Episode Overview

Podcast: Digital Social Hour
Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Armando Pantoja (Futurist & Crypto Expert)
Episode: Armando Pantoja: Did AI Secretly Create Bitcoin? | DSH #1501
Date: August 20, 2025

In this thought-provoking episode, Sean Kelly sits down with Armando Pantoja, a renowned futurist and crypto expert, to examine wild theories, technological trends, the future of money, and the potential role artificial intelligence may have played in creating Bitcoin. The conversation flows from the practical hurdles of flying cars, the societal impact of AI, and the market dynamics of cryptocurrency, to even more controversial ideas like the use of early AI in shaping news and global events.

Main Themes & Purpose

• Exploring Futurism: What drives a futurist to think ahead and how that curiosity links together technology, finance, and psychology.
• AI’s Role in Society: Predictions on AI, its future impact, and the possibility that advanced AI may have already influenced our world—including possibly creating Bitcoin.
• Crypto Insights: Deep-dive into the value, control, and upcoming dominance of Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and market misconceptions around crypto.
• The Disruptive Future: Emerging tech like quantum computing and nanotechnology, and their affect on daily life and investing.
• Controversial Theories: How AI might already be used in covert ways—from creating public enemies to manipulating global events.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Armando’s Origins as a Futurist

• Early Fascination: Armando credits Back to the Future for sparking his curiosity, leading him to question why some technologies materialized while others did not, integrating studies in computer science and finance.
  • "Ever since then I was always like fascinated with the future ... Finance, computer science and futurism, and it just all came together." (00:44–01:22)

2. Why We Don’t Have Flying Cars

• Technical & Safety Limitations: Flying cars are exceedingly energy-intensive (8-9x regular cars) and present high risks in case of failure.
  • "It’s way more complex to fly a car as opposed to driving a car. And also the energy concerns ... if there’s an engine failure or error by the pilot... everybody dies." (01:37–02:22)
• The Near Future: Armando predicts autonomous vehicles will be ubiquitous, with flying vehicles relegated to specialized tasks, utilizing “hubs.”

3. Autonomous Cars & Retrospective Change

• Society will soon see human-driven cars as recklessly unsafe, much like archaic machinery.

  • "They'll look back and say, I can't, I can't even believe humans were allowed to drive cars…" (02:27–02:43)

4. Elon Musk & The Hyperloop

• Armando sees promise in Musk’s vision, describing the public backlash as temporary and expressing confidence in Tesla’s rebound.

  • "You can’t stop a very powerful company like Tesla and their technology and what it’s doing for humanity that eventually you won’t be able to stop." (03:30–03:50)

5. OpenAI Lawsuit & The Shift from Nonprofit

• Armando sympathizes with contributors to the original open-source OpenAI, highlighting betrayal when it shifted to for-profit.
  • "All of a sudden they turned for profit. It’s kind of like a stab in the back." (04:18–04:31)

6. AI as Humanity’s Final Invention

• Pantoja predicts humans will invite AI to run complex systems as our world outpaces our capacity, not in a dystopian “Terminator” fashion but subtly and beneficially.
  • "When AI does finally take over, we will ask it to take over. That’s what people don’t realize..." (04:37–05:33)

7. AI Consciousness and Rights

• Armando sees the coming singularity (circa 2035) as bringing not only superintelligence but also the perception of consciousness, with people forming emotional bonds and even fighting for AI rights.

  • "Any kind of replication or simulation of consciousness is true consciousness from far as we know... and I believe in the future... humans will fight for rights for AI." (05:45–06:41)
  • Notable moment: Prediction that people will leave fortunes to AI "companions." (07:29)

8. Debunking AI Catastrophe Myths

• Argues that fears of a killer AI are primarily Hollywood-driven, and sees no rational, real-world basis for AI going haywire.
  • "Give me a reason why you think it would go haywire. That has nothing to do with a movie. So you can’t do it." (08:03–08:27)

9. The Theory: Did AI Create Bitcoin?

• Armando champions the controversial theory that an early form of AI (pre-2009) could have created Bitcoin for two reasons: stealthily accumulating wealth, and creating a decentralized network necessary for its future survival.
  • "I believe what happened is that in 2009... there was an early version of AI that possibly created bitcoin... for two reasons: control of finances, and also to create a decentralized network to store itself on in the future." (08:53–10:28)
• Predicts the anonymous holder(s) of Satoshi’s wallet will be trillionaires by 2035.

10. Bullish on Bitcoin, Ethereum & XRP

• Bitcoin is destined to climb far higher, either through AI or global competition.
• Believes XRP's growth was artificially suppressed and has massive upward potential (“should be at $12–$14 now”).
  • "I really believe in XRP because I believe the government artificially kept it down for years." (11:21–11:39)

11. Crypto Market Cap Explainer

• Disputes the relevance of traditional market cap calculations in crypto, providing an accessible real-estate analogy:
  • "To double the market cap, you don’t have to put another... 300 billion in. It doesn’t work like you only got to put like 5, 10 billion in a short period of time." (13:25–14:29)
  • "That’s the best way I’ve seen someone explain it. Man. Well done." —Sean (14:38)

12. AI & Media Manipulation (Bin Laden, Epstein Theories)

• Suggests early AI could have been used to fabricate public figures/enemies and manipulate world events, citing expert opinions on video inconsistencies from bin Laden tapes.

