# Laura 1

**Tali:** [00:00:00] Hi everyone. Welcome to the first episode of Orange Hatter. I'm so excited to launch this project to share stories and conversations with women in the hopes that I can help you get interested and curious about this thing called Bitcoin. My very first guest is Laura from Italy. Laura, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for joining us. Would you tell us a little bit about yourself and when you first heard about Bitcoin?

**Laura:** Okay. Hello everybody. Chao I and from, from the salute, you can understand it, and I'm Italian. I, I, I'm speaking for Milano. Maybe one of, of the two most important cities in Italy. And, uh, I, the first time I heard, uh, about Bitcoin, it was, uh, during, uh, the Covid Lockdowns because we have, uh, we had in Italy, uh, a lot of problems also in my town is in the north of Italy [00:01:00] that had, uh, that lots of problem that worldwide, uh, are known.

I, I find out, uh, a lot of new friends because I, I had to stay to, to home, anything to do, and I tried to, uh, escape from that crazy period. So I had to find out something else, something different, something easy, easy, not so easy to understand or, or to learn, but something easy and completely different from that.

Uh, from that, uh, from that environment, uh, news and also everything. Sorry for my English, so in, in, in Italian, maybe it's better, but, uh, I, I do my best.

**Tali:** No, you're, you're doing just fine. To recap what you said, during Covid, I, you were sort of [00:02:00] isolated and you are looking for something to learn about.

**Laura:** Yes.

**Tali:** So that's why you came across Bitcoin and decided to study it.

**Laura:** Yes, I, I came across a lot of webinars.

**Tali:** Mm-hmm.

**Laura:** And a lot of, uh, news, uh, well structured, uh, from Italian Bitcoin, uh, uh, until that time, my, my opinion about Bitcoin was that Bitcoin is trading. And I'm a normal person. I have, uh, a normal job, so I have no money to, to invest and Bitcoin was not one of my target.

**Tali:** Mm-hmm.

**Laura:** But I understand that Bitcoin is a freedom tool.

**Tali:** Mm-hmm. How did you come across that understanding that, that Bitcoin is not an investment tool, but a, a freedom tool?

**Laura:** Uh, I came across some, uh, bad bad [00:03:00] bad guys, bad guys that are called on the web, uh, toxic Maxi. The Maximalist are not so, uh, bad people.

They have, uh, uh, a nice horizon in mind. And their goal is to, uh, let more people understand what Bitcoin is. So, uh, I spent maybe 10 hours, uh, in, in, uh, three days webinar. And nobody talk about Bitcoin. No. Nobody talk about the protocol. Everybody start from the, the, the history of the money.

**Tali:** Right.

**Laura:** The power of the money. And then you understand why, uh, a sound money is so needed in, in our, in our society. For the, for the entire humans, not only for [00:04:00] Italians, not only for, uh, United States, uh, people. But for all out billion, uh, people, we are, we are on the earth.

**Tali:** Right. So when you, if you recall that first three day webinar that you, you attended, what were the major points that really jumped out at you, that made you believe that this is a freedom tool?

**Laura:** Yes. Uh, the, the first things it was to recognize that i, um, com I I, where I was completely financial illiteracy illiterate completely. I didn't know anything about money, about, uh, financial, about economics. But it's not, uh, um, so hard to understand because in 10 hours I understand this, then you have to applicate yourself to study more. If you want, but it's not needed. The uh, uh, what I understand in then 10 [00:05:00] hours is that I can do everything I, uh, uh, whatever I want with, with my money. Without middleman, without asking permission. In that days where I had to ask permission also to exit from my house, so this was the the, the, the, the, the big, uh, the um, the wide, the wide open mind that I had in the days.

**Tali:** So being in lockdown helped you see the power of freedom? Is that what you're...

**Laura:** Yes.

**Tali:** Okay. Got it.

**Laura:** Yes.

**Tali:** Got it. What about from your own personal, just financial experience? Were there any part of your financial background that jumped out at you that basically affirmed what these people were saying about how our money is under such utter control of the central agencies? Do you have any [00:06:00] personal stories you can share in that regard?

**Laura:** Not exactly because, uh, I was so, so ignorant about, uh, this topic, but I really understand why I am so poor in my 50.

Uh, 54 years. I work from 30 years and I don't have money, uh, as a store of value, and now I understand why, why I don't have.

**Tali:** Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

**Laura:** Yes. I, I work, uh, with, um, with a nice job in a commercial office. And, uh, uh, I, I gain again, I don't know, uh, my income, sorry. My income is, uh, 100 and two, 1,200 Euros. And I have to pay a lot for, for rent for the house, a lot for groceries, a lot for, uh, energy bills. [00:07:00] So I have, I, I, I remain with maybe 100 euros in, uh, in the pocket. That, that I can do all my, all my, uh, I have to do everything with this.

**Tali:** That's you're spending money.

**Laura:** Yes. And I never understand that 100 euros in the pocket could be a store of value for the future.

This is, this is one another argument that triggered me a lot in that three hours, in that three days webinar. Because I understand I don't have to own an, uh, an entire Bitcoin. I can grow up, uh, uh, in, in a small, uh, with small, uh, segment.

