The Peter McCormack Show

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 3rd May Company: Kansas City Chiefs Role: Tight End Sean Culkin rocked the sports world with his recent announcement that he is taking 100% of his $920K salary in bitcoin. Sean is not the first NFL player to dive into bitcoin, but he is the first to take his entire salary in bitcoin in a truly trailblazing move. Sean argues that athletes now need to "view themselves as corporations", and with many corporations now using Bitcoin as an inflation hedge, why should athletes be any different? Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor described his cash position as being like a '$500m melting ice cube' when he led the charge. In this interview, we discuss his journey to the NFL, taking his entire $920K salary in bitcoin and where his conviction comes from.

Location: Remotely Date: Friday 26th, March Company: lynalden.com Role: Macroeconomist Bitcoin was born out of the 2008 financial crisis when central banks worldwide started printing money at levels never seen before to bail out the banks for a mess they created. Now, a decade later, amid a global pandemic, the money printer is again being used to rescue up a faltering economy. This time, the level of money printing dwarfs that of 2008/09. With the ongoing debasement of fiat currencies globally, inflation is more of a concern than ever before. Bitcoin offers a hedge against the threat of inflation, and with its sound monetary principles, it is the antithesis of the inequity and reckless money printing of central banks. Corporations are now using Bitcoin as an inflation hedge. When MicroStrategy announced their initial bitcoin purchase in 2020, CEO Michael Saylor explained that he was worried about their cash position being like a '$500m melting ice cube'. This sentiment has been echoed by many other corporations, with a record 47 S&P 500 companies citing 'inflation' in their 2021 Q1 earnings reports. The link between printing money and inflation is not black and white, so how is inflation measured? And what are the markets telling us? In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and investment strategist. We discuss the growing concern of rising inflation, CPI as a measure and what the markets are signalling.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 27th April Company: Block Digest, Suredbits Role: Host, Software Engineer Since Bitcoin's inception, scaling has been a divisive topic. The very first reply to Satoshi Nakamoto's email introducing the bitcoin whitepaper stated that "We very, very much need such a system, but the way I understand your proposal, it does not seem to scale to the required size." The scaling debate came to a head in the block size wars. Part of the community wanted to scale bitcoin by increasing the block size. However, a larger section believed that scaling was better handled on other layers, culminating in 2017 with the BCash fork. Four years on and the market has decided that layered scaling is the preferred solution. Today, there are several approaches to off-chain settlement, and by experimenting with these on higher layers separate from the protocol, the security of Bitcoin can remain robust. These different second layers offer additional functionality and programmability not found on the Bitcoin base chain, but they do come with tradeoffs. Users should consider who or what they are trusting, be it a peg, a federation, a protocol, or a combination. In this interview, I talk to Shinobi, the host of Block Digest and Suredbits software engineer Nadav Kohen. We discuss Bitcoin scaling, the Lightning Network, wrapped Bitcoin and Liquid.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 27th April Company: Kraken Role: Growth Lead When Dan Held first wrote about a possible bitcoin supercycle back in 2019, the idea seemed far fetched. The bitcoin price was just under $10,000, and we were a few months away from the first reported cases of COVID-19. Now, 18 months on from that tweet, the idea of a supercycle is gaining traction. With governments around the world resorting to astonishing amounts of monetary and fiscal policy to temporarily prop up economies in response to COVID-19, the case for bitcoin has never been so clear. A new wave of investors has arrived, with bitcoin offering them a life raft from fiat currency debasement. In early February, Dan Held came on the show to discuss the Supercycle thesis, and since then, the price of bitcoin is up over 50%. Still, more critically, Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin in a move that plays nicely into the supercycle theory. In this interview, I talk to Dan Held, the Growth Lead at Kraken. We discuss his supercycle thesis, the macro elements that make this cycle different and why traditional investors are waking up to bitcoin.

