Blockchain and Beyond: Dr. Jamar Montgomery's Vision for the Future
The discussion centers around the formidable expertise of Dr. Jamar Montgomery, a distinguished polymath whose diverse accomplishments span engineering, law, finance, and technology. Having earned a mechanical engineering degree at the tender age of 19, he subsequently became the youngest weapons system engineer in U.S. history. Dr. Montgomery’s insights into blockchain technology and governance are particularly salient, as he has been a thought leader in this domain since 2016. His multifaceted career includes advising influential figures and engaging in juvenile justice reform, where he emphasizes the necessity for community involvement and the exercise of individual rights. Throughout this episode, I engage with Dr. Montgomery to explore his profound experiences and the implications of his work on societal structures and personal empowerment.
The dialogue with Dr. Montgomery delves into the intricate interplay between personal experiences and professional journeys. He candidly shares the profound influence of his mentors, notably his adopted grandfathers, who instilled in him the values of community advocacy and business acumen. Their teachings have shaped his approach to social justice and have propelled his endeavors in public defense and political aspirations. Montgomery's reflections on his shift from engineering to law reveal a transformative journey driven by personal challenges, including a tumultuous custody battle and experiences of childhood trauma. This narrative not only highlights the resilience required to overcome adversity but also illustrates how such experiences can catalyze a commitment to advocacy and reform, particularly in the realms of juvenile justice and community empowerment.
Takeaways:
- Dr. Jamar Montgomery is a polymath with expertise in engineering, law, finance, and technology.
- He emphasizes the necessity of exercising one's rights in order to truly possess them.
- The juvenile justice system's inequities stem from socioeconomic factors and require community engagement.
- Montgomery's mentors significantly influenced his journey towards activism and community advocacy.
- He advocates for entrepreneurship and risk-taking as essential skills for youth development.
- Montgomery's insights on blockchain technology illustrate its potential to democratize investment opportunities.
Links referenced in this episode:
Transcript
My guest today.
Speaker A:My guest today is Dr.
Speaker A:Jamar Montgomery.
Speaker A:He is a polymath spanning engineering, law, finance and technology.
Speaker A:A prodigy, he earned a mechanical engineering degree at 19 before becoming the youngest weapons system engineer in U.
Speaker A:S.
Speaker A:Naval history.
Speaker A:He later obtained a J.D.
Speaker A:mBA in finance, clerked for the Louisiana State Senate and U.S.
Speaker A:attorney General's office.
Speaker A:U.S.
Speaker A:attorney's office, and advise on counterterrorism at Bose.
Speaker A:Allen Hamilton.
Speaker A: A Blockchain Pioneer Since: Speaker A:Montgomery has spoken at Davos African NXT and the All Black National Convention, advising influencers like Kanye west and US Presidents.
Speaker A:He has led tech policy research at New America, defended youth as a juvenile public defender, and ran for U.S.
Speaker A: senate in Louisiana in: Speaker A:A thought leader in blockchain and governance, he continues to shape policy, innovation and educational globally.
Speaker A:We welcome him to the podcast.
Speaker A:We welcome him.
Speaker A:Well, Jamar, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker A:How you doing today?
Speaker B:Doing incredibly well, man.
Speaker B:How are you?
Speaker A:I'm great.
Speaker A:I can't complain about one thing.
Speaker A:Well, I could complain, but then people just turn the podcast off, so.
Speaker B:I don't know, man.
Speaker B:You might get some people trauma bonding with you.
Speaker B:Oh, he's going through the same thing.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:He's also whining.
Speaker A:So I like to ask my guests this question.
Speaker A:What's the best piece of advice you ever received?
Speaker B:The best piece of advice that I ever received.
Speaker B:That is a great question.
Speaker B:You know, probably the best piece of advice I've ever gotten was.
Speaker B:Probably the advice that I ever got that I've ever gotten has been the advice that I have forgotten.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Why do I say.
Speaker B:Why do I say why do I say that?
Speaker B:Because oftentimes people will give us advice, but it doesn't necessarily stick with us.
Speaker B:This.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So the best piece of advice that I have received has been.
Speaker B:That's a great question.
Speaker B:Best piece of advice that I've received.
Speaker B:The only rights that you have are the ones that you exercise.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:And how is that advice you forgot to use, how has that impacted your life?
Speaker B:It's impacted my wife in a number of ways.
Speaker B:In a number of ways.
Speaker B:And understanding that you will be in situations where if you don't take action, then you'll often be a victim of inaction, you'll be a victim of circumstance.
Speaker B:And so oftentimes we're looking for, we're trained and brought up in a culture that says follow the rules.
Speaker B:And yet there's so many rules that you don't even know what to follow.
Speaker B:But we think of rules in terms of things that guide our behavior versus rules that constrain somebody else's behavior.
