I think what isn't okay is that YouTube just took away all of his money. - Matt Fradd, Russell Brand’s Accusations and Demonetization

Matt Fradd recently released a video where he decried the demonetization of Russell Brand, and other supposed “far right” agitators, musing over the potential for this sort of thing happening to his own Pints with Aquinas YouTube channel. For those not online, Brand is a comedic actor turned red-pilled commentator, now with a substantial following. By demonetizing his channel, YouTube is putting the kibosh on Brand from sharing ad revenue, demonstrating they are the gatekeepers of their centralized platform. This is a problem widely discussed for years, now more keenly aware to those who make a living on YouTube. 

As a fan of Fradd’s, I would be remiss if I didn’t call out that this is one problem that Bitcoin directly fixes. In fact, it’s the reason it exists at all. As permissionless money, Bitcoin recreates the act of exchanging cash directly, now possible on the internet without a financial intermediary. If Russell Brand creates a bitcoin address, anyone in the world can send him a payment instantly, no questions asked. 

This is all relevant for Fradd because it is going on two years since he sat down with Jacob Imam and discussed Bitcoin on his show. Imam spent an entire segment telling us viewers why he doesn’t much care for it. He received little pushback and I’m not aware of a substantial treatment of the topic since then. While we shouldn’t harangue Fradd to have an opinion on every invention under God’s creation, he seemingly took a stance on the topic. This leaves the casual viewer to assume that Imam’s position is also Fradd’s position, or perhaps even that this is the Catholic position. While honest minds can disagree on Bitcoin as a sound money alternative to fiat money shenanigans, or a fix for the demonetization rug pull, I contend that it is at least a topic worthy of fair exploration.

Why Bitcoin is Good Money

An obvious, but overlooked, point in discussions on money is that it is a useful invention that allows us to trade with our neighbors. While the proper use of money is a hot button issue among faithful Catholics, the proper production of money is not so often considered. To put it another way, if the kings clipping the coins was sinful in the Middle Ages, we might say that money printing is sinful today. 

Bitcoin is peer-to-peer electronic cash with a monetary policy that runs on a set of rules. With only 21 million coins that will be created, it effectively ends the problem of inflation for those who adopt it as their money. So if you believe that money printer go brrr exacerbates certain problems in society, think debt-based consumerism, excessive financial engineering, endless wars, or government-funded abortion mills, this is an issue that should matter to you. If you just think it’s wrong for bureaucrats to debase your savings or turn off your bank account, you are starting to grok Bitcoin. 

Where Imam got it wrong

I was once a bitcoin skeptic (as are most!), and I have sympathy for those reluctant to embrace this technology at first. And there are good critiques of the asset that a newcomer might want to be aware of, such as the potential for mining centralization, the risk of hard forks, long-term security threats, or gut-wrenching price drawdowns. To Imam and Fradd’s credit, you might say their trading advice was correct, at least in the short/medium term. The price of bitcoin, denominated in U.S. dollars, is down over 30% since the video was released. The road is still fraught with peril. 

However, Imam’s critique in the video, mainly concerning the energy use of the network, is not particularly strong. Here, he lays out his main thrust of his argument:

I think my number one problem is that there is a tremendous amount of money that's going into creating the system. Like, it takes a lot of energy to be able to actually make the computers function that will, you know, record the code, and also the supercomputers, the GPUs that are actively mining for new coins. Such so the sources, like projections, have made it out to be about $20 billion a year is being spent on cryptocurrencies and, or just rarifying them, like making them kind of real. Because they're not, there's nothing tangible about it. (Imam, 0:53) 

Without using this piece to rebut these claims in detail, I will simply pose a few follow up questions that could be asked of Imam:

• Is consuming energy inherently a bad thing?

• Who should decide what is “a lot” or "too much” energy?

• Should critics of bitcoin’s energy usage also study the energy usage of everything else we use? 

• Should we condemn other intangible goods like blogs, online forums, and YouTube videos?

• If it were possible to achieve sound money, but it came at a high cost, would it be worth it?

For those interested in a more thorough treatment on bitcoin’s energy usage, I would suggest starting here, here, or here. 

Why should Fradd care about this?

There are plenty of reasons Fradd, Imam, and the locally-minded Steubenvilleans might want to foster curiosity about bitcoin. If the goal of certain Catholics today is to return to more subsidiarity (as it should be), the utility of cash transactions, peer-to-peer monetary exchange for goods, is well understood. While we can be encouraged that physical dollars still exist, it doesn’t take much far right conspiracy theorizing to see why the powers that be might desire to phase cash out. Regardless, the ability for those dollars to get debased, physical or otherwise, remains. 

