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We had the pleasure of sitting with Sir John Hargrave to chat about his latest book, Blockchain for Everyone.

If you grab a copy of this book from Blockchainforeveryone.com, you can get $25 worth of DAI to your wallet. That means you are getting the book for free until DAI reserves last.

Please note that we do not have any referral or sponsor relationship. We just want our audience to take advantage of the offer before the DAI reserves run out.

Sir John Hargrave is a spiritually inclined, passionate blockchain influencer.

Although he bought his first bitcoin at $125, he did not sell it when the market hit its all-time high of $20,000. “I believe that over the long term, this is the most exciting digital asset class. I also picked up some additional altcoins, and part of my book is to teach people on how to think about these as part of investments,” he said.

There is a lot of room to make money in the blockchain and crypto space

We are still in the nascent stages of the blockchain technology. Sir John’s team was reminded of how early we are in the space when they were collaborating with the DAI Group to make the free giveaway possible.

Even with the expertise and knowledge that Sir John possessed, it was not an easy system to set up. And that is one of the problems we have in the space.

However, these problems actually represent a massive potential for people and companies to make money. Everyone who builds solutions to solve these issues will make a fortune.

It is not about throwing money at things and hoping it will stick. There is a method to being invested in this space, “There is also another idea called Steady drip investing. In other words, set aside a small amount each month, the same amount you put into your overall portfolio, like 60% stocks, 35% bonds, and 5% blockchain investments,” he said.

For those who do not want to spend an exorbitant amount of time researching, Sir John’s book, Blockchain for Everyone, offers an easy start, “You are going to learn how to make money with bitcoin and blockchain, in a really entertaining way,” Sir John said in response to our question about ‘describing his book in one sentence.’

Every portfolio must have blockchain-based assets

Sir John shares similar sentiment to that of Yale University professors, Yukun Liu and Aleh Tsyvinski, who said that every portfolio should have 6% cryptocurrencies.

However, Sir John takes this idea of cryptocurrency diversification a step further.

Sir John says, “You can buy bitcoin, you can buy altcoins, and you can also invest in traditional stocks of companies that are investing in the blockchain space, like IBM, Accenture, and Bank of America. Anybody who is applying for patents in the blockchain space.”

One world currency is a true possibility

Sir John says blockchain presents an opportunity for the Nations across the world to come together and build a world currency.

“One world money for one human species of one world, that’s an amazing opportunity of a lifetime,” he said.

Having such a global currency model opens the market for new opportunities and cross border trade. It will also bring about a normalization of living conditions in most underdeveloped countries as they start competing on the global platform.

Sir John shares his enthusiasm about this possibility, “Global currency for the global economy. That is going to open up trade, and it’s going to provide access for the unbanked. It’s going to unlock this new era of prosperity and wealth.”

Facebook is bigger than the governments, and that is scary

Facebook in sheer numbers is bigger than any country size. This means that if Facebook were a nation, it would have been the biggest of all.

Another thing that is going on in favor of Facebook is that people are more tuned into Facebook than they are about the current affairs of their own nation. This means Facebook can sway public sentiment on any topic to its own whim. They even paid a 5 Billion dollar fine, admitting that they did.

Talking about Facebook’s Libra, Sir John thinks that “If anyone can do this, then Facebook can, because they have such an enormous global reach.”

Talking about the power that Facebook wields on public, Sir John commented, “I see things differently from everyone else. Everyone sees Facebook as under the control of the Government, and I see Facebook as above the control of any government. I understand that Facebook is a US Company, and they have to abide by the laws. But the power that Facebook wields, in reality, is much greater than the power of the US government.”

Thinking to invest in Altcoins?

You do not have to buy bitcoin or cryptocurrencies to invest in the blockchain space. As Sir John said – you can start with owning shares of the companies that are investing heavily into this space. That is one way to start early and grow with the space.

Instead of trying to learn all the lessons by yourself, you can learn from the industry experts like Sir John.

Sir John’s team also offers a free scorecard that helps you analyze the altcoin projects on your own.