Speaker B:So if you don't even know what your rights are, right, meaning that that is something that makes nobody else can infringe upon, then you'll never be able to exercise them.
Speaker B:So the only rights that you actually have are the ones that you exercise.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:I'm curious.
Speaker A:I looked at your background and your bio, and you have had a very diverse and impactful background.
Speaker A:But I'm curious, as you think about your life, who were some of the people that served as mentors or maybe inspiration for you on your journey?
Speaker B:My.
Speaker B:My two adopted grandfathers of Freddy.
Speaker B:Freddy Hatcher.
Speaker B:Freddy Hatcher, Freddy Johns, excuse me, Freddy Johns Jr.
Speaker B:And Goodness Gracious, Mr.
Speaker B:Hatcher.
Speaker B:These were my mentors that became.
Speaker B:Ended up being like grandfathers.
Speaker B:John R.
Speaker B:Hatchet III and Freddie Lee Johns.
Speaker B:My two adopted grandfathers.
Speaker A:What made them so stand out in your mind so much and how they impacted you.
Speaker B:I got to spend a considerable amount of time with them as a younger man in my early 20s, and then in my late 20s and early 30s to really.
Speaker B:These men were.
Speaker B:Mr.
Speaker B:Hatcher was in his 70s when I met him.
Speaker B:And this man was as sharp as a scalpel.
Speaker B:Had been the president of the Ventura County NAACP for, like, 28 years at that time.
Speaker B:And he was really a king in his own right.
Speaker B:He taught me about community advocacy, activism, being a true liaison, and how to exercise power as a person of influence in a community and in the city and in the county.
Speaker B:My.
Speaker B:A lot of my focus has been on social justice and community building.
Speaker B:And then with Freddie Lee Johns, now I got to learn what it was like to be a king in the business world, how to operate as a king in your family, a king in the business world and the connections between business and community.
Speaker B:So those two men, you know, with Mr.
Speaker B: ith him every day from, like,: Speaker B:This was when I was in law school.
Speaker B: So from basically: Speaker B: And in: Speaker B:So that's really where our relationship started to get deeper with Mr.
Speaker B:Hatcher.
Speaker B:I knew Mr.
Speaker B: Hatcher from: Speaker B:I was his driver.
Speaker B:I would get off work.
Speaker B:I was his driver.
Speaker B:He appointed me vice president of Legal Redress for the Ventura county naacp.
Speaker B:And he really taught me how to, like, just how powerful a letter is.
Speaker B:And he was the inspiration for me going to law school because I watched him and his knowledge of the law and how he was able to help people who had been discriminated against, people who had issues with the police, and really utilizing the law in that sense.
Speaker B:So, yeah, those two men really were foundational in my construction of the man that I am today.
Speaker B:And, you know, of course, my dad.
Speaker B:But it's a difference when you have the parents that you are given versus the people of influence, talents that you choose.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:How did you shift from being the youngest mechanical engineer to law?
Speaker A:Just kind of give me that journey because it's an interesting shift in terms of where you started from to where you are now.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:So what happened was, is I was going through, like, custody battle and that kind of thing.
Speaker B:Many people don't necessarily realize this, but I was a victim of childhood sexual assault.
Speaker B:And so my daughter's mother is actually nine years older than me and started, I guess you could say grooming me at the age of 17.
Speaker B:And she was 26.
Speaker B:I ended up having a daughter with her, and I was going through all that legal nonsense and rigmarole, and I'm paying lawyers and this, that, and the third.
Speaker B:And then at the same time, here it is.
Speaker B:Is my mentor.
Speaker B: ilize the Civil Rights act of: Speaker B:And I'm watching him write letters and getting things done.
Speaker B:And so, you know, he put it in my heart.
Speaker B:He was like, you know what?
Speaker B:I'm gonna make you chair of Legal Redress now.
Speaker B:You're going to learn how to utilize this stuff and how this stuff is done.
Speaker B:And it was probably one of the biggest, best things that he could have did.
Speaker B:Then he says, he's like, you know what?
Speaker B:Since you like to argue and you, You, You.
Speaker B:You like to make your point.
Speaker B:He said, you should really think about going to law school.
Speaker B:And I'm like, man, I'm thinking about anything about no law school.
Speaker B:Like, I'm cool.
Speaker B:I don't like lawyers.
Speaker B:You know, I barely like the one that I'm paying right now.
Speaker B:He's a good lawyer.
Speaker B:Don't get me wrong.
Speaker B:Don't get it wrong.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But if I.
Speaker B:If.
Speaker B:If I didn't have to pay.
Speaker B:It would be, I'd like them even more.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But it was once I had finished up probably one of the biggest missions in my career with where Kim Jong Un was getting ready to launch his first ballistic missiles.
Speaker B:And I was put on one of the teams to go out there and help prepare the Korean US Navy to shoot those missiles down.
