Bitcoin Beyond the Spreadsheet: Wealth, Influence, and Community w/ Brian Harrington
Think Bitcoin Podcast Ep. #7
This week on the Think Bitcoin Podcast I had the chance to sit down with Brian Harrington, someone I think of as one of the most original, independent thinkers in the Bitcoin space. As I tell Brian in the episode, he has a pretty dizzyingly high “ideas per minute” rate, which I love, and his takes on the intersection of Bitcoin, personal finance, and real life are simultaneously outside-the-box and refreshingly practical.
In our conversation, Brian kept returning to a few core, fundamental themes/ideas: set a tangible Bitcoin goal, fix your housing costs, free yourself from scarcity thinking, and focus on compounding influence in your community.
🎧 Listen to the full episode:
[Spotify] | [Apple Podcasts] | [YouTube] | [Fountain]
0.21 Bitcoin: A Tangible Goal
Brian has been hammering home the idea that owning 0.21 BTC is a meaningful milestone:
“If you take 21 million divided by 0.21, you get 100 million. There’s 8 billion people in the world. Top 100 million puts you in the top 1%. So just very viable from the math, 0.21 puts you in the top 1% Bitcoin holders in the world.”
It’s a framing that’s realistic, non-intimidating, and impactful. As Brian put it:
“You need less Bitcoin than you think to have a significant amount of it.”
0.21 + One House = The “Perfect Portfolio”
Brian also makes the case for pairing Bitcoin with homeownership:
“We are not the same libertarian single guys we were when we started this whole thing. A home is emotional. Your home is an emotional thing. And so 0.21 plus one house, I think that’s the perfect portfolio.”
He argues that fixing your housing costs — while everything else inflates — is a powerful move:
“The variable costs of renting versus owning are effectively a wash. But in housing, you are getting some of it back as a rebate in the form of inflation appreciation.”
Moving Beyond Scarcity
One of my favorite parts of the conversation was Brian’s reflection on spending and mindset. For him, Bitcoin changes the calculus:
“On a fiat standard there’s a constant tension between should I save this money or should I enjoy the moment. We actually don’t believe that our tomorrow can be good and our today can be good. Bitcoin lets you have both.”
He put it bluntly:
“You’re scared of today. You’re making an excuse for your scaredness today that tomorrow will be awesome. That’s a muscle. You have to get good at living abundantly now, not later.”
Compounding Influence
Finally, Brian talked about what he calls compounding influence:
“Every single decision you have, there’s a way to accrue value to that decision. I don’t like doing things that don’t compound. Owning instead of renting, building in your community, networking — all of those things compound.”
And he tied it back to Bitcoin’s larger mission:
“If we don’t integrate into society, Bitcoin will not replace fiat money. You’re not going to orange pill the world just by buying $20 of Bitcoin a week. It’s about influence.”
Listen to the Full Episode
This was one of the most wide-ranging conversations I’ve had yet — touching on housing, personal finance, family life, health, mindset, and Bitcoin’s future. Brian has a rare ability to connect all those dots into a vision that’s practical and inspiring.
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See you next time,
Logan