“We have what is called Blockchain Investor Scorecard, and it’s a free scorecard for reviewing and rating different altcoins with 25 different criteria you can use, and we will walk you through it. Here’s how to look at an altcoin and decide whether it is a good investment or not.”

CryptoTapas wishes Sir John and his team great luck with the book and all the endeavors they have undertaken to propel the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. We need more people like him to bring about the adoption sooner.

CryptoTapas: Congratulations on publishing your book: Blockchain for Everyone. Let’s begin by you telling us a bit about yourself and how you got started in the blockchain space?

Sir John Hargrave:

I bought bitcoin in 2013 when it was $125. It was hard to buy bitcoin back then, as such, I had to make a wire transfer to Belarus, and I did not know where Belarus was. I had to go to my bank and make an international money transfer. The irony was, when I made this transfer to buy bitcoin, it costed me $13 and it was going to take 3 days to make the transfer. To say it was slow and expensive to send money overseas is an understatement. However, the irony was that Bitcoin was going to disrupt that very thing.

That change is slowly coming to pass and remains to be one of the biggest use cases of digital assets.

Fast forward, 4 years later, my bitcoin was worth $20,000 which I bought for $125. That was almost 16000% increase in value.

I had this marketing company called Media Shower and I said, we are going all in on blockchain. We are going to turn into a blockchain marketing company because this technology is the future.

2017 was a mania, everything was making money and then with the 2018 Crypto winter, things slowed down.

The book I wrote, Blockchain for Everyone, is a story of me buying bitcoin and betting my company on blockchain and this crazy rollercoaster ride we had since then and how we have to transform ourselves through that amazing journey.

It is exciting times. We are building a new internet of money. That’s how I define blockchain, the internet of money, one money for one world. Global currency for global economy. That is going to open up trade and it’s going to provide access for the unbanked. it’s going to unlock this new era of prosperity and wealth.

We have to think of ourselves as an American second and humans first.

One world money for one human species of one world, that’s an amazing opportunity of a lifetime.

CryptoTapas: This is a bit of a personal question. Did you sell any of your bitcoins at $20,000?

Sir John Hargrave:

No, I have not sold my bitcoin. I believe in its long term potential. I did give some away. However, I believe over the long term, this is the most exciting digital asset class. I also picked up some additional alt coins. And part of my book is, how to think about these coins as part of investments.

Talking about Blockchain as an investment is an oxymoron. First, you are dealing with Bitcoin that has been associated with the dark web and give Bitcoin some legitimacy; and second, making people think about this as an investment opportunity.

The way I describe it to people is it should be a small part of your overall investment portfolio. If you have a big portfolio, 2.5% or 5% or maybe even 10% of your portfolio can be in bitcoin and some altcoins. If you had put a small portion of your portfolio into bitcoin over the last 4 years, that portion of your portfolio would have increased 4x.

This kind of opportunity is open to all of us now and we have to educate the investors.

CryptoTapas: In your opinion, will we ever see gains similar to or surpassing 2017?

Sir John Hargrave:

I try not to make predictions about the future. I will say that I do believe in the long term value of the blockchain space and there are many ways to get involved.

You can buy bitcoin, you can buy altcoin, and you can also invest in traditional stocks of companies that are investing the blockchain space, like IBM, Accenture, Bank of America and companies that are applying for patents in the blockchain space.

There is also another idea called steady drip investing. In other words, set aside a small amount each month, the same amount you put into your overall portfolio, like 60% stocks, 35% bonds and 5% blockchain investments.

If you do that every month, then you can take your emotions out of the market movements and avoid riding that rollercoaster. You just calmly and patiently keep investing, eventually this will grow, in my view.

CryptoTapas: What are the things that really excite you about the blockchain space?

Sir John Hargrave:

This idea of one world money to me is what is most interesting. Whether it is bitcoin or some other altcoin like Facebook’s Libra, whatever it is, there is going to be global money. All the nations have to work together. They cannot outlaw it. It is like outlawing the internet.

You also don’t want to make it illegal because then that money goes elsewhere. What I think our government must do, all of our governments, is to collaborate, almost like the United Nations, they have to come together so that all of them have a seat at the table and help influence the direction of this global money.