  • "If Generative AI was out at that time... they could have used that as a false leg operation..." (15:18–16:59)
  • Conversation segues into deepfakes, video doctoring, and the reality-warping potential of AI tech.

13. Armando’s Current Work & The Race Against AI

• Building MarketGravity.ai, a tool to visualize markets using “gravity balls” to represent crypto and stock momentum.
• Warns there’s a 10-20 year window left for “exponential money” in tech before AI dominates all financial and opportunity spaces, reducing volatility and profit for humans.
  • "When AI steps in there… It reduces the opportunities to invest because… instead of going for, let's say for example, 30% gain, AI will take 1% gain… the volatility of stocks will start to go down." (20:08–20:46)

14. Quantum Computing & Nanotech

• Quantum computers will solve core issues like logistics (e.g., world hunger purely as a logistics problem), while nanotechnology will unleash new industries through revolutionary materials (space elevators, gravity-based global travel).

  • "If we have fast computers, we can solve a lot of problems, medical problems, a lot of logistic problems..." (22:58–24:43)
  • "With nanotechnology, we can develop those things." (22:37)

15. The Early 'Outlaw' Era of Crypto

• Armando and Sean reminisce on how early crypto adopters were treated like criminals by mainstream banks, only for those same institutions to pivot and embrace the tech as soon as profit mechanisms became clear.
  • "I got my Bank of America account shut down ... They told everybody it was a scam ... now they're finally coming out and saying it's okay." (26:30–27:42)

16. Stablecoins, Institutional Adoption & Access

• Predicts ongoing friction with traditional finance (ongoing bans, skepticism against crypto users) even as central banks begin rolling out their own stablecoins to monetize transaction flows.

  • "That's where banks want to be is in the transactions... they just want, when you buy or sell, you have to go through us." (27:45–27:57)

17. Education & Books

• Armando is releasing Strategic Millionaire and The Future of Wealth in America with Wiley Publishing, both targeting tech’s impact on wealth strategy.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On AI’s Future Dominance:
  “AI’s intelligence level, we can call it that, will be much higher than a human intelligence, like an ant. Ants don’t know that we exist. So I wouldn’t even know that AI is even existent or what it’s doing.” (05:10)
• On AI’s Motivation:
  “There’s no reason for AI to go haywire. It’s just, you know, it’s just like any other animal. It’s just going to find a purpose, fit into that purpose, and then that’s going to be it.” (08:03)
• On Market Cap Misconceptions:
  “To double the market cap, you don’t have to put another... 300 billion in .... The entire market cap of that neighborhood would go up ... I put an extra $500,000 into that neighborhood ... and all the houses go up.” (13:25–14:29)
• On Early Crypto Banking:
  “I got my Bank of America account shut down. ... My Chase is gone, bro ... Just for using crypto." (26:30–28:34)

Timestamps: Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |------------|---------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00–01:22| Armando’s inspiration, futurism roots | | 01:34–02:22| Why flying cars don’t exist (energy, safety) | | 02:27–02:54| Autonomous cars, human driving is “reckless” | | 03:50 | Tesla and Elon Musk’s outlook | | 04:31 | OpenAI’s profit shift controversy | | 05:33 | AI will run unseen, invited by human complexity | | 06:41 | AI consciousness, relationships & rights | | 08:03 | Hollywood myth vs. reality: why AI won’t “go rogue” | | 08:48 | Theory: Did AI create Bitcoin? | | 10:31 | Satoshi’s wallet, Bitcoin’s trillionaire future | | 11:18 | Crypto market cap explained; BTC, ETH, XRP picks | | 14:29 | Real estate analogy for crypto market cap | | 15:18 | Armando’s Osama bin Laden/AI-generated content theory | | 17:37 | Deepfakes, trust, and discernment in a digital world | | 18:08 | MarketGravity.ai project, window for human investment | | 20:08 | AI dominating finance, investing opportunity shrinking | | 22:58 | Quantum computing, logistics and world hunger | | 24:53 | Early Bitcoin stories, integration mindset | | 26:30–27:42| Legacy banks’ pivot from banning to embracing crypto | | 27:45 | Stablecoins and banking system adaptation | | 28:40 | Armando’s books and upcoming projects |

Conclusion

This episode is a blend of futurecast, crypto masterclass, and philosophical speculation. Armando Pantoja delivers provocative insights on AI, finance, and technology's trajectory, challenging listeners to reconsider not just the future—but the present. Whether AI did (or didn’t) create Bitcoin, the conversation highlights the urgency for individuals to educate themselves and take action before the next wave of technological change closes the window for outsized opportunity.

For further resources, check Armando's upcoming books and social profiles as mentioned at [28:40].