High on Ayahuasca: Bitcoin-promoting Commencement Speaker Lands in Hot Water
A US university commencement speaker for the class of 2024, entrepreneur Chris Pan, said he was high on ayahuasca while writing his speech, which, among other things, promoted Bitcoin and crypto.
The Ohio State University is a public research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States.
The Commencement – the ceremony for conferring degrees or diplomas – was held on May 5.
The person chosen to deliver a speech to the gathered students, families, and other attendees was Chris Pan.
This apparently did not go well, and Pan was heavily criticized.
So what did he say?
The 17-minute-long speech started as one would expect, but then moved to singing, swaying, waving, and – Bitcoin.
At one point, Pan discussed financial literacy. He argued that to own a home and live comfortably, saving is not enough. One must learn to invest.
“Great investors are open-minded and understand things before other people,” he said.
“So I know this might feel polarizing, but I encourage you to keep an open mind right now. I see Bitcoin as a very misunderstood asset class.”
The audience, however, did not react well, and some even booed him.
Pan sighed and continued, saying that BTC is decentralized and finite.
He also argued that crypto exchanges “previously” had security issues but that this was “resolved” with the recent launch of the Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Anyone can hold these funds in their retirement account, he said, proceeding to do a “demo.” Granted, “the magic tick” failed to have the desired effect.
A week ago, on his LinkedIn profile, Pan wrote that he was actually high when writing a speech.
He drank ayahuasca, a plant-based psychedelic that affects the senses, altering a person’s thinking, sense of time, and emotions, as the
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