Joe Rogan, the world’s most successful podcaster and comedian, has accepted a Bitcoin payment of $100,000. The podcast host and MMA commentator has talked about Bitcoin in the past on his show, but accepting Bitcoin as payment marks a definitive switch in stance on his part.
During the Joe Rogan Experience episode #1728, about 56 minutes and 30 seconds in, frequent guest and comedian Ari Shafirr boasted to fellow comics Mark Normand and Shane Gillis on behalf of their friend, “Joe got a deal for over $100,000 dollars,” Shaffir said.
“It’s not American money.” Joe deflected, brushing off his fellow comics’ antics, “It’s all in Bitcoin.”
If this encounter is any indication of Rogan’s stance on Bitcoin, and it is in fact true that he was paid over 1.5 BTC by today’s prices, the occasion marks a shift in his understanding of the world’s most sound store of value.
In the past, Rogan has dismissed Bitcoin on his show as a “ponzi scheme,” which is an opinion many form when hearing about the success of Bitcoin’s early adopters, prior to doing their homework on the composition of the leaderless, unforgeable asset.
However, one of the more captivating and humanizing traits of the internet legend is that he frequently revises his opinions on topics when presented with good information throughout the episodes.
In a February 2019 episode with Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, who is an extremely active promoter of Bitcoin, Joe commented, “One of the things that’s kind of cool about the Cash App is that you can buy and sell Bitcoin with it.”
Rogan went on to ask whether Dorsey would allow other crypto currencies outside of Bitcoin to be bought and sold on the platform. Dorsey then explained to Rogan how Bitcoin will become the native currency of the internet, the trials that have strengthened it, and what is likely to propel Bitcoin to becoming a global store of value and reserve asset.
During that episode with Dorsey, Rogan for perhaps the first time talked about Bitcoin seriously as a disruptive technology. “This is another step towards a new way of doing things,” he remarked at the time. In the past he has cited popular Bitcoin educators Max Keiser and Andreas Antonopoulos, showing something more than a surface-level interest.
Joe Rogan’s acceptance of Bitcoin on any scale will be celebrated by people with Bitcoin by sheer virtue of his reach, which is in some ways unquantifiable. It is estimated his podcast reaches over 11 million people per show. Over the years he has brought considerable influence and unprecedented attention to the arts of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Boxing, MMA, elk hunting, bow shooting, biohacking, comedy, health and fitness, self improvement, clean eating, and podcasting in general.
One can only hope Rogan will continue to research Bitcoin further, come to understand the fundamental differences between it and the other crypto securities, and share his Bitcoin journey with the world.