Speaker B:After a successful mission, I came back and I was like, okay, what's next?
Speaker B:What's next?
Speaker B:I, I went to my, my command.
Speaker B:I went to my command, I said, hey, you know what?
Speaker B:I like this patent law stuff.
Speaker B:I think that it would be good where you guys are getting into creating more, developing more products.
Speaker B:It would be good to have an engineer who knows what we do, who also goes to law school.
Speaker B:So instead of you having to pay somebody else to do this work, this is something I can do.
Speaker B:Oh, my command hemming hard.
Speaker B:Oh, we don't know this, that.
Speaker B:And the third, I said, no problem, put in my two weeks notice.
Speaker B:And in that two weeks, I got meetings with people that I had been trying to get meetings with for the last year and a half trying to get me to stay.
Speaker B:And I was like, no, if you guys weren't going to support me then, then this is just a trap to try to get me to stay.
Speaker B:And literally two weeks later, I was gone.
Speaker A:That's an interesting leap from counterterrorism to law.
Speaker A:How did you end up in the counterterrorism part of that?
Speaker A:Because you, that's also a fascinating position to be, to be in as well.
Speaker B:So it was.
Speaker B:I went from, from working for the US Navy as a weapons systems engineer to law school, and I ended up getting a position with Booz Allen Hamilton and they were working on the countering violent extremist organizations.
Speaker B:They were on that contract.
Speaker B:And so I got involved in that because they saw, oh, well, you have this defense background.
Speaker B:You also have some intelligence experience.
Speaker B:And so we want to be able to utilize that for this project that we're working on.
Speaker B:So it was, it was, it was exciting work.
Speaker B:It was, it was, it was fun work.
Speaker B:It was fun work.
Speaker A:And then you also made a run for Louisiana Senate.
Speaker A:I'm from Louisiana.
Speaker B:So where in Louisiana?
Speaker A:Baton Rouge.
Speaker B:Oh, Baton Rouge.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:You know, I went to Southern.
Speaker A:I did.
Speaker A:Oh, you did.
Speaker A:I know that.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did too.
Speaker B:I got, Would you, what'd you major in?
Speaker A:Computer science.
Speaker B:Computer science.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I got my, my law degree of my MBA from Southern.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Fellow.
Speaker A:Fellow.
Speaker A:Jaguar.
Speaker B:Jaguar.
Speaker B:You know it?
Speaker B:You know it.
Speaker A:So tell us about the runner for Louisiana senate.
Speaker B:I ran for u.
Speaker B:S.
Speaker B:Senate in the u.
Speaker B:S.
Speaker B:Louisiana.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So that was an.
Speaker B:That was an incredible experience because at the time, I was also working as a general juvenile public defender.
Speaker B:So the blessing was, is that this was during the pandemic, so people were able to be remote.
Speaker B:So that gave me a lot of freedom to move around.
Speaker B:And here it is.
Speaker B:I'm running for office.
Speaker B:What inspired me was two things.
Speaker B:I was teaching.
Speaker B:I had just finished a teaching contract with southern university in shreveport.
Speaker B:I was teaching political science.
Speaker B:And while I was teaching political science, I was also as a public defender.
Speaker B:So I was like my students and my clients, right?
Speaker B:My students who are, quote, unquote, supposed to be the best, right?
Speaker B:They're going to college, trying to do something their lives.
Speaker B:And then my clients, who are also the best, but found themselves in some.
Speaker B:Some.
Speaker B:Some bad situations, right?
Speaker B:Both feel the same way about their government.
Speaker B:And I said, there's got to be something to be done about this.
Speaker B:And so I said, you know what?
Speaker B:I'm gonna run on a platform of juvenile justice reform.
Speaker B:Bigger, better business, social action, education.
Speaker B:Bigger, better business, social action and education, right?
Speaker B:So juvenile justice reform, smart business.
Speaker B:Smart business regulations.
Speaker B:Blockchain.
Speaker B:Blockchain and crypto education.
Speaker B:That's the platform that I was running on.
Speaker B:And you really got.
Speaker B:You really get to see why our political system is the way that it is, and our system is the way that it is because people are disengaged from our system.
Speaker B:And people think that people will.
Speaker B:People will get emotional about politics.
Speaker B:Politics.
Speaker B:When they don't realize that it's about money.
Speaker B:And so if they can keep you in your emotions, they can keep you distracted from the money.
Speaker B:And our political system is run by money.
Speaker B:It is run by people who are ruthlessly focused on staying in power.
Speaker B:And our system is.
Speaker B:The way that it is is because people are easily swayed by their emotions and not by facts.
Speaker A:I want to dig a little deeper into the juvenile justice reform part because I've had a couple guests on recently talking about the justice system and how, like you kind of mentioned, it is disproportionately unfair to poor people.