Location: Remotely Date: Friday 23rd April Company: Pantera Capital Role: Co-Founder & CEO Dan Morehead is a veteran of Wall Street, having worked at Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs before co-founding Pantera Capital. He is the embodiment of institutional investors, and he is predicting bitcoin will hit $115k by August 2021. In 2013, Pantera launched the first cryptocurrency fund in the U.S. and offered accredited investors direct exposure to bitcoin. The firm also provides insights and price targets based on historical performance, market conditions, and models like stock-to-flow. While, historically, bitcoin has faced many challenges that have kept some investors at bay, with the availability of institutional custody solutions and increasing regulatory clarity, these investors are now entering the market. This increased institutional adoption of bitcoin has been a significant driver of the current bull market. With $trillions in government deficits worsening asset inflation, corporations have begun looking to bitcoin to protect their wealth. In this interview, I talk to Dan Morehead, a veteran investor and the co-founder & CEO of Pantera Capital. We discuss the Pantera price target, the firm's investment thesis for bitcoin and the impact of inflation.

Location: Remotely Date: Wednesday 21st April Company: Kraken & Bitcoin Magazine Role: Editor Ten years ago, in April 2011, Satoshi Nakamoto sent his last known message to Mike Hearn, stating that he had "moved on to other things" and that Bitcoin was "in good hands". Satoshi left the development with Gavin Andresen and a group of contributors and left the Bitcoin community for good. At launch, Bitcoin was governed and developed entirely by Satoshi; it was centralised. To reach the level of decentralisation that Satoshi envisioned, Bitcoin couldn't have a leader that the community looked towards; instead, it needed to rely on peer review, debate and consensus. Satoshi, the mythical and mysterious leader, had to leave the project he founded. Pete Rizzo wrote The Last Days of Satoshi to answer the fundamental questions about Bitcoin's early history and its creator. How did he run the project? And why did he have to leave? In this episode, I talk to Pete Rizzo, the Editor at Kraken & Bitcoin Magazine. We discuss Satoshi's final days, his contribution to Bitcoin, the project's transition to decentralisation, and why his disappearance was inevitable.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 6th April Company: Strike, Square Crypto & Bitcoin Beach Role: CEO, Bitcoin PM, FounderCIO Bitcoin Beach is an experiment set up by Michael Peterson, trying to help the people of El Salvador. The organisation built a Bitcoin economy in Punta Mango, a small beach town in El Salvador where local businesses now accept Bitcoin, creating a local Bitcoin circular economy. In rolling out bitcoin services in this part of El Salvador, the speed and cost of transacting on the base layer presented challenges. Migrating to using the Lightning Network has solved these issues and helped build a circular bitcoin economy. Jack Maller's Strike has also launched in El Salvador to solve other issues for the local people. With the Strike app using the bitcoin network as the payment rail, users can send fiat currencies instantly and at no cost. In this interview, I talk to Zap CEO Jack Mallers, Square Crypto's Miles Suter, and Bitcoin Beach's Michael Peterson. We discuss the Lightning Network, international remittance and how Strike solves problems for people in El Salvador.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 20th April Company: Valkyrie Role: CIO, Partner Since the Winklevoss applied for the first Bitcoin ETF in 2013, many Bitcoin ETFs have been filed and rejected. Since then, the Bitcoin market has matured, and with every rejection, those applying for ETFs gain more clarity on how one could eventually be approved. While there have been successful filings of ETFs in Canada and Brazil, these are smaller markets, and an ETF in the US would be a game-changer. With a growing number of applications piling up and more and more of the SEC's objections becoming resolved, it seems inevitable that a US ETF will be approved. A Bitcoin ETF would unlock access and liquidity for a massive pool of individuals, pensions, and other institutions that are stuck waiting on the sidelines and offer an option to those who want to remain in the traditional financial rails but gain exposure to bitcoin. The traditional investment world utilizes the security and established plumbing surrounding ETF vehicles to connect assets with IRAs, 401Ks, and even larger structures like endowment funds. In this episode, I talk to Steven McClurg and Jeff Kilburg from Valkyrie. We discuss why Bitcoin ETFs are a game-changer, pent up institutional demand, and how soon they are coming.

