, like are you trying to...

we wanna make you understand why it should make a difference to your life, right?

Like, even if you're from the U.S., you're not from a developing country, you

don't realize how many issues the U.S.

itself has.

Like, printing money is such a big issue.

And she's like, but why is it an issue?

It doesn't make a difference to my life.

And I'm like, but yes it does, because the U.S.

dollar has lost 96% of its value since, I think, the past 30 years,

how is that not a big problem?

Right?

And if you don't realize that inflation is such a big problem and interest

rates are going higher and all of that, and you just think that all these

issues are actually just in developing countries where, where citizens are

getting their bank accounts frozen...

no.

That, that's not the issue.

Our economy is, it just feels like it's been in in a

recession for the past 20 years.

It feels like the economy's never recovered.

And, and, and why?

It's because, it's because the money supply is not fixed.

Bitcoin has a fixed money supply, right?

When you don't have a fixed money supply, the government can do whatever they want.

They can keep printing money, and then your money means nothing.

And if you think you have this great job, and you're making like 5 K a month, 10 K

a month, You're putting this into savings.

You are not making anything.

You're not realizing that the value of your money in 10 years time is nothing.

And, and I think people are just so unaware that they

refuse to believe that the U.S.

has a problem or that U.S.

has, or that Europe has a problem...

that we live in these Western countries and continents, and the government's

great, there's no corruption, and they're doing everything good for us.

But, but no, it, it's just...

you just need to educate yourself and try to understand what the

problem is to realize we are in deep ****. Like, this is, this is

not getting better at all, you know?

And, like, people still don't understand why fixed money supply

is better than printing money.

Like, it's just, it, it's just education.

It's just that we were never taught this in school.

We were never taught about financial literacy.

Unless you really choose to pursue economics and learn it in in university,

why would people ever know this?

'Cause the government doesn't want you to know this.

It's not in curriculums in school, right?

Like, governments are, are, are controlling what

you're learning in school.

Why were we never taught how to invest our money, what to do with our savings,

what the problems of the economy are?

We, we're still taught to believe that, again, like, this is something

we teach on our, on our app, where you have Austrian economics and you

have Keynesian economics, right?

So in Keynesian economics we're taught that government control and

government intervention is always needed when, when the government is...

when the economy's doing bad, the government needs to intervene.

But again, no, we don't need the government to intervene.

We can self-correct, and we can come back up.

It's just, it's just a cycle.

It's just a cycle that all economies go through, right?

And when the government's intervening, it's just getting

worse and worse and worse.

Like, I don't truly believe that we've even recovered from the 2008 financial

crisis, and it's been 15 years.

You know?

So, it's, people are just so unaware and so oblivious because

there's no education about it.

That's what I truly believe.

Because I, I was this person before I got into the Bitcoin space.

I was ignorant.

I just chose to believe that we live in a great country.

Like, there's no issues.

Everything's great.

I have a job, you know, whatever I'm making.

I, I invest, it goes into my savings.

But you could do so much better.

And, and you are not growing your money.

And everything sounds like a dream.

It's, it's not...

what, whatever financial plan you have is just a vision.

It's very unlikely that that's actually what's gonna happen.

Thanks for joining us today and learning with us today.

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