The rub is that many people today are willingly engaging in commerce that is not local, albeit for the sake of providing for their families and perhaps their community. This is for good reason. The content Fradd produces, for example, is making an impact beyond his physical presence. As long as Pints with Aquinas, New Polity, or Russell Brand continue to use the internet to sell to the world, they are beholden to unjust or disincentivized mediators that can shut down their source of income on a whim, until a tool like bitcoin is embraced.

As a quick aside, there is a paradoxical way that bitcoin reverses the centuries-long process of virtualization of money. Giacomo Zucco has argued that by bringing money back to physical scarcity through Proof of Work, and bearer control through private cryptographic keys, bitcoin actually de-virtualizes money. 

As for all listeners of Pints with Aquinas, who transact on the internet or not, the question still remains where should I put my savings? Instead of the obvious answer, e.g. cash balances, the tax of inflation nudges us all to buy assets we may or may not understand. To take up a side hustle as a housing speculator. To become financial engineers and/or part-time hedge fund manager wannabes. To engage in index investing nihilism (nothing matters, JUST BUY!). Hodling represents a return to a savings mentality for regular families. 

A Pints with Aquinas episode on fiat inflation

Imam got one thing very correct on his appearance on Pints, that is, we need sound money. Perhaps even more so than the demonetization problem that the Russell Brand story brings to light, the hidden disease of fiat money continues to wreak havoc. Bitcoin is part of the conversation here and the biggest reason fiat money has entered our lexicon in 2023. It may even be true that the best conversation Catholics could have on this topic need not even include the word bitcoin. There is no one better in this vein than Dr. Jörg Guido Hülsmann, whose essay The Cultural and Spiritual Legacy of Fiat Inflation is a must read for those who want to understand the state of our monetary system. Hülsmann as the guest and his essay as the topic would be a fascinating and edifying Pints with Aquinas show. 

Once the problem of fiat inflation is well understood, a Bitcoin-specific episode could be had. An OG like the brilliant Pierre Rochard, the always thoughtful Eric Sammons, or a terrific young cleric like Fr. Nick Blaha would all be excellent guests in explaining how Bitcoin could potentially abolish the scourge of our monetary chaos. 

An observer of modern culture paying even the slightest attention might aptly compare today’s world to the sixth and seventh centuries in the Roman Empire. This was a period of cultural decline, where barbarian invasions destroyed cities, libraries, laws, and even governments. During this time, it was medieval monastics, such as St. Benedict, who preserved and built up Western Civilization. The monks did this by preserving ancient texts, saving agriculture in Europe, and preaching the Gospel. 

Today, it is the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, a monastic order of nuns that follow the Rule of St. Benedict, who are doing their part to build up a civilization in the midst of cultural rot. And they are doing it with the help of bitcoin. These traditional Catholic nuns buy, receive, and hold bitcoin in cold storage on behalf of their monastery. Founded by Sr. Wilhelmina Lancaster in 1995, they survive on self-sufficiency and financial support from around the world. Home to sisters from native lands as diverse as Mexico, England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Lithuania, you could argue that bitcoin is their ideal money.

In the fall of 2022 I had the unique opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the monastery in Gower, MO and record a podcast about the experience. While traveling through the hills north of Kansas City, I wondered, what could possibly be the connection these nuns have to bitcoin? Fr. Matthew Bartulica, Chaplain of the monastery, put it to me this way:

The monastic life is probably the greatest example of low time preference! It’s all about passing on the traditions to future generations… This also has a huge impact on the culture, because it’s not all about satisfying one’s immediate desires, but building a better future. Today’s world doesn’t offer much hope because nothing is valued, partially because the money is broken, just like it was in Ancient Rome. The Benedictines helped rebuild civilization 1500 years ago and I believe that the life of the Abbey is like a citadel, a popular term with bitcoiners, that will help to rebuild civilization in the 21st century.

Fr. Bartulica is the orange-pilled, Latin mass Catholic priest at the monastery. He ably references Saifedean Ammous, author of “The Bitcoin Standard” on issues such as fiat architecture and fiat food. I was introduced to the priest by a mutual friend; “you’re a Catholic who is into bitcoin… you’ve GOT to meet this priest!.”

It was Fr. Bartulica who set the sisters up with hardware wallets and taught them how to send, receive, and get on the path toward financial sovereignty. He is on a mission to convert local Catholic parishes to a bitcoin standard. So far, the Benedictines of Mary have been most ready and able. 

