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@ crrdlx
2025-05-04 12:01:42OSU commencement speech revisited 1 year later
One year ago, May 5, 2024, the commencement speaker at Ohio State University was Chris Pan. He got booed for mentioning bitcoin. There were some other things involved, but the bitcoin part is what could my ears.
Here's an article about the speech and a video clip with the bitcoin mention. The quote that I feel is especially pertinent is this, '“The mechanics of investing are actually easy, but it comes down to mindset,” Pan said. “The most common barriers are fear, laziness and closed-mindedness.”'
Last year, I wrote this and had it sent as a reminder to myself (I received the reminder yesterday after totally forgetting about this):
Ohio State commencement speaker mentions bitcoin and got booed.
I wondered what would've happened if they'd taken his advice to heart and bought bitcoin that day. Linked article: https://www.businessinsider.com/osu-commencement-speaker-ayahuasca-praises-bitcoin-booed-viral-2024-5
Nat Brunell interviewed him on her Coin Stories podcast shortly after his speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRqKxKqlbcI
BTC on 5/5/2024 day of speech: about $64,047 (chart below)
If any of those now wise old 23 year olds remember the advice they were given, bitcoin is currently at $95,476. If any took Pan's advice, they achieved a 49% gain in one year. Those who did not take Pan's advice, lost about 2.7% of their buying power due to inflation.
For bitcoiners, think about how far we've come. May of 2024 was still the waning days of the "War on Crypto," bitcoin was boiling the oceans, if you held, used, or liked bitcoin you were evil. Those were dark days and days I'm glad are behind us.
Here is the full commencement speech. The bitcoin part is around the 5 or 6 minute mark: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lcH-iL_FdYo