7/30/25: Mayor Pete Refuses To Accept Zohran Win, Crypto Dire Warning, Sydney Sweeney Jeans Ad

28:48Humans also have to update software. Yeah. And so, yeah, yeah. And so once you start thinking that, then you immediately start to go, well, who are these humans? Like, does anyone care? Like, who are these people operating this huge asset in our economy now that's becoming so interdependent? And no one seems to really want to broadcast that examination. But like if I were to just show you a little stat here, like, would it be surprising that only 42 software developers have written 90 percent of Bitcoin's code? And there's about five software developers, give or take on the year, that have sort of administrative privileges on top of Bitcoin's code.

29:37And we can monitor these people. We can identify them. We can see what they're chatting about. Now, but no one wants to sort of comment on this. But if we start to look into it, then we can see, oh, well, this property of fixed supply is only a subjective whim of this something that looks to me like almost a central bank committee of software developers deciding what their monetary policy is on Bitcoin. So you could say maybe they choose the fixed supply and that's good monetary policy, but That does not change the fact that there is centralization going on there. And also globalization, which lends itself to centralization in a high-tech age.

30:19And this is, Peter, one of the questions I always have for people in the crypto space because I'm not somebody who's super, super deep in the details. I'm not a major investor. I'm not doing code. I'm not doing any of that stuff. But I have never understood how structurally crypto can exist with any regulation in a way that is utopian, or I don't mean that in a pejorative sense, in a way that's true to the spirit that I'm totally sympathetic to and supportive of, of decentralization. So when I see someone like Cynthia Lummis, Republican senators, been very, very supportive of crypto over the years, going to these conferences and being met and lauded and praised by people in that space.

31:08I just am curious structurally, if we steelman this, is there actually a way in a fantasy hypothetical scenario where crypto could exist in the year of our Lord 2025, in the 21st century, in a way that is not with any regulation, in a way that maintains the spirit of decentralization? Because that to me just seems impossible on its face. But I don't know. Is it possible to regulate crypto and also have crypto be this decentralizing force? I just don't get it. So there's a theoretical argument that academics can have on the core concept of peer-to-peer technology. Now, when you look at the academic literature and the case studies involved, usually small scale peer to peer technology works.

31:59But the challenge is when you scale it, this is where the problems of centralization come in. Now, when you combine that with money and saturating people's financial transactions, incorporating into state institutions like the Treasury and so forth, that's even a harder problem to try to figure out. And even in the structural ways that Bitcoin's designed, a lot of people say that, oh, well, it's censorship resistant. It's decentralized. You can just transact and send money anywhere you want. But there are middlemen in Bitcoin, the miners in Bitcoin, those really power hungry server farms out there.

32:44Those are the middlemen of Bitcoin, and they're the ones that get your transactions and decide if they're going to process them on the blockchain or not. And we've already have documented examples of these miners complying with the Treasury's OFAC standards to sanction and blacklist certain Bitcoin addresses. And there's even more advanced ways to do that that are too long to get into. But this is where we've already been through the looking glass here. a company like Mara has championed this idea of being compliant with the OFAC standards in the mining industry and goes on to say, their CEO, I believe, that the way for the US to increase its share of Bitcoin miners is that the US-based Bitcoin miners need to be more compliant to OFAC.

33:39So it really gets into this catch-22 that as the US grows its Bitcoin industry and wider crypto industry, it keeps diminishing those ideals of decentralization. So I would say it's a very hard nut to crack. But where we get into now with this legislation coming forward and how we've accepted that crypto is now a normal part of our economy, where I look at that, it's not innovation. It's not a new product or server that's really adding value. what's going on is we have two financial systems, two financial infrastructures. One is the traditional one with all the regulations. And that would have been a real fight to try to deregulate that.

34:28But why go through the pain of doing that when you can just open up a parallel system with all the deregulation? And then when you combine them in aggregate, the net is that you have a more deregulated financial system. So that's really the trick going on here. Well, and that leads to my final question, which is, you know, are we looking at some sort of a crypto crypto bubble bursting and taxpayers being on the hook for a big crypto bailout, given that there is no longer there's no longer separate ecosystem. This is completely mainstreamed within our financial institutions and president of the United States, obviously, like, you know, himself benefiting to the tune of millions, if not billions of dollars from the crypto industry.