And you can see some parallels to the way these nuns live and the bitcoin ethos. The Sisters walk the walk by dedicating their lives to the long term, even the eternal. Following the model of ora et labora (“work and pray”), they demonstrate low time preference by praying eight times a day and raising their own cattle, chickens, and produce. These nuns even release award-winning and soul-lifting chant and hymn music. 

Mother Abbess Cecilia is the young and vibrant abbess of the monastery, and says it this way:

What we are doing is building up civilization. We are hanging onto the traditions of the Church and the traditions that built up western culture. We are stable, we have order, we know what we're supposed to do and we do it every day. We do it with love, with diligence.

One thing I was struck by immediately when visiting the monastery is the brand new awe-inspiring church building that dominates the grounds. My diminished expectations had prepared me to drive up to a modern utilitarian building, as (disappointingly) can be expected from any average suburban church today. Instead, the sisters built an architecturally beautiful structure that includes hand painted murals, Italian marble, vaulted ceilings, and stained-glass windows. 

This was possible thanks to generous bitcoin donations made in 2017. These donations allowed the Benedictines to build a Church for the ages without the burden of debt financing. Mother Cecelia described to me her first encounter with bitcoin in 2017 this way:

They (their bitcoin benefactors) knew we had a need to build the Church and, boy, did that help us! I mean, wow, what a blessing. Without it, I don't know if we'd still be paying off a loan on this beautiful building.

So despite the reputation that bitcoiners have as “miserly hoarders,” generosity shone through. The sisters were able to use bitcoin to procure resources for the purpose of building their Church. 

We have had such beautiful success with several very large bitcoin donations to help build this house of prayer. If I were someone who had means, I would want to assist in making tangible goods, not something that is slapped up to last for 50 years… Something that's going to last, something that will be passed down from generation to generation, to last a thousand years, this beautiful monument to God's glory.  

- Mother Cecilia

At first glance, it may seem incongruous to see traditional Catholic nuns embracing bitcoin, (i.e. nuns who wear the full habit), but technology has assisted them in seeing significant growth in their order of religious sisters.

Many young women have discovered the Benedictines of Mary by searching for Catholic (particularly traditional latin mass) monasteries online. The internet, and now the bitcoin network, have also made it possible for generous benefactors around the world to easily play a role in building a monastery for the ages. Their music has now been streamed over 3.5 million times on platforms such as spotify. The Sisters’ prudent embrace of technology has benefited the growth of the order.

We may look it, but we are certainly NOT Amish.. To say that the technology is somehow evil in and of itself, no, that's not accurate at all. Can it be used for evil means? Of course it can. But regarding the use of bitcoin, we understand how fragile the dollar is.       

-  Mother Cecilia

My favorite part of the trip, beyond the spiritual benefits, was witnessing the number of things the nuns do to prepare their own food. The sisters treated me to a lunch of vegetable beef soup, homemade rolls, and butter, all produced on site. The conversation was over ideas on honest money, how the Church could benefit by adopting bitcoin, and the health benefits of raw milk. 

Who knows how to farm anymore? This is one thing we do and are hopefully getting better at every year, just self sustaining. So we can work closely with the ground, the soil, and God's creation, and produce our own food right here. It's really a beautiful thing.

- Mother Cecilia 

While admittedly foreign to many of us living in the clown world (including myself), the desire to join traditional religious life is growing. The Benedictine sisters currently host over 150 visiting women from around the world every year to discern the process of joining their order. Out of these women, around 10 will take permanent vows. As a result, their space is bursting at the seams and plans are in the works for another new monastery to be constructed in southern Missouri. 

(The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles accept BTC donations on their website) 

It may be the case that the importance of traditional religious organizations, such as the Benedictines of Mary, adopting bitcoin will become more essential as the creeds they profess grow more retrograde in the eyes of mainstream wokeism. The Benedictines of Mary are familiar with their unpopularity in the eyes of our conformist culture and have even been targeted with shootings in recent years. One can imagine this sort of sentiment carrying over to use of the traditional financial system, as in the Canadian truckers situation in early 2022, even for a group of unassuming religious sisters.

While churches and monasteries exist to stand as a refuge against a declining culture, their own finances are still at the whim of the traditional banking system. The permissionless nature of bitcoin ensures that these spiritual citadels, should they choose to adopt it, can be immune to financial censors while simultaneously interacting with the global monetary network.

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