Former UK Independence Party (UKIP) Leader Nigel Farage He likened his experience as a political outcast to what is happening with the Bitcoin movement.
The former member of the European Parliament (MEP), known as a eurosceptic, served until Britain left the EU, but has made numerous “anti-establishment” statements in the past, including condemning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He questions climate change data and opposes bank bailouts.
He has earned a reputation as a political maverick because he doesn’t like to “draw the line”. At the same time, his outspoken views, primarily on immigration, have also been met with derision.
Farage now calls Bitcoin “the ultimate freedom.”
Farage Sees Bitcoin as Economic Rebellion
At Bitcoin Amsterdam, Peter McCormack, host of the What Bitcoin Did Podcast, hinted at Farage’s awkward attendance at the conference and asked, “What are you doing here?”
Farage said he “led a political uprising” against an establishment that was accused of being “crazy, bad and dangerous”. He likened it to the movement, saying both are dissent. But for Bitcoin, it stands financially.
Farage added:
“What I think is happening with Bitcoin is that we are seeing a similar rebellion. Moved and led.”
With that, his desire for freedom and independence makes meetings and the Bitcoin community a “perfectly natural place.”
McCormack agreed, stating that BTC is a politically unpopular idea and that investors have been stigmatized as terrorists and financial criminals.
people power
In bringing about change, Farage said radical new ideas, whether political, scientific or financial, are subject to ridicule and resistance.
But to change the negative narrative surrounding Bitcoin, the former MEP told his supporters to start a grassroots movement to talk to friends and acquaintances, “hunt down” political representatives, and derive power and influence from numbers. We called on them to do their part by building. Farage said:
“In fact, you guys have a lot more power than you think … when I was building the Purple Revolution, from literally dozens of us in the pub, to hundreds of people across the country. To millions of supporters, the phrase I used was “Join the People’s Army.”
Offering his experience of overcoming establishment and gaining real change, Farage said it happens when a million people step in unity.
