Update! Ok, I saw him again yesterday at the coffee shop and had a good convo. He was very intrigued by things I said the day before and had more thoughts on it and questions for me. He was open-minded but also annoyingly condescending in his tone in a like "it’s so cute how passionate you are about Bitcoin" kind of way.
He mentioned how fascinating it is that Bitcoin has this almost cult-like quality. He pointed out how people who are into Bitcoin are really into it. I agreed but reframed it as a sign of how much it resonates with people seeking alternatives to a flawed system, and how it’s about passion for freedom and self-sovereignty, not blind faith.
We ended up going back-and-forth again. I brought up some points I gathered after the first conversation and wanted to be more prepared like breaking down the whale argument by referencing Glassnode's charts on BTC supply distribution and how Bitcoin ownership has shifted from whales to a more distributed model. I came back to how the Canadian dollar’s "strength" isn’t as rosy as it seems. He kept coming back to the idea that we’re lucky to live in Canada, which I agreed with in some respects, but I also pointed out that while we can appreciate what’s good here, we have to acknowledge the detriment of the endless money printing machine.
I explained how not being able to choose where our money goes, like funding initiatives we don't want to support - is wearing people down, even if they don’t realize it. I talked about how the "work hard and get ahead" story just doesn’t hold anymore as the money increasingly loses value and how Canadians are feeling that malaise, even subconsciously.
When he asked if I thought Canadians are pessimistic, I said it’s less about pessimism and more about a growing awareness that the system is broken. I added that this realization is one of the reasons Bitcoin is pumping—more people are waking up to the flaws in traditional systems and looking for alternatives.
He actually asked me about El Salvador, which was a great opportunity to talk about Bitcoin’s practical applications in helping people escape dangerous situations, or in building financial independence in countries with broken economies. He actually found that more compelling than Bitcoin’s use case for Canadians.
The big thing I’m still not sure how to fully address is the idea that Bitcoin’s use case in a first-world country like Canada isn’t as urgent. I tried to weave in points about the enormous debt Canadians are under and the subtle but real sense of defeat many feel about the system, even if they can’t articulate it. I’ll keep refining that argument for next time because something tells me this isn’t the last time we’ll be talking about Bitcoin at the coffee shop.