Location: Remotely Date: Wednesday 14th April Company: Ledger Role: CEO & CISO In July last year, Ledger was the victim of a data breach, with hackers gaining customer email addresses, phone numbers and physical addresses. Over 270,000 people were affected by the hack. Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Ledger, previously came onto the podcast to answer questions shortly after the hack. Since the interview, Ledger asked to sponsor the podcast, and one condition was that they come back on the show and answer listener questions. I believe it is vital to have a healthy and competitive marketplace for hardware wallets, firstly to give customers a choice and competition between the manufacturers pushes them to be better. Listeners of the podcast still have questions regarding the hack, so I asked the Ledger CEO and CISO Pascal Gauthier and Matt Johnson to come on the show and answer some more questions and explain the changes they have made internally.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 15th April Company: Hypersheet Role: Co-Founder Bitcoin has broken an all-time high again, rallying to over $64,000 this week, and it appears to be holding its ground with more new investors entering daily. Willy explains how he uses models that rely on moving averages to observe the rising "natural price" of bitcoin and how they help him identify the degree to which it is above or below a specific natural range. If it goes up or down too quickly, for example, it might be a good strategy to use a little leverage to ride it back to a more locally appropriate price. Managing risk is very important for traders, and Willy takes the time to explain how he uses various strategies to hedge his bets. He also clarified how I could manage my risk of not winning my bet with American HODL. In this episode, I talk to on-chain analyst and the co-founder of Hypersheet, Willy Woo. We discuss moving price targets, hedging my bet with American HODL, and some of the strategies and risks of trading.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 13th April Company: BankToTheFuture, Abra Role: Co-Founder, CEO The banking system is a regulated Ponzi scheme driven by leverage and debt with onerous rules and powerful gatekeepers. When you are in the system, you are a slave to it, and worse still, the banks can freeze your payments and shut down your accounts. Simon Dixon envisions a future where we aren't beholden to deputized authoritarian institutions to move and store our money; he thinks we can achieve it by plugging decentralized and centralized systems together. And Bill Barhydt is helping build that future. While Bitcoin is a savings based economy that may help rid us from a world drowning in debt, there are still questions about how people with one foot in the old system, and another foot in the future, will make the transition while maintaining their privacy. While many promising solutions are in development, it's not clear exactly how we will be borrowing, transacting, and securing our wealth. In this interview, I talk to Simon Dixon, the Co-Founder of BankToTheFuture and Abra CEO Bill Barhydt. We discuss the legacy banking system, the fight for privacy, and the future of banking in a bitcoin world.

Location: Remotely Date: Sunday 11th April Company: N/A Role: N/A With bitcoin currently sat at ~$60,000 and looking likely to break its previous all-time highs, the bull market is in full swing. After a massive end to 2020 with no signs of slowing, analysts predict anything from $100k to $300k+ in 2021. Are we still in the early stages of this bull market? Typically, bitcoin has had clear 4-year market cycles based around the halving; however, some people think this time may differ. In 2017, it was mainly a retail-driven bull market, with few institutions investing in bitcoin. Still, now with institutions following MicroStrategy's move, the market has matured, and we have big money investors buying up every dip. So, is this enough to prevent us from ever seeing an 80% drawdown again? Are we amid a supercycle? In this interview, I talk to American HODL & BitcoinTINA. We discuss the current market conditions, if we are in a supercycle, and Hodl and I bet another bitcoin, this time on whether the price reaches $300k in 2021.

Location: Remotely Date: Wednesday 7th April Company: zubymusic.com Role: Rapper, Podcaster and Author With the emergence and rapid spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, governments worldwide opted to lockdown in an unprecedented move. After struggling to contain the spread of COVID and the deadliness and contagiousness relatively unknown, they argued that it was a temporary measure and a necessary step to take as they learned more about the virus. Now, one year on from the initial lockdowns and with vaccination programs well underway, many countries are on their way out of lockdown, but did the lockdowns work? And, was it a necessary reaction to the virus? In this interview, I talk to rapper, podcaster and author Zuby. We discuss the government's response to COVID, the economic and social impact of lockdowns, libertarianism, and the state's role.

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 5th April Company: Swan Bitcoin Role: Head of Education The current bitcoin bull market has been unlike any before. While retail traders have led previous rallies with speculators looking for short term gains vs fiat, this time, institutions are here and buying vast amounts of bitcoin, and many have no intention of selling. The macro conditions this time around are entirely different. Bitcoin investing is no longer a speculative bubble, rather a rational response to the debasement of fiat currencies at an accelerating rate. Investors are looking for a store of value to protect their money from losing purchasing power. Bitcoin buyers and HODLers are not just looking at bitcoin as a way of making money, but truly seeing it for what it is, a hedge against inflation and the hardest money the world has ever known. This is the Bitcoin Renaissance. In this interview, I talk to the Head of Education at Swan Bitcoin, Brady Swenson. We discuss the bitcoin bull market and HODL FOMO, the transitional period between fiat currency and bitcoin and how the future role of state and government will change.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday, 30th March Company: SupportAssange.wauland.de Role: N/A A world where the people are afraid to hold institutions and governments accountable for their actions is a dystopian reality. Julian Assange founded Wikileaks in 2006 to defend against injustices, hypocrisy, and tyranny; he published the truth. And for these actions, he has spent ten years fighting for his freedom. Today is a call to action for everyone aligned with Bitcoin, freedom of speech, freedom of press, censorship-resistance, and justice. Take the time and donate to the defence of Julian Assange. In this special episode, I talk to Julian Assange's father and brother, John and Gabriel Shipton. My friend Janine also joins us to discuss the plague of malice regarding Julian's case, his alignment with the Bitcoin ethos, and how you can support his defence.

