EXCLUSIVE: Javale McGee Explains How To Become A Millionaire Off Bitcoin

Javale McGee is so much more than a basketball player.

Hailing from Flint, Michigan, the 36-year-old clocks in at 7 feet tall, which makes him by default a beast on the basketball court. But beyond his NBA Championship rings and Olympic Gold medal, he’s passionate about much more: fatherhood, music, and entrepreneurship.

Most recently, Javale McGee unveiled his newest single titled “Cowboy,” in collaboration with rapper KOH and Audio Chateau. Not only does this serve as his first entry into the country space, McGee also launches his newest podcast called 

Finding Pierre, with Pierre being the moniker he creates music under. 

The six-episode fictional series includes original music by McGee, alongside Audio Up CEO and Finding Pierre series creator Jared Gutstadt.

The Source spoke with Javale McGee about his new music, which eventually turned into a crash course on Bitcoin. 

What was the moment you fell in love with Hip-Hop?

I’ve been listening to music my whole life. It’s not really even basically Hip-Hop, it’s all music in general. But I definitely was introduced to Hip-Hop first. Tupac, Biggie, that type energy was my first taste into Hip-Hop.

Do you have a favorite Tupac song? 

Probably “Dear Mama.” 

How’s your fanbase receiving your new song “Cowboy”?

It just came out Friday. I haven’t had to put a lot of music out lately, so I still gotta feel it out and see how everybody’s feeling about it. But I’m starting to get into that mode where I’m going to start putting on music. It doesn’t matter what it is: if it’s country, if it’s Hip-Hop. Stop overthinking the process. A lot of artists have that problem, and I’m included into that problem as well. I have a lot of finished music that I don’t put out just cause. I guess I’m in my head. It’s the analogy of an artist, the problem of an artist. It’s definitely one of many coming.

What are your studio essentials?

I just need my Mac. I need a MIDI keyboard. Some good vibes, some candy. Some good food. I promise I have my best sessions when it’s a lot of people in there. Everybody’s throwing their ideas around, those are the best sessions I’ve ever had. I like that energy when I invite a whole bunch of artists to the studio. We all just vibe and make different types of music, with no plan in hand technically.

Anything else you’re excited about?

Life, that’s about it. Life’s good. The Bitcoin halving is coming up too, don’t forget that.

Are you into that? 

Absolutely I am. You’re not into it is what I’m assuming.

No, but tell me more. Can you touch on that real quick? 

Oh my goodness. So Gold has a finite amount, there’s only a certain amount of gold that can be mined in the world. That’s why gold is valuable. Because when all the gold is gone, one ounce of gold is going to be a million dollars. There’s a finite amount. The US dollar, they print more and more US dollars whenever they want to. It doesn’t matter. That’s why strawberries are $8, gas is $6. Things that we are using nowadays that are extremely expensive. The average home in the US is $400,000. 

Bitcoin is a fiat or a currency that has a finite amount. There’s only 20 million Bitcoin to be mined, that can ever be mined ever in the history of the world. Every four years, the supply chain gets cut in half. Four years ago, there was only let’s say 10. This time, there’s only going to be five. The next time is going to be 2.5. There’s going to be one point, it gets smaller and smaller and smaller until there isn’t any more. 

With a currency like that where there’s a finite amount: the less it is, the more people take it, the higher the amount goes. There’s only one choice, and that’s for the currency to go up. The US dollar isn’t going to go up, because we keep printing money. Trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars, so all of us are keeping our money in — inflation’s taking 7% of our money every year. We have $100K in the bank, next year it’s only going to be worth $93K. The next year is only going to be worth $84K, whatever the math is, and continues. Even though we think okay, we’re saving $100K. But because of inflation, the same strawberries I was buying at the store when I had that original $100,000 is two times the amount of money. My money doesn’t go as long. 

For Bitcoin, every four years, it cuts the supply. There isn’t going to be any more after the year 2140 or something like that, that’ll be the day the last Bitcoin is mined. We’re in the beginning of like when people went over to San Francisco and mined gold for the first time. 30, 40, 50 years down the line, their family was like, “Oh, we’re rich because my granddad went and mined gold.” We’re in that era. It’s a lot of people, especially people that look like me and even look like who don’t understand or know about, but they should definitely be getting into Bitcoin right now because this is the gold of our century.

My homegirl said she paid off her mortgage with Bitcoin.

That’s what I’m trying to tell you. When halving comes — every having, it’s been four halvings already. Four years ago, eight years ago, 12 years ago. Every halving, it goes up minimum 200%. That’s the minimum. So if you put $10K in there right now, eventually, one to two years from now, it’ll double. I don’t know any investments in the world that you can get 100% on your investment. Unless you’re gambling. Unless it’s literally sports gambling or something.

So is it literally a matter of putting your money in and having it work for you? 

Just imagine Bitcoin being a stock of a company, but this company isn’t ran by anybody. Nobody has any rules, they can’t do anything. They can’t say, “You know what, we’re ending this company.” The owner of Apple can’t say “I smoked weed today,” so now the stock goes down. The way that happens when Elon says he did something, then the stock goes down. This is only demand. If somebody wants it, then everybody buys it, it’s going to go up. When everybody starts selling them, it’s going to go down. 

But we are in a situation where this is the first time we’ve ever got to invest in a company this early. We didn’t get to invest in Apple early because we weren’t accredited investors, which means you have to have money already. You have to have a certain amount of money, which is a million dollars in the bank to be able to be an accredited investor. Who has a million dollars in the bank? Not a lot of people. This is the only time we’ve ever been able to invest in the early stages of basically a company, Bitcoin would be the company. 

Right now, Bitcoin is at $70K. When I first got into Bitcoin in 2015, Bitcoin was at $3K. I’m not a math genius, but that return is thousands of percent. And I wasn’t smart back then, so I’ve learned from my mistakes. Because when I was at $3K, it went to $9K. I’m like I’m settling! I’ve tripled my money, why wouldn’t why…? But now I’ve learned my lessons. My advice for anybody out there, especially in the Hip-Hop world: if you have a little bit of money, put it into Bitcoin and hold your Bitcoin. Don’t look at what the price is, look at how much Bitcoin you have. If you can end up getting a whole Bitcoin — and this isn’t financial advice, but this is my opinion — you will be damn near a millionaire in 10 years. 

Damn, for real? 

Yes. If you can get one Bitcoin, which is $52,000 right now. If you can get a whole Bitcoin, I believe Bitcoin will be worth a million dollars in 10 years. That $60K will turn into a million. I don’t know any other investments that you can do that with.

Thanks for the gems.

It’s something that no one ever talks about, and I hate it. Future should be saying something about Bitcoin in a song. No one has said anything.

You can do it!

You’re right. I could. I definitely should come out with a song called Bitcoin because it’s necessary,