"Bitcoin Is Punk!" - Long-form Interview with Finnish Pleb Rocker Rami Korhonen

[BitcoinVN_News]

Rami has been traveling extensively in the past year to visit Bitcoin communities across the globe; visiting Baltic Honeybadger in Riga, the Bobspace people in Bangkok and the Freedom Festival in Boston/Mass.

Late in 2023 the Bitcoin community in Vietnam was honoured to welcome Rami and our team took the opportunity to converse with him about his journey - in the physical and spiritual realm.

"I left Iwa to work for this company called Playmysong. That led me to the US in SF.

That was a time when all of the early bitcoin meetups were happening. Ironically, I was living in Soma just a few blocks away.

(...)

I have to say… I started going to these blockchain conferences in Dubai and Malta… and the more I spoke to these people, the less convinced I became. The excitement was there, but it was more how to make money as fast as possible. And in every blockchain conference, there were maybe 1 or 2 bitcoin people, and when you talk to them, it’s more calm and they talk about how Bitcoin specifically is a much bigger thing. This is about changing the world and not about short term gains or anything like that.

Over time everything started to click. I had the tech background, I had the puck rock background. I started understanding bitcoin to the point of- Bitcoin Is The Most Important Thing. Everything else is secondary and in most cases harmful to people. By 2020 I went bitcoin only.

(...)

And with bitcoin culture, it’s exactly the same thing. There is distrust with the legacy organizations. Obviously, this “Don’t Trust. Verify.” principle is great.

Sometimes you read something about bitcoin that is great – it makes sense, it’s well researched and accurate. But so often that is not the case and when they write about bitcoin, it’s so full of errors. Either ignorant or deliberate misinformation. A very similar kind of vibe to punk rock back in the day.

Our full interview with Rami: https://bitcoinvn.io/news/bitcoin-is-punk/

Some of Rami's Bitcoin songs can be listened to here: https://www.youtube.com/@the_higher_low

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[hugeblack]

It seems that Rami Korhonen is a famous person in Vietnam, but this is the first time I have heard about him. Personally, I do not like the way these people view Bitcoin. They believe that it is an investment, and most of them do not know anything about Bitcoin except that its value increases. You find them keeping these currencies in central platforms and rarely using an open source wallet and most of their spending is through Bitcoin debit cards.

[SamReomo]

It seems that Rami Korhonen is a famous person in Vietnam, but this is the first time I have heard about him. Personally, I do not like the way these people view Bitcoin. They believe that it is an investment, and most of them do not know anything about Bitcoin except that its value increases. You find them keeping these currencies in central platforms and rarely using an open source wallet and most of their spending is through Bitcoin debit cards.

Yeah, I also haven't heard about him before but after visiting his YouTube channel I found that's he's a lover of Bitcoin and has some good songs related to Bitcoin. He isn't famous by any means but who knows he might get more fame by visiting such Bitcoin communities again and again.

To be honest everyone these days care more about Bitcoin's value than it's real purpose. Most users find it a great asset and suggest others to hold it for long term if they want to be free from any financial problems. At least now it's more likely considered as an asset than a P2P payment solution.

Yes, it's also true that most people keep their Bitcoin in centralized exchanges and they don't know much about personal wallets or to be specific open source wallets. Such people would go with any platform as far as they can use it with ease. Those are the people who end up crying when their coins get hacked or exchanges freeze their coins for no reason. I don't know if Rami is one of those or not but he seems to be a Bitcoin lover to me.

[blckhawk]

Totally agree with that statement, bitcoin challenges the status quo and spits on it's face, that's how punk is ever since and I do believe that bitcoin is the modern equivalent of that punk part, punk didn't die, it just evolved and adapted itself to criticize the current situation that needs a change. It's refreshing to see other people from outside the tech industry embroiled in crypto because I don't expect a lot of them to be enthusiastic about it but Rami is an exception to that rule.

[Zlantann]

I have heard of some movies in which Bitcoin is showcased but I have not seen a musician singing about Bitcoin. So it is nice to know that Rami Korhonen I promoting Bitcoin with his music. Many skeptics will be surprised at the level Bitcoin has reached because they believe that the coin would have died a long time ago. These anti-bitcoin forces did everything possible such as misinformation and the use of unfavorable policies to discourage people from adopting this uncommon innovation. Today Bitcoin is now an important part of the global financial system and some nations are even reversing some contrary laws that were enacted to stop its adoption.

I am also glad to know that Rami Korhonen I living on only Bitcoin but achieving this feat will be difficult in some locations because Bitcoin I still facing some restrictions. However, we are looking forward to a better future where Bitcoin will be generally accepted and used as a legal tender.