Location: Remotely Date: Wednesday 31st March Company: Gemini Role: Co-Founders Earlier this year, bitcoin hit a significant milestone when the market capitalisation (the price of the entire current supply) hit $1trillion for the first time. As Cameron Winklevoss said, "from white paper to $1 trillion, bitcoin is eating gold alive." Cameron and Tyler expect this trend to continue. With bitcoin as digital 'gold 2.0' that is more scarce, transferable and a better store of value than gold, it is just a matter of time until it eclipses gold's $10 trillion market cap. To welcome the show's newest sponsor, I talk with Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini's co-founders. We discuss their case for $10 trillion bitcoin, sponsoring devs, proof of reserves and whether governments will ban bitcoin.

Location: Remotely Date: Friday 26th, March Company: lynalden.com Role: Macroeconomist This month we have seen the markets signal an expected increase in inflation; while bond prices are a good indicator, Lyn Alden explains that just looking at bonds or the Consumer Price Index (CPI) does not tell the whole story. Price changes can vary wildly in services, commodities, and especially asset prices, but inflation affects different people in different ways. Outside of inflation, Bitcoiners have been looking closely at the Grayscale Trust (GBTC) recently and specifically the premium. I asked Lyn why people would pay less (or more) than the market price of Bitcoin for shares of GBTC. There are several reasons that GBTC is down recently, one of which is the potential approval of a Bitcoin ETF. Canada recently approved a Bitcoin ETF, with significant demand. An ETF in the United States is still being held up by regulators, despite increasing applications from institutions like Fidelity. But the rumour is one is right around the corner, and it would likely have significantly more demand than Canada's. In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and Lyn Alden Investment Strategy founder. We discuss bond yields, the effects of the rising inflation rate, the GBTC premium, and potential Bitcoin ETFs.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 25th March Company: Hypersheet Role: Co-Founder In the first two weeks of March, the bitcoin price bounced from around $45k to a new all-time high and local top of $62k. The price then dropped significantly, with many blaming CryptoQuant for the sell-off after posting a message in their Telegram group saying, "18,961 #BTC ($1,145,210,023) aggregated inflow to #Gemini: be careful downside risk from whale dumping" just moments before the price began to crash. While the data was accurate and someone moved a large amount of bitcoin into a Gemini wallet, it was misleading. The move was from BlockFi into Gemini's custodial wallets. But during these dumps, who are the buyers? Willy thinks the people buying the dip are 'Rick Astleys'; HODLer's of last resort who 'never give up, or desert bitcoin'. In this episode, I talk to on-chain analyst and the co-founder of Hypersheet; Willy Woo. We discuss the drop from $62k, Cryptoquant's analysis, the "Rick Astleys" buying the dip and how to catch the top of the market.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 25th March Company: N/A Role: N/A Back in the fall, American HODL and I bet on the outcome of the US election, with Phil Geiger, from Unchained Capital as the arbiter. In this show, we got together to settle the bet. But so much has happened since we made the bet and I asked HODL to join us for a monthly bitcoin rehab show. Despite the massive gains bitcoin has made this last year, it feels like a wall of money is still to come. Money managers increasingly realize their jobs may be replaced by two words: "buy bitcoin". Top risk analysis teams at companies like iconic insurance firm MassMutual are hedging with massive allocations. The only real question is, who's next? While the price action has been bouncing around for the past few weeks, sometimes we perhaps lose perspective on how far we have come. Weak hands sell; strong hands accumulate. In this interview, I talk to American HODL and Phil Geiger. We discuss settlement of our Trump bet, rumours of the incoming institutional stampede, strong hands (and HODL yells at everyone).