35:12So, I mean, does that seem to you like where we're headed? It is very likely. I have suggested that this strategy of pumping up the crypto markets has a short-term logic to it. But like all bubbles, all bubbles have a short-term logic. They go up. That's the nature of bubbles. So it's no one can ever predict the exact time when a bubble will pop. But it seems like once we get outside of, you know, the five to 10 year horizon, that's where the wheels come off. And let's compare this to the housing bubble. There was at least an argument. There was a physical house, you know, there was a rationale to why the value could keep going up and why there was fundamental value underlying it.

36:01With this, we almost have a parity where these are completely digital, fictitious casino tokens, practically. And they're making up more and more nominal value. And when these things pop, there's nothing underlying it. And so what ends up happening is we just start piling more and more risk into this type of asset class and making it collateralized to traditional transactions that we do in the economy, if you start looking into how mortgages are starting to accept these as collateral and so forth, and other ways. And so once that keeps getting saturated, now this asset class, which is, you know, no one would think it's crazy for this thing to like go down 50 % in a day.

36:48Even with the stable coins that are supposed to be the safest thing there, traditionally, we've seen a lot of allegations that they don't actually back their coins with one to one reserves, which is what they say they are doing. The New York AG actually said this in 2019 about one of the major stable coins. She said they lied. She said that they did not have the reserves, they said. Their lawyers had to admit it. And they ultimately settled with the New York AG. And so So like this has all been documented. We have cases where the market has found this out has broken the peg on the stable coins.

37:27We have legal sources that have proven this the case, like the New York AG. And we just have our sort of other historical examples of crypto going pop. So the fact that it's going to be bigger than all past bubbles of crypto in the past doesn't really negate the fact that there is no underlying value. This stuff is very risky. There are multiple vectors where this thing could have a problem, whether on the technical side, there could just be a bug that sends everything down. So very, very unsavory prospects. Yeah. I mean, the value, to the extent that there is value, is of it being peer-to-peer and decentralized.

38:11And that goes away. And so I guess my last question for you, Peter, as we're wrapping this up is, do you think there will be more people, because you know people in this space, and I know many people in this space and people that I really like and totally sympathetic to, like Ron Paul type people. Do you think there will be people in this space that come away with your perspective soon? Do you think maybe we're in like a height in the contradictions phase, post-Genius Act and regulation that might be coming from this Republican administration where others start to get really worried? Or do you think everything is so attractive and appealing right now that it's just kind of going to be peddled to the metal for the next year or so?

38:53Yeah, I think it's hard to distract people from the gloss of a bubble. There's certainly going to be momentum piling in now with this legislation. There's a lot of business institutions that want to incorporate this, get old people to put their retirement in it, get young people that are busy sports gambling to do more crypto gambling. So there's momentum here. But I think in terms of the early Bitcoiners, a lot of them would actually be sympathetic to my point of view, even though they might not go all the way that I have. I'll reference one individual. He's the editor in chief of Bitcoin magazine, Mark Goodwin.

39:30He wrote the book The Bitcoin Dollar. We generally agree about 80 to 90 percent on on all of these problems and criticisms. So I would say right there, if the editor in chief of Bitcoin magazine, who's like a real hardcore Bitcoiner, has these very similar opinions and sympathetic to the way I see it. You know, that that's probably saying something as as another little citation here. When I released this compact article, the founder of the Peer to Peer Foundation, which included a forum, which actually was the place Satoshi Nakamoto first announced his white paper introducing Bitcoins to the world.

40:11The founder of that actually endorsed my compact article saying this was actually very legitimate and valid criticisms. So I would say with those two sympathizers from the early days, it's hard to make a claim that this is that outside the norm. But there's a lot of people, newer faces, and maybe people with more dollar signs in their eyes, not so much Bitcoin signs, that are looking forward to this current bubble momentum. him. Fascinating. Peter Ryan of Ryan Research, thank you for taking the time to talk to us about this piece. Thank you for writing the piece. We hope to have you back. Appreciate it.

40:55Great to be here. Thank you. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.

41:42But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. They're stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. This is Prose Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse. I'm Eli Rallo, and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having.

42:23I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. From bestselling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. It's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters and that is a Trojan horse. Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. On the new podcast Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman.

43:04I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinheiro, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people, and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself.

43:45So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

43:59So Emily, a much-anticipated section of our show here. Sydney Sweeney is the new face of American Eagle, the sort of iconic mall brand. And her ad campaign has sparked quite a bit of discussion and controversy on the Internet that we wanted to dig into. So first, let's take a look at the ad that was the most controversial. Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. my jeans are blue Cindy's Dweenie has very jeans so you see what they did there with the like hereditary jeans and blue jeans at the end of the ad ends with her saying like see what I did there yeah exactly yeah as if we didn't as if we didn't get it so a lot of people are looking at this myself including going this feels a little like eugenics adjacent and you know the whole like the gene talk, the blue eyes in particular.