CryptoTapas: Do you think Facebook’s Libra currency will ever get off the ground?

Sir John Hargrave:

If anyone can do this, then Facebook can, because they have such an enormous global reach. I see things differently from everyone else. Everyone sees Facebook as under the control of the Government and I see Facebook as above the control of any one government. I understand that Facebook is a US Company and they have to abide by the laws. But the power that Facebook wields, in reality, is much greater than the power of the US government.

Facebook is more imbedded in our heads and in the heads of people all around the world than the government.

CryptoTapas: Facebook in numbers is close to a 2.4 billion user base company. That is bigger than India, and part of China, combined. And it scares the governments to think that Facebook can wield more power than any single government on the face of the earth if they were to successfully launch their own currency.

Sir John Hargrave:

Facebook covers 20% of total world’s population and they are right to be scared about it. Because that could threaten the sovereignty of the US dollar or any other National currency. The power of the United States, in our case, comes largely from the power of the US dollar.

Problem is, the genie is already out of the box. If it’s not Facebook, it will be someone else and you cannot fight these anymore than you can fight the internet. This type of globalization is a force that wants to happen. World wants a single kind of money and what we can do is work together to lead the conversation.

CryptoTapas: Do you believe Blockchain is for everyone? The reason I ask is that there is still some taboo attached to the conversation of blockchain and bitcoin.

Sir John Hargrave:

Is money for everyone?

Yuval Noah Harrari who wrote the book “Sapiens”, I quote him in Blockchain for Everyone, and he says “Money is the most successful human invention ever devised.” Because, we do not all agree on the same religion or political structure but we all agree on money. In essence, it is the greatest method of human cooperation that we have ever invented.

And he is right. We all believe in money in one way or another. So when I say Blockchain is the internet of money, I mean, internet of value. That includes money, rewards, loyalty points, etc, anything of value.

However, blockchain as a technology is very confusing for most people. And the very first idea of writing my book is I wanted to make it accessible by reading the book from cover to cover and learn something that they can then use in the real world.

That’s why, after several rewrites of the entire book, I ended up writing the book as a story, like a move, with act 1, 2 and 3. So, you basically learn about blockchain through the story of our personal journey in to the space.

By making it accessible by everyone, our goal is to make everyone interested in the technology so that everyone begins using this new type of digital money.

Our plan is very large and very long term. What we are doing right now, what CryptoTapas is doing right now, is going to last for the next 100 years, which is capture these stories so that future historians understand how we all did this, how we built this new internet of money.

CryptoTapas: In your view, what is the one thing that is stopping people from getting into Bitcoin and altcoins?

Sir John Halgrave:

Education is the major issue. I am very passionate about educating the space about the real value that blockchain, bitcoin and all of these altcoins, as well.

The other piece of it is just user friendliness of the technology. It is still hard to get into crypto.

For instance, we are giving this give away with the book, where you go to Blockchainforeveryone.com and purchase the book for $25, we are giving $25 in DAI cryptocurrency with every purchase of the book. That is, book costs about $25 and you are getting $25 in DAI.

To do this DAI give away, it has been really difficult.

The logistics surrounding giving away this free DAI is still slow. It is not DAI issue, it is just the complexity that surrounds the infrastructure around installing wallet, transfer to wallet, etc.

This has reminded me again that we are still at the very early stage of this technology. Coinbase is trying to spearhead this space and we will get there.

CryptoTapas: For those who are on the fence to buy the book, what is one thing you would say, other than the fact that they are getting this for free if they buy it from your website and get $25 in DAI back.

Sir John Halgrave:

It’s simple. You are going to learn how to make money with bitcoin and blockchain, in a really entertaining way.

That’s the best way I can describe it in one sentence.

CryptoTapas: Do you also talk about altcoins in your book?

Sir John Halgrave:

We do. We have what is called as Blockchain Investor Scorecard and its a free scorecard for reviewing and rating different altcoins with 25 different criteria you can use and we walk you through here’s how to look at an altcoin and decide whether it is a good investment or not.

CryptoTapas: Thank you John for taking time to speak to us on a Friday evening. We appreciate it.

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