Bitcoin is Gambling (And You Can Win Big)

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]I love when people equate investing in Bitcoin with gambling because I have a great response for two crowds of people that this often happens with. Okay. I one response is for kind of the um like older crowd or more like traditional finance crowd that just says like, "Hey, Bitcoin is gambling." They're using it as a in like a derogatory sensor. Like it's too speculative. Like I have an answer for them. And then for your buddy who's just like, you know, a a little bit a little bit broke, like a little a little bit paycheck to paycheck, but just loves sports gambling, right? And they just they view or they love buying that lottery ticket. Like I have an answer for that. And I have and I and I have a bridge that kind of links both those things together because it's really it's really the same answer. All right, so today we're going to dig in on Bitcoin is gambling. Okay, my name is Brian. I've been a personal finance nerd my entire life. I've been a Bitcoin investor since 2015, been a real estate investor since 2019. I spent the last several years of my career working inside Bitcoin fintech companies, building out Bitcoin financial services.

[00:01:01]I was at one place uh helping people get Bitcoin in their IRA accounts, pre- Bitcoin ETFs. I was at another place that was helping bridge the flexibility between Bitcoin and dollars as people um incorporate Bitcoin deeper into their personal finances. I've talked to thousands of Bitcoiners then about their habits when it comes to Bitcoin and Bitcoin investing um both in person and online. And now I'm here working to bridge the Bitcoin and crypto audience on YouTube and the broader personal finance audience on YouTube because I believe these both these groups have talked past each other and this gambling thing honestly is one of these things.

[00:01:35]So that's what we're going to do today.

[00:01:36]And so, okay, to the person who just the classic scenario where you have the like the the Bitcoin viewer or sorry, just kind of the Bitcoin YouTube watcher, but then their dad, you know, is a is a big like just VO guy and he's like, "Oh, Bitcoin is gambling." Okay, for that person, for that person, what that dad needs to understand, what that person needs to understand is, "Hey, totally understand what you're saying.

[00:02:03]understand like the nature of it because it's highly volatile. Here's the thing.

[00:02:08]BlackRock launched a Bitcoin ETF. IBIT was the most successful ETF launched in the history of ETFs. They now make more revenue on their Bitcoin ETF than they do on their S&P 500 ETF. There's now other ETF issuers that are combining Bitcoin and treasuries. They're doing Bitcoin covered call funds. This is a thing. Bitcoin has reached the level of a macro asset where companies are stacking it. countries are stacking it.

[00:02:35]And again, the one of the largest ETF issuers in the country now makes more money on it than they do on the S&P 500.

[00:02:44]That cementss it in a different world and does a pretty good job at pushing back against the it's just gambling narrative. Okay.

[00:02:54]So now to your person that is like that actually is a gambler like actually is betting on sports, buying lottery tickets and [snorts] they're doing it from a place of like I'm not talking about the like high income earner that just like does it for whatever because they just like they like the rush and they have the disposal income. I'm talking about the person that like they like they don't have a ton of savings.

[00:03:16]They're pretty paycheck to paycheck and they're just like they they they it's the only way they see out. like winning the lottery is the only way in their brain that they will ever have a significant amount of money. Like that's just that's the only thing [snorts] that is related to the entire reason why Bitcoin got started in the beginning.

[00:03:36]The entire reason why Bitcoin grew from the small side thing it was on the internet to ET to being the largest ETF in the world or the most successful launch of the ETF in the world is because people that were early involved don't like fiat money. The fiat money is the number one cause of the K-shaped economy and of the wealth gap in the world and of people feeling like they need to gamble in order to earn money or in order to ever have enough money. they don't see a path through working in savings. That's because holding dollars doesn't work. The regular person that works their job and holds dollars loses losses to asset owners. So the only way they see out of it is through gambling.

[00:04:22]So for that person, it's totally fine.

[00:04:26]Bitcoin is in that paradigm. And I would tell that person, Bitcoin is a longunning parlay, a longunning parlay on the world being different. the world being different. So the same motivation, the same reason why you're buying lottery tickets and betting on sports is because like Bitcoin is there for that same exact reason. So the same thesis of this one inx shot is my only shot at having money. Bitcoin has better odds at changing the world than that bet does on hitting. And it's a longunning parlay.

[00:05:03]So you can just keep buying a dollar a day into it, a dollar a day into it, a dollar a day into it. And it's reflexive like Bitcoin or sorry gambling. Gambling is zero sum. Gambling is zero sum when only one person leaves with the pot. If Bitcoin significantly eats into the corporate debt market and the government debt market and transforms the way that money happens in the world, you now have been a part of transforming the world through participating in the parlay. And so that's why the whole Bitcoin is gambling thing. Totally hit me with that all day. Hit I'll talk to anybody about that all day because I don't mind the analogy. I don't mind the analogy for either side. The Bitcoin is such a staple now on Wall Street and it is still such a longunning parlay that can actually change the world that yeah, it freaking is gambling and we're going to freaking hit it and win.