**Tali:** Right. So how do you think it will be different now that you are aware of the existence of Bitcoin?

That it can be a sore of wealth? Like how does that change your everyday [00:08:00] life?

**Laura:** Yes. Everything has changed because first off I saw, uh, a light, uh, we used to say in Italy. I dunno if, if it is the same in the States. I saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

**Tali:** Yeah.

**Laura:** Okay. I saw, I saw light and a smile, uh, arise on my face.

Okay. I'm really happy for this. Uh, uh, so, uh, I, and, and I have decided to, to, to applicate myself to study maybe five or six, uh, hours a day.

**Tali:** That's a long time.

**Laura:** I was at home, so it's not so difficult. I was doing nothing. The only thing, uh, uh, remained to me in, in the lockdowns, in lockdowns in in Italy were for maybe four months.[00:09:00]

So the only thing you have to, to do is to, uh, turn on television and hear news. Mono automat news, only one news for four for four months. Or maybe read or maybe do something else. And Bitcoin was my, that, uh, that's something else for me.

**Tali:** Wow. So the lockdown was actually a real blessing for you then.

**Laura:** I have to, I have to thank covid and lockdown for a lot of reasons. And one of the, one of them is, uh, Bitcoin.

**Tali:** Wow.

Wonderful. Okay, so after the three days, uh, webinar, which spanned 10 hours, you went from a skeptic to a believer?

**Laura:** I became from a, um, a no-coiner at all [00:10:00] from, um, uh, a no user, uh, no. No. Uh, I, I didn't know anything about Bitcoin until the, until that time, and I became, uh, uh, maybe an enthusiast.

**Tali:** Enthusiast. Okay.

**Laura:** Yes. Yeah, enthusiast. Sorry.

**Tali:** Yeah.

**Laura:** My pronounce is nice.

**Tali:** No, you're doing wonderful. So, in the, okay, so after that, after that initial three days' webinar, you said that you studied five to six hours a day. Can you tell our audience what you study specifically? Maybe they, that will guide them toward, um, different resources.

**Laura:** Yes. I, I joined to, uh, an online course. One day a week on Monday. And I, I, I do that course already. Now it's three years that I study.

**Tali:** What course was that?

**Laura:** Uh, from a teacher from, uh, one of the Italian, uh, maximalist, uh, here in Italy.

**Tali:** Got it. [00:11:00] Okay.

**Laura:** Another one that has to reinvent his job because he, he was not able to, to go out.

For his job. And he decided to, to start some, uh, some courses about this.

**Tali:** Okay. So, so basically online courses you were interacting with live people, so it wasn't necessarily that you were listening to record a podcasts or, uh, reading a bunch of articles or books.

**Laura:** Yes. And, and I, I saw a, a, a lot of, uh, uh, in Italy, there is a, a very nice and huge movement about Bitcoin.

Uh, there are a lot of videos, a lot of tutorials, a lot of podcasts, and they are very, very skillful, very, very skillful. Uh, during the, the course I, I, I found very easy for me to understand. The protocol. [00:12:00] Bitcoin? Uh, I, I'm graduated in physics, so it's easy for me. Okay. But it, it, uh, it doesn't matter. Uh, what is your instruction and your background, because when you meet Bitcoin, you, you are a person that live in this world.

You have some goal in mind. Maybe you don't know your goal, but when you meet Bitcoin, your goals are, uh, behind you. It's total clear, okay? And you decide, uh, how many hours you, you, you can, uh, study. During the, the day. It's only, it's only a mindset. Uh, and you, you only have to decide to take that moment for, for, for you.

For yourself. This is enough. I had a lot of hours, but I preferred to, to go. To, to job, maybe not to meet Bitcoin. I don't know.

**Tali:** Yeah.

**Laura:** I think I, I prefer this.

**Tali:** [00:13:00] So you said once you meet Bitcoin, you will, your goals become clear. Can you tell me more about that? What does that mean exactly?

**Laura:** Uh, uh, during the, the, the course, uh, after three years, I became, uh, one of the two senior assistant of the teacher.

Okay. So, uh, we meet a lot of people. And, uh, anybody has, he, he, his or her own needs. Someone is a merchant and need to accept Bitcoin. Someone is, um, uh, uh, near the retirement, retirement period. So without job, cannot do groceries. Uh, Spacer, sorry. Cannot buy groceries. Okay. And anybody that meet Bitcoin and understand how to manage [00:14:00] maybe only, only to manage how to buy Bitcoin, how to store Bitcoin and how to use Bitcoin, understand the path that have to go for him or for her.

I never met except maybe, but I don't know, except music maybe. But music, uh, in a, as a, a big, um, um, a big world only, only music maybe is, uh, so universal for, for individual people, for individual needs, like Bitcoin. But music is, uh, you, you can like, uh, rock, you can like classical music, so the entire music. And Bitcoin is, uh, maybe, uh, uh, a sort of, uh, you, you, you, you, you can find sort of genres that you like inside the, the protocol.

**Tali:** Thank you for joining us today. We will continue this [00:15:00] conversation tomorrow. Be sure to come back and hear the rest. See you next time.