Author Jesse Berger Reveals What Bitcoin’s True Value Means for You

What we talked about.

In this episode, Sunny Ray talks with Jesse Berger, author of a book that explains Bitcoin's value proposition to newcomers and veterans alike. Jesse traces his path from a Toronto childhood and an economics and philosophy degree at McGill, through a retail banking career at RBC that began during the 2008 financial crisis, to his discovery of Austrian economics through Peter Schiff. That framework reshaped how he viewed money, debt and central bank policy, eventually leading him toward gold and, later, Bitcoin. He describes how blockchain hype in 2017 and works like Saifedean Ammous's stock to flow analysis clarified Bitcoin's absolute scarcity compared to gold's uncertain supply. Jesse also shares how his book began as an 80 slide PowerPoint deck meant to pitch high net worth investors on allocating to Bitcoin, which a friend convinced him to turn into a full book. The conversation covers his MBA, his time in wealth management and consulting, and how his frustration with product driven banking pushed him toward client first thinking. Throughout, Jesse blends personal history with economic theory to make Bitcoin's core ideas approachable for readers of all backgrounds.

Jesse Berger explains how a banking career, Austrian economics and a PowerPoint deck led him to write a book decoding Bitcoin's true value.

The questions, and the answers.

Can you start with your story, from the beginning?

I was born and raised in Toronto, did my undergrad at McGill studying economics and philosophy, then started in retail banking at Royal Bank right as the financial crisis hit. I had a front row seat to how the average person experienced that crisis, and realized everything I'd learned in school was theory that didn't translate to practice. That eventually led me into Austrian economics, then wealth management, then an MBA, and finally into writing about Bitcoin.

What was it about Austrian economics that caused you to embrace it?

A friend introduced me to Peter Schiff around 2007, before Bitcoin existed. What struck me was how plainly money was being debased, governments printing hundreds of billions overnight while claiming to be in debt. It made me ask what money actually is, and why I had to work hard for every dollar while someone else could create it with no effort. That question pulled me into Austrian economics and sound money.

Is this book for anyone, even children?

I would not say it is for grade school kids, but a high schooler could read and understand it. It is meant for people who are curious but unfamiliar with Bitcoin, and also for people already deep in it. I have taken existing ideas and arguments and packaged them so they are easy to reference, with full page images, charts and models to help readers visualize different aspects of Bitcoin.

You studied economics in university. Is that lens purely Keynesian, or did Austrian economics ever come up?

It was very Keynesian based, and money itself was basically taken for granted rather than examined. We never really discussed what makes good money and why. Names like Mises, Hayek or Rothbard never came up once in my undergrad studies. When I later discovered their work in my career, I was shocked nobody had ever exposed me to them despite having formally studied economics.

How did you go from being focused on gold to focusing on Bitcoin?

It was a multi year process, not one moment. I understood gold as the best money the world had known before Bitcoin existed. When Bitcoin came out it was new and unproven, and I didn't have the skills to navigate wallets or private keys, so I stayed hands off. My appreciation grew slowly in the background while my career and MBA took center stage, until I got properly reintroduced through Ethereum in 2017.

What did you see in Bitcoin that maybe someone like Peter Schiff hasn't?

My real education began more with blockchain than Bitcoin itself, reading Don Tapscott's book in 2016. I got caught up in the 2017 hype of applying blockchain to everything before learning its real purpose is proving scarcity. Reading people like Saifedean helped me see that gold's scarcity isn't truly absolute since we don't know its total supply, while Bitcoin's 21 million cap is fixed and definitive.

What made you decide to write a book, since you're not a programmer?

I never saw myself as an author. It started as a PowerPoint deck to explain Bitcoin's value proposition to high net worth investors, and it ballooned to eighty slides. A friend told me over beers that it was a great skeleton for a book. I slept on it, woke up convinced, and once I committed mentally, I was off to the races writing it.