University Speaker Ayahuasca, Shils Takes Bitcoin, Buyd Gets

As graduate and commencement speaker Chris Pan explained to 60,000 new Ohio State University graduates and their guests: “I see bitcoin as a very misunderstood asset class.

Throughout history, Ohio State's commencement speeches have been given by notables including former President Barack Obama, former U.S. Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, and astronaut Neil Armstrong.

This year it was Pan, a 1999 OSU alumnus, social entrepreneur, musician and motivational speaker, who presented the award.

“It's decentralized and limited, which means no government can print it at will,” he said of BTC, a stadium full of graduates. “In the early days, Bitcoin exchanges were prone to hacking and fraud. But this issue has been solved with the recent launch of Bitcoin ETFs.”

Cries and screams spread across the 60,000 crowd as Pan continued to trade bitcoins. “This is embarrassing,” a student can be heard saying on a video.

Neither Pan nor Ohio State University immediately responded to Decrypt's request for comment.

A week before the speech, the founder of an affirmation jewelry business called MyIntent took to LinkedIn to explain that he “got some help from AI (Ayahuasca Intelligence)” to write the speech. People later took to Pan's Linkedin post to chastise him for using the speech as a “Bitcoin and bracelet ad.”

But the psychedelic writing session didn't deliver a rousing message about ego and spirituality, but instead a lesson for the “alpha male” about inflation and digital currency. Fortunately (or unfortunately) Pan Michael Scott-esque Karaoke “What?” The drugs seemed to kick in as he passed the course. In 4 Non-Blondes. He later sang the Harry Dixon Lowes classic, “This Little Light of Mine.”

“I didn't go to give a speech,” Pan said on an Instagram story after the event. “I went to share the truth so we can stop funding war. We must stop the bloodshed.

While he believed his Bitcoin speech was changing the world, some attendees thought it was “the worst startup speech ever given anywhere.”

According to Ohio's local newspaper, The Rooster, Pan had major views, including a “shirtless dance number” that the university asked to be removed. And according to other sources who spoke to Rooster, Pan was “so angry” and “the worst person ever” that the source never made it up to the bad opening speech.

There's one sad fact about OSU's commencement: a man died after falling from a stand in the stadium during the speech. Some believed that despite this shocking news, the ceremony went ahead, especially since there was no acknowledgment of the dire situation.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.