Spotlight Series Ep. 2: Rep. Nick Begich

Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) reached Congress by an unusual route: founding software companies and holding Bitcoin since 2013. BPI's David Zell sat down with him at PubKey to talk about how a builder's instincts shape the way he legislates, his bill to give the U.S. a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and the policy questions AI is raising faster than Washington can answer them.The conversation runs from Begich's 440 coins on Mt. Gox, to the American Reserve Modernization Act (ARMA), the ~93-year cycle of global reserve currencies, the "untethering" of money from scarcity, and why he believes AI's hardest problem is the "disintermediation of purpose" rather than unemployment. They close on UBI, Alaska's Permanent Fund as a model of citizen ownership, and what's next for the budget and healthcare.Guest: Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK)Host: David Zell, Bitcoin Policy InstituteRecorded at PubKeyCHAPTERS0:00 Intro: A Founder Comes to Congress1:21 From Baylor to Ford to Building a Software Company5:17 Finding Bitcoin in 2013 & Surviving Mt. Gox6:44 The Founder's Mindset vs. the Zero-Sum Worldview13:56 ARMA: The Case for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve19:25 The "Untethering Event": Scarcity, Inflation & the Debt Spiral25:58 AI's Promise, Peril & the "Disintermediation of Purpose"31:59 Open-Source AI, China & Catastrophic Misuse Risk39:14 Drawing the Regulatory Line & the "Bitcoin of AI"42:25 UBI vs. Alaska's Permanent Fund: "Universal Basic Investment"49:43 What's Next: The Budget, Healthcare & Quantum#Bitcoin #BitcoinPolicy #ARMA #NickBegich #AIPolicy #DigitalAssets #StrategicBitcoinReserve #BPI #Crypto #MonetaryPolicy