[snowpega]

It seems that Rami Korhonen is a famous person in Vietnam, but this is the first time I have heard about him. Personally, I do not like the way these people view Bitcoin. They believe that it is an investment, and most of them do not know anything about Bitcoin except that its value increases. You find them keeping these currencies in central platforms and rarely using an open source wallet and most of their spending is through Bitcoin debit cards.

Indeed, you are right about it. Many of them are giving bad statements about Bitcoin some say it is being used for money laundering which is an illegal activity and many have much other rubbish statements to make it unsuccessful which is going to be their failed statements. It seems like Bitcoin will surpass the Gold market cap in this Bull run which is going to be a very big achievement for it since the day it was born.

couple of months ago I read a meme post on Instagram here it is  :

source

And here in 2023 he also likes the potential of bitcoin.

[Pmalek]

I have never head of Rami. I am not into punk rock, so it's not surprising, but I usually read and hear about famous people who have embraced BTC somewhere. Looking at his YouTube channel, view count, and subscriber count, it's fair to say that he isn't very popular. 

Regarding the misinformation about Bitcoin of those in power, we can see that it's changing. They have tried laughing at it, calling it a fraud, and stopping it. We are now in a stage where they are slowly changing their stance and even embracing it, as we can see from the approved Bitcoin ETFs of lately. 

[buwaytress]

Well, yes, did we forget Bitcoin's cradle among the true cypherpunks of our and our parents' generation? Of course, just having BTC and degening with it is rubbished by some, but I suppose punks everywhere are rubbished on their (lack of) authenticity. For me, you use Bitcoin and that's enuogh.

OP: Nice to see you VN guys going strong, I might contact to reach out -- do you know any similar network in Cambodia and Lao?

[Kelward]

It seems that Rami Korhonen is a famous person in Vietnam, but this is the first time I have heard about him. Personally, I do not like the way these people view Bitcoin. They believe that it is an investment, and most of them do not know anything about Bitcoin except that its value increases. You find them keeping these currencies in central platforms and rarely using an open source wallet and most of their spending is through Bitcoin debit cards.

It's good that he's a Bitcoin enthusiast and he's promoting it in his songs and attending conferences to talk about how it's decentralization will change the world, I believe that many other Bitcoin lovers are doing the same thing in their communities. But the point is that how many of them actually knows the integrals of Bitcoin besides buy low, wait for price to pump and sale, truth is that most people don't do further research besides knowing this basics. Example is most people who have been accumulating Bitcoin and had giving me lectures about it were still holding their Bitcoin in exchanges, I'm now the one that is now lecturing them about "not your keys not your coins", thanks to this forum. They didn't even know about none custodial wallets, and scam projects, yet they lectured without accurate knowledge.

[Ben Barubal]

It seems that Rami Korhonen is a famous person in Vietnam, but this is the first time I have heard about him. Personally, I do not like the way these people view Bitcoin. They believe that it is an investment, and most of them do not know anything about Bitcoin except that its value increases. You find them keeping these currencies in central platforms and rarely using an open source wallet and most of their spending is through Bitcoin debit cards.

   That is what makes it tough for other investors to invest in Bitcoin, even if they know nothing about it; in reality, they buy it because they see a lot of wealthy individuals and large corporations investing in it. That's what they do without even trying to learn it properly.

   Now, as the title implies, is Bitcoin Punk? Perhaps it all depends on how each individual interprets the situation in this forum. In terms of decentralization, Bitcoin's distributed ledger and absence of central control coincide with the punk concept of community-driven systems.

[BitcoinVN_official]

Well, yes, did we forget Bitcoin's cradle among the true cypherpunks of our and our parents' generation? Of course, just having BTC and degening with it is rubbished by some, but I suppose punks everywhere are rubbished on their (lack of) authenticity. For me, you use Bitcoin and that's enuogh.

OP: Nice to see you VN guys going strong, I might contact to reach out -- do you know any similar network in Cambodia and Lao?

Xin chao buwaytress! 

Feel free to do so, our team has built up over the past decade in Vietnam a full-service one-stop-shop for all things Bitcoin:

- Online Platform (no KYC cashout to wire or cash in Vietnam)
- Bitcoin ATMs
- Hardware wallet shop

...and a couple of other side ventures such as operating one of South-East Asia's largest Lightning routing nodes. 


There is also a dedicated community of Bitcoiners in Saigon, however they have gone rather private in recent years.

We don't think Cambodia/Lao is at comparable level just yet, people who are really into Bitcoin there are few and far between (or even more private ).

[kryptqnick]

From the interview, it seems to me that Bitcoin is of an interest to Rami as a tech entrepreneur and as a musician. As an entrepreneur, he gets involved in startups, he's interested in investments. But there's also a side of it that is specific to punk rock, namely that Bitcoin as a form of opposition to the traditional economic establishment, something smaller, more decentralized, and very different from typical assets or currencies. The similarity is also in energy, as Rami points out: the drive to create something important that would question the world order. This attitude seems fitting to me, although Bitcoin can, of course, be viewed from very different perspectives.