45:07It's got a real sort of master race vibe. And of course, many people, I'm sure yourself included, be like, you're ridiculous and you have derangement syndrome, et cetera. But my case to you, Emily, would be I'm not saying that I'm not saying that American Eagle is like a bunch of secret or open fascists and Nazis. They are capitalists, though, and they're looking at the culture. They realize that paid advertisements really don't do a whole hell of a lot of good at this point if they don't come with eyeballs and attention and controversy so this is the thing to touch on to play with and the moment to get a reaction which they got and so that's my i mean it's not even i think this is just like correct and accurate that they knew this would spark this sort of discussion and controversy they gave just enough of a nod to like sort of eugenics race IQ kind of type of content to have plausible deniability.

46:05And then they delighted in the fervor and the attention around the ad campaign based on sort of touching on that, you know, like correctly taboo subject. So it's hard to it's very hard to ignore when they're panning the camera and saying that Sydney Sweeney in the script is saying that her jeans are blue and they have it on her blue eyes. I think, Crystal, my case would be that you are overestimating the competence of people in the advertising industry and American Eagle who might have, let's say, cynically said it would be a real boost to our Sydney Sweeney ad campaign to do a little wink and nod to white supremacy in the gene marketing campaign that, you know, will generate all kinds of media hype by doing like a wink, wink, white supremacy, like undertone to the Sidney Sweeney ad.

47:07So I think what this speaks to is, well, first of all, I don't think Sidney Sweeney's people, if they saw this as being anywhere in the vein of white supremacy, although she's sort of become this interesting flashpoint. And it's sort of like people are polarizing politically around the question of Sidney Sweeney, whereas people on the left are saying she's like a clear canary in the coal mine for the rise of fascism. And people on the right are saying some people on the far, far fringe right are saying, yes, exactly. This is why we love Sidney Sweeney. People on the right are saying, what the hell are you talking about?

47:44She's just super good looking and wearing an all-American brand, which is where I think I fall into. But I don't think if this was intentional, Sidney Sweeney's people got taken for a ride. I have a hard time believing that somebody like Sidney Sweeney would intentionally be part of a covert white supremacy campaign to generate clicks. And I just I genuinely don't think there's any like I get what you're saying about the buzz that you can generate by doing a sort of like intentional Kendall Jenner Pepsi situation. But I also don't think that it would be to any brand. They would say the cost benefit analysis of being limped in with literal eugenicists.

48:25Well, their stock is up. I mean, I think I think the the flaw in your analysis is that it ignores how sort of mainstreamed this stuff has become. I mean, you've literally got you have a, you know, a town, an all white town being founded in Arkansas, as we speak, where they explicitly say it's whites only. And we believe we have freedom of association. And so we can keep black and brown people out. We have Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller's not the fringe. Stephen Miller's mainstream. Miller is not the French who is, you know, running vast portfolio in the government, including, you know, very like eugenics inspired immigration policy.

49:04Although he's Jewish. And who Trump himself says like this guy is basically a white nationalist. I mean, he's you know, that's that's who he is. I think it's pretty hard to deny that's who he is. And then you've got, you know, this isn't emblematic of like every young Republican, but you have this very increasingly like empowered and influential fringe that, you know, are in like the griper movement and are the type of people who went on Jubilee and probably like declared himself a fascist and whatever. you have the New York times, um, getting scoops from this race IQ, you know, online race IQ dude.

49:43So this is quite mainstreamed in the culture. And, um, you know, it like for me, harkens back a little bit to the, um, obviously neither of us were alive at this time, but the way that Madison Avenue glommed on to the like sixties counterculture movement and appropriated that to sell Coke and mainstream brands, et cetera. And so, you know, I, I don't think it takes a rocket scientist for an, a cynical ad exec who's just out there looking, okay, how can we get attention to our brand and sell some blue jeans to go? Well, this is the thing that's out there in the culture right now. This is the thing that's like the, you know, transgressive hot button to, to push, to stoke controversy.

50:27And I just don't know why else you're talking about genetics in a blue gene ad if you're not intentionally trying to push that button. And to the point about Sydney herself, I don't know. I mean, I don't have any like particular grudge about, again, Sydney Sweeney. I know there was like a lot of discussion about her boobs on SNL or something that I never really totally understood. But we can put, you know, one of the people who was involved in this ad campaign posted delighted in the success of the campaign. She says specifically during a Zoom call with Sydney, we asked the question, how far do you want to push it without hesitation.