Speaker A:Race plays a part in it, but I almost think that it's.
Speaker A:If you have money, it doesn't matter what color you are.
Speaker A:Justice works better for you, a little better.
Speaker A:But it seems like a lot of people who don't have money and resources get caught up in a system, and it kind of traps them into something they can't get out of.
Speaker A:Just Kind of give me your thoughts about juvenile justice reform.
Speaker B:Well, the system.
Speaker B:The system can either use you or you can use the system.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:The system can either use you or you use the system.
Speaker B:What does that mean?
Speaker B:The system is either getting money off of you or you're getting money off the system.
Speaker B:Now, oftentimes we don't like to think of, oh, well, I don't want to get money off the system.
Speaker B:Well, what do you think every government contractor is doing?
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker B:And so when you think about, okay, well, the system getting money off of you, what do you think that when they put you in jail and they give you and they find you, what is the system doing getting money off of you?
Speaker B:The juvenile justice system.
Speaker B:Race plays a part into it.
Speaker B:Socioeconomics plays a part into it.
Speaker B:And there's a high correlation between your social economics and race.
Speaker B:How can I say that even more clearly as a Black people are caught up in a system that they refuse to take responsibility for.
Speaker B:We get used by a system that we refuse to take responsibility and take control of.
Speaker B:Point blank, period.
Speaker B:We have accepted what other communities evaluation and research of us is versus having our own scholars that, you know, like Dr.
Speaker B:Tommy J.
Speaker B:Curry with black male studies of having a rethinking of what our community looks like and what our community needs are.
Speaker B:So yes, we do need more black police officers, but we need more black police officers that are, that, that are accountable to a police civil review board, that are accountable to a city council or your city commissioners.
Speaker B:Those are the kinds of things that you need.
Speaker B:So if you want systematic change, then you have to make changes within the system.
Speaker B:And you, as an individual, as a hard working person, you have to make it, make it important that you show up to the PTA meetings, that you show up to the school board meetings, that you show up to the city council meetings, that you show up to the city commission, the county commission meetings.
Speaker B:Because then if they see that you are a consistent face there, they know that you care about these things and they know, they fear that you might actually have influence because you're the one that's, that's showing up when so many people don't.
Speaker B:I don't feel as if I fully answered your question, so let me know if there's any other ways where I need to clarify.
Speaker A:Well, I like what you said and I do think the involvement of the community is important.
Speaker A:If you were advising, you know, our community as to how do you make sure that you get the most out of the system?
Speaker A:The system is not working against you what are some common things that every person needs to be aware of to get the most out of the system?
Speaker B:Be willing to take the risk of a criminal, but not be a criminal.
Speaker B:What do I mean?
Speaker B:What do I mean?
Speaker B:The reason why our kids turn to crime or crime or those kinds of acts is because they want nice things too, and they don't have a way of getting them.
Speaker B:Like we look at, we look at crime as if it's a moral issue versus it being an economic issue.
Speaker B:And the hungrier that you get, the hungrier that you get, the more loose your morals will become.
Speaker B:That is human nature.
Speaker B:And so now it's about, okay, how can I put you out of.
Speaker B:How can I put you at a particular place where.
Speaker B:How can I instill into you the values of risk taking, of entrepreneurship?
Speaker B:The same thing that many criminals have.
Speaker B:Maybe not necessarily entrepreneurship, but definitely being risk on, risk hungry, Being able to instill that in our children, but pointed into the right directions, pointed into the areas of entrepreneurship, pointed into the areas of creativity.
Speaker B:Those are one of, those are one of the ways we don't.
Speaker B:I don't feel like we prepare our children for the realities of where they're, of where they're at, of what they're, of what they're going to be facing.
Speaker B:Yes, the cop may look at you this particular way if you're dressed this particular way.
Speaker B:Is it fair?
Speaker B:Is it right?
Speaker B:No, it's not.
Speaker B:But your goal here is to win.
Speaker B:Not to just do whatever you want to do is recognizing the system that you're in and being able to not adapt to it, but adapt above it and be ahead of it.
Speaker B:And that's the, and that's the challenge is that, you know, who wants to be able to tell their kids, like, you can't do what the other kids.
Speaker B:Kids do, right?
Speaker B:You can't do what the other kids do.
Speaker B:That, that's a, That's a horrible reality to live, the horrible reality to live in.
Speaker B:However, these are the things in which I want you to do to set yourself up for even greater success, because you're going to be doing something different than everybody else.
Speaker B:There's going to be challenges and barriers that you're going to have to overcome that everybody else isn't going to have to go through.
Speaker B:Don't.
Speaker B:Don't shun those be.
Speaker B:Don't shun those barriers.
Speaker B:Embrace those barriers.
Speaker B:Why?
Speaker B:Because when the road becomes easier for you, you've already built up more of a resilience muscle.
