S5 E3: Javier Bastardo on Bitcoin & Personal Security in Venezuela

Javier Bastardo is best known in the Bitcoin community as a CoinTelegraph journalist and educator for the Satoshi en Venezuela project. In this episode, he explains what it's like to be a bitcoiner in a country which issued its own shitcoin (the Petro) and even tells a story about being followed and confronted by secret police. Season 5 is all about security, so Javier talks about an often underapreciated and underestimated side of it: personal security. Being able to remain safe in a hostile environment is just as important as securing your private keys, so there are definitely lots of lessons to learn from the brave Mr. Bastardo. Time Stamps (as described by Javier himself): 2:09 – Living in a dystopia 3:18 – Struggling in a country of the 7th world vs. BTC education 5:07 – BTC versus the events in Venezuela 6:07 – The problem of being associated with the wealthy and enchufados 11:30 – Cryptocurrencies are associated with the Nomenklatura 15:00 – A story about the time when Javier got his first political militia (secret service) visit in a hotel room 19:40 – Political militia visiting a Bitcoin-only meetup 22:47 – “We need to resist” 24:30 – The Venezuelan op-sec 27:01 – Exercise the freedom of speech 30:40 – Does Javier want to leave Venezuela? 32:37 – Crisis and the Nietszchean way of living 34:00 – Who uses Bitcoin? How to store your coins as an average José de Venezuela 38:45 – Using a Samourai Wallet cold wallet with an old Samsung S4 41:58 – Venezuela needs Bitcoin, but it is difficult to use it in a secure way 44:58 – Why didn’t Javier choose to remain anonymous? 48:35 – Dollarization in Venezuela, its problems, and digital payments 51:00 – Digital and cashless Venezuelan problems 52:40 – Does Lightning fix this? 56:46 – Running a BTC and LN node 62:23 – Vlad talks in Spanish 64:50 – Bastardo is really Javier’s last name and how to donate to Satoshi en Venezuela.