50:58She smirked and said, let's push it. I'm game. Our response challenge accepted. Um, so in any case, you know, I don't think it's like crazy to imagine that she also was like, yeah, sure. Let's play into this controversy and create a lot of attention for ourselves. And you know, it'll be great for me. It'll be great for the company, the stock prices up, et cetera. So that's to me, like pretty clearly what's going on here. And I don't, You know, as someone who is very opposed to eugenics and very disturbed by its mainstreaming and how increasingly like openly accepted and disgusted, et cetera. Like, I'm not sure what the right way is to react to something like this that does, in my view, intentionally try to like play with those themes because what they wanted is the attention of the controversy.

51:48but then are you just supposed to like not say anything when these sorts of things and themes are being mainstreamed in the culture? I, it's to me, it's like a catch 22. So I interpreted the Sydney Sweeney has great genes, LinkedIn post. We're really going deep on this that we just had up on the screen. This would be my counterpoint. I, I interpreted that as Sydney Sweeney's sort of controversy for a long time has been whether or not she's mid, which is just a ridiculous controversy. She is beautiful. But that's been the thing about Sidney Sweeney that everyone's like, oh, she's mid, people don't like her because she has, you know, fill in the blank.

52:27And that's where the entire appeal of Sidney Sweeney is wrapped up in. And so I think what they're talking about when they say they're kind of going down, the camera's panning down Sidney Sweeney's full body is her saying, like, that's why they're talking about jeans in a J-E-A-N-S ad is, like, Sydney Sweeney is actually pretty hot, and Sydney Sweeney is willing to take you up on this conversation about whether or not she's mid, and she's willing to just, like, kind of bear it all, even if she's clad in jeans. So that's my interpretation of what they say they're, like, being quote-unquote cheeky about in the ad is that.

53:06I still think that a mainstream brand wanting to be affiliated with white supremacy or eugenicism, as much as I do share your concerns about seeing people like Nick Fuentes go massively viral and have whatever pull he has with Gen Z, as much as I genuinely share those concerns and also share the concerns about eugenicism when you look at what's happened, and this is probably something that we disagree on, but if you look at what's happened in places like Iceland, for example, where they use new testing technology on unborn kids and basically get rid of Down syndrome. I actually think that eugenics is a serious question that confronts us as a society right now.

53:50But I mean, yeah, I don't disagree with that. I share that. I still just think it's far-fetched that a mainstream American brand would want to eagerly affiliate itself, even if it's just to create buzz with white supremacy or eugenics or neo-Nazism. As some people have said, they have the eagle in the brand and to, you know, be talking intentionally about Aryan jeans in an ad goes right along with the quote American Eagle in their title and logo. I just think it's all. I didn't take it that far. I didn't take it that far. Okay. Just to be clear, that didn't even occur to me, but now I'm going to think about it.

54:24No, no. I mean, look, I mean, paid advertising campaigns don't really get you very far these days because people can click off. You can fast forward through, you're watching I mean, it's just like very hard to get people to pay attention to your brand. So what better to get you attention than a beautiful woman plus a little race IQ controversy with plausible deniability? Like they're never going to. Oh, yeah, we were like flirting with you, Jenna. They're never going to say that. But their stock price went up because of that controversy. I think their stock price went up because Sidney Sweeney's ad is alerting.

55:00Why is anyone talking about Sidney Sweeney's ad? it's only because i mean you know yes she's had star power etc but the reason it got so much attention is because of exactly this controversy which these are not stupid people like i don't know they kind of you know they knew what they were doing with this um come on they knew i don't know i mean i still just think i mean even your explanation too by the way that this is like a rebuttal to the idea that she's mid the way she's if that's really which i i think that's a stretch But if that's really her argument is like, no, I'm not mid because I'm of good genetic stock.

55:38Like even that is disturbing. It's weird. Yeah. Like that's what I just think it's so weird. And I'm done. I mean, it's not weird if you realize that what they're doing is intentionally touching on something that is, again, justifiably like foreboding. and has been for a long time pushed out of the mainstream and is now back being mainstreamed. If you look at public polling across the board, the American people are very anti-racist, maybe not in the Kendi sense, but race relations in the United States have come remarkably far. And it's not as though the American public, while there are some people on the fringes that may be energized by Fuentes and whomever else, It doesn't behoove a major brand like you don't have to even be a smart marketing executive.