Speaker B:You've already built up more of a of an endurance muscle than any of your peers.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:You know, I like what you said too.
Speaker A:And I hadn't thought about this way before.
Speaker A:I don't think it's a lack of hustle in our community because the hustle is there.
Speaker A:It's just how you, like you said, how you direct your energies and your, your work.
Speaker A:Because a lot of people who are making it on the streets are willing to work hard, but they're working hard for the wrong thing.
Speaker A:How do we redirect that hustle, that hard work, that even an ingenuity, I mean, some of it's really, I mean I'm.
Speaker A:If you look at some of the cripples who get arrested, I'm impressed with their ingenuity.
Speaker A:It's just directed in the wrong place and the wrong energy.
Speaker A:And so I like how you said that.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's, it's, it's.
Speaker B:Once again, it's embracing.
Speaker B:It is such a, it is a, it is such a complex.
Speaker B:It is such a complex problem.
Speaker B:And particularly where you see the breakdown is in single parent households.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because just as much as people would like to say differently, men provide a balancing force or even a directing force that our women just aren't able to do.
Speaker B:They weren't designed to do that.
Speaker B:And so I was outside with my mom one day and she was watching this little boy, little white boy with his, with his dad just going and jumping into the pool.
Speaker B:He had to be like two, right?
Speaker B:It just, just two, just jumping into the pool, jumping into his mom, into his dad's arms.
Speaker B:And I told my mom, I said, we don't do that.
Speaker B:That's, that doesn't happen with our children.
Speaker B:It'll happen with, with, with if the dad's involved, but that doesn't happen with our children.
Speaker B:She's like, what do you mean?
Speaker B:Is that.
Speaker B:That little boy right now is being taught to be, be comfortable with risk.
Speaker B:He's being taught to be comfortable with risk.
Speaker B:That I can go and take this jump out here and my dad's here.
Speaker B:I said, now imagine a dad doing that.
Speaker B:A dad, any dad is going to be, most dads are going to be in that position.
Speaker B:But what happens if you don't grow up with a dad?
Speaker B:Our women are not built that way to be like, they're built to protect.
Speaker B:They're built to try to keep them safe.
Speaker B:So if it looks like anything that's un.
Speaker B:Unsafe, then you're not going, you're, you're going to, hey, don't, don't get involved in that what's, what's risky, Starting a business.
Speaker B:What's risky, what doesn't provide stability, starting a business.
Speaker B:So these are the things.
Speaker B:And once again, so when we see this level of ingenuity, when we see this level of ingenuity, that ingenuity is always there.
Speaker B:But the direction of what a father provides wasn't.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:I'm curious, in your working in the Juvenile Justice Department, how has that influenced your view of justice and advocacy today?
Speaker A:You say you're working in that field now.
Speaker A:How is that impacting what you do today?
Speaker B:It's made me callous.
Speaker B:It's made me callous.
Speaker B:Made me.
Speaker B:Made me callous.
Speaker B:And it's made me.
Speaker B:It's made me jaded and it's made me.
Speaker B:I wouldn't know.
Speaker B:It has made me jaded.
Speaker B:This may be callous.
Speaker B:It's made me callous and it's made me callous.
Speaker B:Because we give ourselves excuses.
Speaker B:We give ourselves excuses.
Speaker B:We give ourselves excuses.
Speaker B:Everybody's got a role, even if it's getting rolled over.
Speaker B:And we spend so much of our resources on people who have made it in their hearts and made it in their minds that they're going to do wrong instead of focusing on the people who should have a chance.
Speaker B:And that's our children.
Speaker B:That's, number one, is our children.
Speaker B:But we focus so much time in our energy.
Speaker B:We f.
Speaker B:We as a people, we focus so much of our time and energy on the wrong things, on stupid, stupid, stupid things.
Speaker B:I met it.
Speaker B:I met the IEEE AIoT, which is AI and IoT, which is Internet of Things.
Speaker B:IEEE is like the, the people who set the standards, electrical standards, okay, The Institute for Something of electrical engineers.
Speaker B:I'm here and there's very.
Speaker B:There may be one or two black Americans here.
Speaker B:Everyone else here is South Asian.
Speaker B:This is the future.
Speaker A:And nobody's there but you.
Speaker A:You and a few other people.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:Like our, our, our interest, Our, our interests need to change.
Speaker B:Our priorities need to change.
Speaker B:And you wonder why our children are in a situation that they, our children are in this particular situation now.
Speaker B:It should be of no surprise that they become adults that are dependent on, on minimum wage jobs and future.
Speaker B:They're not in the place.
Speaker B:They're not in the places where they need to be.
Speaker B:And we as parent, we as parents.
Speaker B:Are we busy?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Are there things that are going on?
Speaker B:Yes, but it's, it's like the amount of people that I have tried to tell about AI, about blockchain, about cryptocurrency, and they just Brush it off.
