Ep. 209: ‘Is money speech?’ with Robert Breedlove

There is a recurring debate in the free speech community regarding whether money is speech. 

Bitcoin-focused entrepreneur, writer, and philosopher Robert Breedlove joins us today to help resolve the debate. Describing money as “the language of human action,” Robert makes the case that money, like the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is information and should be free from government regulation and manipulation. During this longer-than-usual episode, Robert and Nico discuss everything from Keynesian economics and 3D-printed firearms to the Chinese Communist Party. 

Robert is the host of the popular podcast, “The ‘What is Money?’ Show,” which dives into the nature of money by asking guests one simple question: What is money? In 2020, he co-authored the book, “Thank God for Bitcoin: The Creation, Corruption and Redemption of Money.”

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

3:56 Robert’s background 

19:21 What is Austrian economics? 

24:23 Is money speech? 

44:48 Can money express irrational things? 

51:59 Is access to perfect information always a good thing?

1:05:17 Bitcoin and anonymity

1:18:14 Prediction markets 

1:31:49 Is code speech?

1:39:59 Is economic freedom more fundamental than freedom of speech?

1:49:13 Regulating bitcoin

1:55:16 Bitcoin ETFs

1:57:03 Rapid-fire Bitcoin questions

2:03:15 Does more access to information make the world a better place? 

2:06:53 Outro 

Show Notes 

“The ‘What is Money?’ Show”

“The Creature from Jekyll Island” by G Edward Griffin

“The Bitcoin Standard” by Saifedean Ammous

“The Use of Knowledge in Society” by Friedrich Hayek

“The Logic of Scientific Discovery” by Karl Popper

“Areopagitica” by John Milton

Transcript