Brad Mills, host of the Magic Internet Money podcast, joins Sunny Ray to trace his path from a childhood of poverty in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to becoming a vocal Bitcoin advocate. Raised in a government housing area with high unemployment, Brad grew up reliant on employment insurance and with little formal understanding of money, saving, or investing. As a child he worked as a magician, earning cash at birthday parties before his mother turned it into a local entertainment business. His family later joined the Mormon church, introducing him to the concept of tithing, which later inspired his idea of a Bitcoin tithing movement. In his teens he shifted from magic to sketch comedy and theater, and funded his move to Toronto's Humber College by building an accidental import business selling hacky sacks from a Pakistani supplier. Brad reflects on how these scrappy entrepreneurial experiences, though chaotic, shaped the mindset around money, independence, and self reliance that eventually drew him deeply into Bitcoin.
A Cape Breton kid raised on welfare and magic shows explains how hustling hacky sacks led him to Bitcoin.
Where did we first meet, and how did you come across me?
We met at BTC Miami, I think it was 2014 or 2015. I had heard the founder of a Bitcoin company was from Toronto, and since your name was memorable, I connected the dots. I was trying to network with local Bitcoin people after years of staying quiet about it publicly, and you were one of them.
What was your upbringing like before Bitcoin?
I grew up in Cape Breton, a high unemployment area on Canada's east coast with seasonal industries like coal mining, steel, and fishing. Families relied on government employment insurance for half the year. We grew up poor with no foundational knowledge about investing or saving, but the culture was full of art, creativity, and side hustles.
When did you first start questioning how you thought about money?
It was around when I got a magic kit and my mom had me perform at my ninth birthday party for fifty dollars. That was my first realization I could earn money doing something I enjoyed. My mom then turned it into an actual kids entertainment business, advertising it locally and even getting me on cable news.
How did religion shape your views on money and giving?
My mom brought us into the Mormon church, which meant strict rules and tithing ten percent of everything you had. That experience is actually where I later got the idea for Bitcoin tithing, encouraging people who profit from exchanges, altcoins, and ICOs to give ten percent back to fund Bitcoin's ecosystem and development.
What happened after you moved away from doing magic shows?
By high school I didn't want to keep being known as a clown or magician, so I shifted into sketch comedy and theater instead. I started writing plays with friends, renting theaters, selling tickets, and keeping the proceeds, which let me keep performing without the embarrassment of the magician label.
How did you end up funding your move to Toronto?
A hacky sack factory in Pakistan randomly sent me a huge free sample after finding me as the leader of the Cape Breton footbag club. I started reselling them locally, then convinced the supplier I ran a bigger operation to get a discount, using the profits plus a small student loan to attend Humber College's comedy and writing program in Toronto.
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