56:27But it is behooving them. They are behooved. But I don't think people are watching the ad. But your point is that they're being behooved by the controversy created by the ad. And it's not that American Eagle supports eugenics and white supremacy. No, it's that they got attention, that no publicity is bad publicity. I mean, this is the secret of Donald Trump's success and his realization that like I mean, he even said this about like Doug Burgum. when he picked him for secretary of the interior. He was like, yeah, he just doesn't, you know, he's not controversial enough, so he can't get attention.

56:57This is the attention economy. The way to get attention isn't to just like, you know, have another ad with a beautiful woman. There are a million other ads that have other similar like beautiful stars. The way to get attention is to spark a conversation. We're not covering the Beyonce Levi's ad, are we? No, we're covering this one because they played with race science and eugenics. And that's why we're talking about it. I think they played with, I think intentionally they played with, this is where we disagree, I think they played with the entire pun was about Sydney Sweeney being hot or not. And that's when they say they're going, she said she wants to go far into that.

57:30And I think it was like, obviously a very strange ad, but their stock is going up because people liked the ad, like Sydney Sweeney in the jeans. They looked great. And American Eagle is ascendant because they have a young star like Sydney Sweeney repping them. It used to be, by the way, Dawson's Creek. I think they outfitted everybody on Dawson's Creek. Oh, did they really? Yeah, I'm pretty sure for a while they did. But anyway, they have a history of sort of partnering with, I mean, for a young brand like that. We're not going to agree on this, Crystal. Well, just my last piece is I will say, even your explanation to me is very eugenics-y, that you would be like, I am hot because I come from the right genetic stock.

58:12But that is true. I mean, like, people are hot because of their genes. I don't even like that either. But, like, people, to be fair, like, it's, like, the science of whether or not people are attractive to other people comes down to facial symmetry, which is genetic. I mean, I don't like any, like, I hope we don't start tinkering with genetics in this way. Like, it's a weird thing to say. It is. Like, it's a weird thing to say. It's like, no, I can prove genetically that I'm an attractive person. That I'm not mid. because that is but that makes sense but I think no I know I actually think that helps my argument because on social media there have been deep deep analyses done on Sydney Sweeney's like facial symmetry over the years so yeah I mean like people have literally been debating this which is completely insane maybe that's our next debate is Sydney Sydney Sweeney mid um but maybe we agree on that we don't even have to debate it I don't think I don't think we she's not mid like I'm actually disgusted by this.

59:09It's like such a common thing, not just with Sydney Sweeney of taking some like absolutely flawlessly gorgeous woman and then picking one photo of her where like, she's not at her best and being like, she, I don't even get it. She's so bad. It's like, you know, fuck off. Like she's a beautiful woman. Like just stop, just stop. And it's always like some guy who looks terrible, you know, and is like overweight and could never have a prayer of being with this woman who's posting this sort of shit. So yeah, that particular conversation, whether it's Sydney Sweeney or many other beautiful women is kind of disgusting to me.

59:44This is what happens when Ryan goes on vacation for a week. We do take over the show with the beta. You know who would have been really excited for this debate? Sagar would have loved this. Well, I did debate with Sagar off air on this. Of course, he thinks my view is ridiculous, but he's wrong, so there you go. In many cases. Many such cases. We can continue this conversation on Friday, of course. Sagar will be back in with Crystal tomorrow. Thanks, everyone, for tuning in. As a reminder, if you want to get those interviews, like the great conversation that Sagar and Crystal had with Senator Alyssa Slotkin yesterday, headlines all over the world, you can become a member.

1:00:25And if you want to help support the work that makes those interviews possible, you can become a member over at BreakingPoints.com.

1:00:44I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are The Survivor Files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted stalked controlled and nearly silenced these are stories about what it takes to make it out alive listen to the survivor files with elizabeth smart on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts if your bookshelf and your for you page are equally important to your personality welcome home pro society is a weekly podcast that's part book club part group chat for anyone who thinks pride and prejudice and love island deserve the same level of discourse.

1:01:30Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and pop culture with your favorite writers, book talk creators, and plenty of overthought opinions. Yeah, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Did you hear the new episode of the Hey Jonas podcast? We are at D23, so we'll see who stops by. The cast of Frozen stopped by. Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, and Idina Menzel. I auditioned for Frozen. What? For Kristoff. They said, okay, what, are you going to be singing today? I said, I don't know. That must have been why you didn't get it.

1:02:03Oh, you probably won. Plus, John Stamos, Hayden Christensen from Star Wars, and more. And I guess I can share that, uh... No way. Listen to the latest episode of Hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.