[hugeblack]

Indeed, you are right about it. Many of them are giving bad statements about Bitcoin some say it is being used for money laundering which is an illegal activity and many have much other rubbish statements to make it unsuccessful which is going to be their failed statements.

Opinions will change, but I hope that Bitcoin will not give way to the storm and change in order to please governments. If developers continue to search for things that governments agree to as a starting point, then inevitably, within a few years, we will see Bitcoin closer to centralization than decentralization, and we will see many people prefer to keep Bitcoin in banks or spend it on debt cards.

[buwaytress]

Xin chao buwaytress! 

Feel free to do so, our team has built up over the past decade in Vietnam a full-service one-stop-shop for all things Bitcoin:

...and a couple of other side ventures such as operating one of South-East Asia's largest Lightning routing nodes. 

~
We don't think Cambodia/Lao is at comparable level just yet, people who are really into Bitcoin there are few and far between (or even more private ).

I know what you guys do/did, I followed you here and there around and before Covid, but missed out on my last visit to the region. Was in Cambodia for a bit but didn't find much luck there contacting some P2P as they were mostly in the capital (I was very far away). You guys and Thailand have always been ahead in our region. Singapore believes itself to be the "blockchain hub" but apart from fancy conferences and degen gatherings as is the culture these days, they have nothing like the Bitcoin communities you and others do.

I'll ping in summer, maybe I swing by Saigon (everyone's private these days no?) and I'll want to transact in BTC =)

[Maus0728]

I have never head of Rami. I am not into punk rock, so it's not surprising, but I usually read and hear about famous people who have embraced BTC somewhere. Looking at his YouTube channel, view count, and subscriber count, it's fair to say that he isn't very popular. 

Regarding the misinformation about Bitcoin of those in power, we can see that it's changing. They have tried laughing at it, calling it a fraud, and stopping it. We are now in a stage where they are slowly changing their stance and even embracing it, as we can see from the approved Bitcoin ETFs of lately. 

This is probably the sign to check out punk rock, I recommend Dead Kennedys, Rage Against the Machine and Sex Pistols, no way you can go wrong with those, I'm not sure about RATM if they're punk though but they're pretty political in their lyricism so they count in my opinion. The reason that they're changing how they see bitcoin is because they don't know much about it yet and at that time there's not a lot of information and data that can help them decide whether bitcoin's for the good or the bad of the people, sure some of them have selfish interests but they're definitely trying to be least considerate even just a liittle.

[snowpega]

Opinions will change, but I hope that Bitcoin will not give way to the storm and change in order to please governments. If developers continue to search for things that governments agree to as a starting point, then inevitably, within a few years, we will see Bitcoin closer to centralization than decentralization, and we will see many people prefer to keep Bitcoin in banks or spend it on debt cards.

Sadly, if it happens as you aforementioned that we will see Bitcoin closer to centralization than decentralization which as a result Bitcoin will miss out the whole concept of its creation. Most investors invest in Bitcoin because of it is a decentralized digital currency.

Dear, what kind of developments do you want that like it should be there in the Bitcoin ecosystem? well, you also know that the El Salvador government also has BTC for their country reservation and their people are using BTC for the business and I watched a video on Twitter where kinds were paying their bills using BTC it seems to be a good development like this country announced bitcoin as their legal currency.

[BitcoinVN_official]

Xin chao buwaytress! 

Feel free to do so, our team has built up over the past decade in Vietnam a full-service one-stop-shop for all things Bitcoin:

...and a couple of other side ventures such as operating one of South-East Asia's largest Lightning routing nodes. 

~
We don't think Cambodia/Lao is at comparable level just yet, people who are really into Bitcoin there are few and far between (or even more private ).

I know what you guys do/did, I followed you here and there around and before Covid, but missed out on my last visit to the region. Was in Cambodia for a bit but didn't find much luck there contacting some P2P as they were mostly in the capital (I was very far away). You guys and Thailand have always been ahead in our region. Singapore believes itself to be the "blockchain hub" but apart from fancy conferences and degen gatherings as is the culture these days, they have nothing like the Bitcoin communities you and others do.

I'll ping in summer, maybe I swing by Saigon (everyone's private these days no?) and I'll want to transact in BTC =)

Yes, Singapore has always been very "suit-loaded" - Hong Kong otoh was a true Bitcoiner hot spot for a long time (and leading the region for a long time), but the whole China takeover & lockdowns devasted the community, many of the key people and brains left.

We'll be looking forward to welcome you here & ready to serve