Root & Branch Chat
Simon Johnston on Fiat, El Salvador and Bitcoin
Simon Johnston and I have been meeting on and off over the last few years. Simon connected with me when I appeared on a BBC Northern Ireland programme at the end of 2020. He emailed me just to express his support for my taking a stand against the ‘papers please’ society that was emerging during the government COVID tyranny. Simon was getting flak, himself, for taking his own stand against attempts by the government to impose vaccine passports. Because Simon owns a coffee roastery in East Belfast - and caused quite a stir when he insisted he would not - on principle - ask customers for proof of Covid-19 vaccine status if the authorities required businesses to police such draconian rules.
Thankfully, the Northern Ireland Executive’s vaccine passport scheme collapsed after just a few weeks. But, meanwhile, Simon launched Northern Ireland’s Bitcoin Meetup Group. When I attended some of the early get-togethers in Belfast, it was revelatory. Bitcoiners tend to be quietly spoken. They’re not the overtly political animals I’m more used to. But they tend to be fiercely libertarian, determinedly pro-freedom and uniquely suspicious about government control of money.
Simon and I plan to have our first (hopefully of several) chats about money, bitcoin, El Salvador and anything else that takes our fancy. We’re recording the conversation next week. Be sure to subscribe to Bitcoin Belfast to get a notification when the interview is live on the site.