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 23rd March Company: Block Digest Role: Host With Bitcoin, if you don't control your private keys, you don't own your bitcoin. That means the first thing you should do once you have bought bitcoin is to move it to a wallet you control. Bitcoin wallets come in all shapes and sizes and offer different use cases depending on the amount of bitcoin you have and how you intend to use it: For smaller amounts of bitcoin, mobile and desktop wallets are convenient and often simple to use. However, by operating on your device, they are constantly connected to the internet and more vulnerable to attack. For more significant bitcoin holdings, hardware wallets separate your keys from an internet connection and offer a far greater level of security. Another option for securing large amounts of bitcoin is multi-signature wallets. A multi-signature wallet requires multiple keys to sign a transaction; this means you can geographically distribute these keys and have no single point of failure. In this interview, I talk to Shinobi, the host of Block Digest. We discuss the tradeoffs between different wallets, how wallets work, and how you should secure your bitcoin.

Location: Remotely Date: Friday 12th March Company: dergigi.com Role: Writer Bitcoin is an implicit rejection of the existing system. From the early cypherpunks to the recent multi-billion dollar CEOs, the people that take the plunge down the rabbit hole possess an ability to think outside-the-box. They come with an open mind and often discover that Bitcoin has changed them. The permissionless nature of Bitcoin means that anyone who is running a node and interacting with the network is able to decide for themselves what Bitcoin is. For different people, it solves different problems, but ultimately, everyone on the network is confined to the rules of consensus. In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin writer Gigi. We discuss the philosophical teachings of Bitcoin, toxicity as a feature, and how bitcoin creates its own space-time.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 16th March Company: BlockFi Role: CEO BlockFi is a platform that brings financial services to bitcoin, and with their platform, you can earn interest on bitcoin deposits and take out collateralised loans. While BlockFi has operated successfully in the space for several years and survived market challenges, such as the March 2020 crash, Bitcoiners often criticise their business model. "Not your keys, not your coins" is an important message regarding bitcoin, and some view custodial lending platforms as antithetical to this, questioning whether 6% interest per year is worth the risk on an asset that, on average, appreciates 200% a year. While it is a personal choice, there is also a subset of bitcoiners that spread misinformation and unsubstantiated claims against BlockFi and other lending platforms. To address the risk-reward of BlockFi and answer some of the questions & misconceptions, I talk to BlockFi CEO Zac Prince. We discuss building the present and future of Bitcoin capital markets, the demand for crypto-liquidity and BlockFi's solutions to the challenges of managing risk in this growing financial frontier.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 16th March Company: Unchained Capital Role: Co-founder With SpaceX CEO Elon Musk "highly confident" that his company will land humans on Mars by 2026, the human colonisation of another planet within our solar system has never been closer. Once humans settle on another world, one question that will have to be solved is what money will be used as the local currency? The obvious answer may, on the surface, be bitcoin. But how would that work? With the time it takes to send a signal over such a vast distance, we will need to consider how bitcoin functions at scale throughout the solar system. Sending bitcoin transactions from Mars to Earth could work fine if you don't mind waiting several hours for confirmation, but mining will be impossible on Mars. So, will we use bitcoin on Mars, or will its colony rely on a new 'Muskcoin'? In this interview, I talk to Unchained Capital co-founder Dhruv Bansal. We discuss his Bitcoin Astronomy series of articles, the prospects of Bitcoin as an interplanetary currency, SpaceX, colonisation of other planets, and hyperbitcoinisation.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 9th March Company: Validus Power Corp Role: Bitcoin Strategist Since early February, 10-year Treasury yields have risen from 1.13% to as high as 1.625%. This rise, which equates to 48 basis points, is the highest in a year and has sparked some bond investors to raise inflation concerns. While the Consumer Price Index (a metric for judging the level of inflation) is currently around 2%, analysts suggest the actual inflation rate could be as high as 10%. Because of this and growing uncertainty in the markets, Bitcoin Strategist Greg Foss sees Bitcoin as portfolio insurance. He believes that if you don't own Bitcoin, you are taking "extreme amounts of risk". In this interview, I talk with Greg about the growing treasury yields, what this means for the markets, inflation and what a debt spiral means for fiat currencies and bitcoin.