Speaker B:And I say, well, you know, know, I'm trying to make you rich, but I don't mind being the only rich person around.
Speaker A:So why do you think the resistance to.
Speaker A:So I just saw that in an article today in the news that some.
Speaker A:In some 401ks, the new administration is allowing people to invest their retirement in crypto.
Speaker A:But even.
Speaker A:Even the report was.
Speaker A:But people are very leery of crypto, even though crypto could have a real huge impact on their.
Speaker A:On their future investments.
Speaker A:So what is the.
Speaker A:What's the holdback for people getting into crypto?
Speaker B:People don't understand it.
Speaker B:That's one.
Speaker B:People don't understand it.
Speaker B:And yeah, that's.
Speaker B:That's the number one holdback is people don't understand it.
Speaker B:The second holdback back is even if you don't understand it, you don't know who to trust.
Speaker A:Yeah, we have too many Barry Madoff stories, right?
Speaker B:You have too many Barry, you know, you have too many Bernie Madoff stories.
Speaker B:But it.
Speaker B:At this, at the same time, it's.
Speaker B:It's like, well, that's the part about risk.
Speaker B:That's the part about that.
Speaker B:That's the part about risk.
Speaker B:And, And I look at people, I've had classmates come up to me like, dude, you were telling us about this in law school.
Speaker B:You were telling us about this in law school.
Speaker B:We didn't listen, man.
Speaker B:You told me to do this, and I didn't.
Speaker B:And I kind of shrugged and I said, you know, nobody listens to the man with three degrees.
Speaker B:Nobody listens to the genius.
Speaker B:But that's okay.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's okay, right?
Speaker B:Watch this.
Speaker B:So the thing is, is I'm too close to you.
Speaker B:You think that because what.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:I don't necessarily know your situation, but the simple fact that we're in the same place, you're like, well, this person is in.
Speaker B:Is my peer, and this person is in the same situation that I'm.
Speaker B:So you can tell what people are thinking by.
Speaker B:By what they do.
Speaker B:So if you're like, this man's telling me about crypto, this man's telling me about crypto, and he's wearing combat boots.
Speaker B:And he's wearing combat boots.
Speaker B:And basically kind of the same outfit every day.
Speaker B:What the hell do you know?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A: involved in blockchain since: Speaker A:What drew you to that technology?
Speaker A:Being an engineer, I'm sure that had something to do with it.
Speaker B:But 100 being an engineer.
Speaker B:100 being an engineer.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I heard about blockchain.
Speaker B: I heard about bitcoin back in: Speaker B:2012.
Speaker B:2013, on a website called Gizmoto.
Speaker B:And I was like, they were talking about how it was used for the black market and the.
Speaker B:The deep.
Speaker B:What is it?
Speaker B:The goodness, Christian.
Speaker B:I don't know why my brain is felony.
Speaker B:The dark web.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Dark web.
Speaker B:On the dark web.
Speaker B:Well, at the time, I had a clearance, so I wasn't trying to be involved in anything that may have been necessarily illicit.
Speaker B: Then in: Speaker B:I come across some financial educators, Reggie Middleton.
Speaker B:And he was talking about finance and he was talking about crypto.
Speaker B:And I said, what?
Speaker B:Programmable money, smart contracts.
Speaker B:And I go and read the Ethereum white paper.
Speaker B:That was it for me.
Speaker B:I remember where I was at.
Speaker B:I was in D.C.
Speaker B:i was in Washington, D.C.
Speaker B:at the time.
Speaker B:I was standing in this lady's basement.
Speaker B:I was renting out her basement.
Speaker B:And I read the white paper.
Speaker B:Paper.
Speaker B:And from then on, it was over.
Speaker B:I'm talking about every waking moment I'm researching crypto.
Speaker B:I'm researching and understanding and really understanding this technology.
Speaker B: And in: Speaker B:I found another individual that was just as passionate about it as I was, and we ended up building a coin together called Amy.
Speaker A:So for those people who don't understand the whole crypto bitcoin thing, kind of give us a Reader's Digest explanation of it.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:So, first off, crypto is built on top of a technology called blockchain, the same way that any house that you have is built on top of particular foundation.
Speaker B:So blockchain.
Speaker B:But blockchain access if acts as if a digital ledger.
Speaker B:So imagine, have you ever dealt with like Google Sheets or Google Docs, right?
Speaker B:And on Google Docs, you can see when somebody makes a change, right?
Speaker B:You can grant people access to your document and they can change it.
Speaker B:You can see who makes changes and who doesn't.
Speaker B:Well, think of that.
Speaker B:Think of like a Google Sheets, where anybody who has access to the Internet is able to see it and they're able to make transactions or inputs onto it.
Speaker B:However, nobody is allowed to erase anything.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And the more transactions that occur, the more transactions that that occur, the more secure that the.
Speaker B:That it gets.
Speaker B:Because the only way in which you're able to add more, what we call blocks onto it, it's like every transaction goes into a block, and once those blocks get filled, that block gets linked to the.
Speaker B:The previous block, and then the cycle repeats all over again.
Speaker B:Well, the longer that the chain gets, the more secure that it gets because nobody's able to erase blocks off of it and nobody's able to erase transactions off of it.
Speaker B:We figured out a way of utilizing this ledger system, this, this digital accounting system system, as a way of actually exchanging value and in some ways even acting as money.
Speaker B:So blockchain is the underlying technology and it allows, it allows for you to have a not immutable, but almost immutable ledger system that cannot necessarily be changed.
Speaker B:Now you said, okay, I have a secure technology or somewhat secure technology that allows me to do transactions.
Speaker B:Let me build a company on top of it.
Speaker B:Oh, but you know what, I don't want to go through, I don't want to go through the New York Stock Exchange in going public.
Speaker B:So you know what?
Speaker B:I'm going to issue these things called tokens, which in some ways act like equity.
Speaker B:But the difference with tokens is that it can act like equity or it could actually give you access to the actual technology.
Speaker B:And I can get into that, I can get deeper into that.
Speaker B:But for the 30,000 foot explanation, cryptocurrency.
Speaker B:Cryptocurrency acts like venture capital for the 99%.
Speaker B:Most of the time.
Speaker B:We as individuals don't have access to the next, to the Ubers, to the next Uber.
Speaker B:Before Uber went public, before Palantir, before Google went public, they had investors and those were usually venture capital or even private equity.
Speaker B:In order to have access to those kinds of opportunities, you have to have a certain net worth.
Speaker B:Well, crypto allowed for you to have access to these startup companies without having to go, go through venture capital.
Speaker B:Now they could offer you direct equity directly without having to go through the public process, but it was open on the Internet so that anybody around the world could participate.
Speaker A:So the question I'm sure people are asking is, that's interesting.
Speaker A:How do you make money in this process with what you just explained?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:The simplest way of, of, of making money in this process is, and I'll preface this, this is not financial.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:We're not telling you to go invest.
Speaker B:It's not financial advice.
Speaker B:This is technological education.
Speaker A:And what's the other part of it too?
Speaker A:Past results do not predict future results.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Future returns.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Future return.
Speaker B:Yep, yep.
Speaker B:It is the finding, finding crypto projects that are providing a lot of value to the particular space.
Speaker B:Let me give you an example.
Speaker B:So most people think that much of crypto is a scam.
Speaker B:And you could say that 90, 90% of crypto projects don't provide any other real value except the fact that you now have a community of people who believe that this thing is going to go up.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:Then you have companies that have partnered with Swift.
Speaker B:Are you familiar with what Swift is?
Speaker A:No, what's Swift?
Speaker B:Swift is the system that banks use internationally to, for their communications.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:So now I find out that a company is building, is building technology for Swift, which all the banks around the world utilize.
Speaker B:Is that useful?
Speaker A:Oh yeah.
Speaker B:A company that provides such an important service wouldn't invest in another company if they weren't providing something valuable.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Now imagine you as an individual are able to buy tokens from this particular company.
Speaker B:Do you think that that would be valuable?
Speaker A:Oh, I think so.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:So there are crypto companies and that company that just talked about that just gave you that example is called Chainlink.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:What we're now doing is what people don't realize is, is that the traditional system, the traditional banking system, the traditional equities stock system, they're trying to figure out ways of putting it on the blockchain.
Speaker B:The reason why they're trying to figure out ways of putting it on the blockchain is because the block, the New York Stock Exchange closes at a certain time.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Blockchain is a 24 hour market, global market.
Speaker B:Imagine now if I brought my, that same stock that I have in Google and instead of having it being limited to the New York Stock Exchange that I'm able to put that stock on the blockchain.
Speaker B:It moves a lot faster.
Speaker B:I don't have to worry about the, what we call the counterparty risk, which means that somebody can sell me something that they don't necessarily have or what we call shorting a stock.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Like you did with, who was that.
Speaker B:Thing.
Speaker A:The big short game.
Speaker A:GameStop.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:GameStop.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:So now we're these traditional companies that are, that are telling you that you shouldn't buy crypto.
Speaker B:Why are they secretly buying crypto?
Speaker A:I don't think they want me to get, get in on it, get it on the game probably.
Speaker B:Why, why, why do you think that they have secret memorandums of understanding or, or moas with companies that own crypto that when it gets to this particular level that will go ahead and buy it from.
Speaker B:We'll buy, we'll buy the company from you.
Speaker B:And now we'll offer crypto services to our clients that we were telling them that we're not involved.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker B:Something to think about.
Speaker B:JP Morgan calling Bitcoin a fraud and this, that and the third and then within the next year and a Half.
Speaker B:You're going to see that J.P.
Speaker B:morgan and other banks are going to be holding Bitcoin on their actual balance sheets.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:So tell me, tell me a little bit about.
Speaker A:I'm fascinated by the bitcoin thing.
Speaker A:Tell me how the trading works on with crypto.
Speaker B:It's as simple as opening up a Coinbase account which was is you'll go through the same process if you opened up a Charles Schwab account or Ameritrade account.
Speaker B:Same thing.
Speaker B:Except for instead of buying stocks, you'll be buying crypto through Coinbase.
Speaker B:So can you day trade cryptos?
Speaker B:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker B:I don't, I don't recommend it.
Speaker B:That's not, let me rephrase it.
Speaker B:That's not my style.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:That's not my, that's not my style.
Speaker B:I like to buy and hold.
Speaker B:So when I was, when I was unemployed for a year, when I was unemployed for a year, it was investments that I made in crypto.
Speaker B:Three years before that I was able to cash out a portion of it and that replaced my entire yearly salary.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:So further we just talked about, you know, people in our, in our neighborhood, our community.
Speaker A:How would you, what would you recommend for them if they, if they want to get into crypto and they don't know a lot about it, what would be the best method to do that for people?
Speaker B:Check out my YouTube, check out my website, drjamarmontgomery.com I have a video called.
Speaker B:It was originally I put on a set of seminar for some seniors and it was called it's either bitcoin or Crypto for seniors but I think it was Bitcoin for seniors where I give an explanation, go through an hour and I can send you that link for that video.
Speaker A:That'd be great because I'll put in, I'll put in the show notes.
Speaker B:It's, it's really just getting familiar with the technology and what I would say is that it starts with opening up a Coinbase account and then after you open up a Coinbase account I usually, I have a list of coins that I, that I like buying and taking $100 a month and just investing it.
Speaker B:If you, if you take it in bitcoin and I treat it like a long term savings account.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's good.
Speaker A:I could spend all day talking about crypto because I think it's, I do think it's, I do think it's the next phase that we're oftentimes you can talk about.
Speaker A:We are the last ones to figure out about it.
Speaker A:And then by the time you get into it, you know they didn't.
Speaker A:You're like a day late, a dollar so short.
Speaker B:They didn't.
Speaker B:We didn't heard about it.
Speaker B:We just ain't operating on it.
Speaker B:Why?
Speaker B:Cuz we don't understand it.
Speaker B:Well, you didn't understand that girl that she was over there messing with.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:Didn't stop you.
Speaker B:Didn't stop you from being curious.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:So I'm always curious.
Speaker A:I love to ask my guest this question.
Speaker A:Jamar, what do you want your legacy to be?
Speaker B:What do I want my legacy to be?
Speaker B:Of course.
Speaker B:Your.
Speaker B:Your first legacy is your children.
Speaker B:Your first legacy is your children.
Speaker B:My legacy.
Speaker B:I want my legacy to be of empowered individuals who impacted the world in positive ways.
Speaker B:That when you look at those that came under my tutelage, that came under my mentorship, that they are all successful individuals that are making real impact in the world.
Speaker B:That's what I want my legacy to be.
Speaker B:That.
Speaker B:That when people think like, I learned this from.
Speaker B:From Dr.
Speaker B:Jamar Montgomery.
Speaker B:That's what that.
Speaker B:I learned this, how to do this, and I put my own spin on it.
Speaker B:That's what I want my legacy to be.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:Where can people find you and connect with you on social media?
Speaker B:Www.doctor jamarmontgomery.com Dr.
Speaker B:Jamar Montgomery.
Speaker B:And I do G.
Speaker B:Dr.
Speaker B:Jamar Montgomery on Tik Tok.
Speaker B:Dr.
Speaker B:Jamar Montgomery on YouTube.
Speaker A:You would think there'd be more Jamar Montgomery.
Speaker B:So, yeah, I'm.
Speaker B:I'm glad that.
Speaker B:Well, that lets you know that there can only be one.
Speaker B:You will find.
Speaker B:You will find that there was a Jamar.
Speaker B:There is a Jamar Montgomery that used to play for the Colorado Buffs.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:But he doesn't do bitcoin.
Speaker B:No, he don't.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker B:He don't.
Speaker A:So don't take bitcoin advice from him then.
Speaker A:That's what you tell me.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Well, Jamar, thanks so much for being such an amazing guest and providing such great content.
Speaker A:I'd love to have you back on again.
Speaker A:Maybe we just do one whole podcast on bitcoin.
Speaker A:I think we could dig a little deeper into that.
Speaker A:But I really appreciate the time you've given to this topic.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:It's great Speaking with you, Dr.
Speaker B:Hans out.
Speaker A:Thank you.