Location: Remotely Date: Sunday 7th March Company: Independent Role: Bitcoin Writer The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age is a prophetic book released in 1997 by William Rees Mogg and James Dale Davidson. The book was written before the widespread adoption of the internet, social media, and Bitcoin, yet predicted a future that is remarkably close to the one we live in today, opening with the quote, "The future is disorder." In the book, Mogg and Davidson describe their vision of the future and how the rise of digital technology would make the world much more competitive, unequal and unstable. The pair also predicted a 'cyber money' that would empower the individual to splinter from the nation-state. "As cybercommerce begins, it will lead inevitably to cybermoney. This new form of money will reset the odds, reducing the capacity of the world's nation-states to determine who becomes a Sovereign Individual". In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin writer Robert Breedlove. We discuss why The Sovereign Individual is such an essential book for Bitcoiners, violence in a libertarian world, why bitcoin is a threat to the state and the ascending and descending world.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 4th March Company: dominicfrisby.com Role: Author, Comedian & Voice Actor COVID-19's impact on the global economy has been immense. Efforts to counter these effects have been varied, from unprecedented levels of money printing to increased taxation and other fiscal policies. Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, recently announced that, in 2023, there will be an increase in corporation tax in the UK, claiming this would put the burden on business to support the economic recovery from COVID-19. It has, however, raised concerns that this may force companies to move elsewhere. Dominic Frisby is a British author, comedian and voice actor who has written several books, including; Bitcoin: The Future of Money and, more recently, Daylight Robbery: How Tax Shaped Our Past and Will Change Our Future. In this interview, I talk to him about his book Daylight Robbery, the effects of taxation and the proposed rise in corporation tax in the UK, libertarianism and gold vs bitcoin.

Location: Remotely Date: Saturday 6th March Company: Block Digest Role: Host The core fundamental aspect of Bitcoin is its censorship-resistant nature; this is only possible because the network is meaningfully decentralised. Bitcoiners achieve decentralisation across the world, running nodes. These nodes maintain the network rules, known as consensus, and ensure all transactions and blocks are valid by keeping a copy of the entire history of the blockchain. Following my previous interview with Shinobi, I went away and attempted to set up three things: Tor - a distributed network that preserves my privacy by hiding the location of my node and preventing eavesdropping Bitcoin Core - the most popular bitcoin node software Specter - software that connects to your Bitcoin node and allows you to create a local wallet or connect to a hardware wallet In this interview, Shinobi helps me set up Tor, Bitcoin Core and Specter, and we discuss the difficulties for non-technical people, UX and why running a node is essential.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 4th February Company: Real Vision Role: Co-Founder & CEO Unlike almost every other market, in bitcoin, retail had the chance to front-run Wall Street. Since before bitcoin even had a price, the libertarians and cryptographers believed in bitcoin's ability to become the world's most dominant financial system. Bitcoin has been through many boom and bust cycles that were almost entirely retail-driven, yet the institutions have dominated the 2017 narrative. MicroStrategy changed the landscape for bitcoin investment and ushered in a new wave of 'smart' money. While there was undoubtedly institutional investment before MicroStrategy, it was their purchase of 21,454 bitcoin in August of last year that opened the floodgates to corporate investment. But how do these traditional, 'smart' money investors view bitcoin? And what do they think of bitcoiners? In this interview, I talk to Raoul Pal, macroeconomist and co-founder & CEO of Real Vision. We discuss the differences between retail and institutional investors, what a $1 trillion market cap means, volatility and market cycles.

Location: Remotely Date: Friday 19th February Company: balajis.com Role: Angel Investor & Entrepreneur The corporate adoption of bitcoin has widely defined the last 12 months for bitcoin. Following Michael Saylor's watershed move, companies such as Tesla and Square have been adding bitcoin to their treasuries. Many see the next logical step as nation-states adding bitcoin to their reserves. While some countries like Estonia and Malta have been very open to bitcoin, a large number still, at least publicly, have a less welcoming stance. The Indian government recently announced its intention to ban 'private' cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, fearing adoption would threaten national security and create a capital outflow from the country. Balaji Srinivasan thinks this is the wrong move and put forward the opposite case in his recent article Why India Should Buy Bitcoin. In this interview, we discuss the benefits to a nation-state adopting bitcoin, why India are the perfect first mover and the demise of Silicon Valley.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 23rd Feb Company: Block Digest Role: Host The core fundamental aspect of Bitcoin is its censorship-resistant nature; this is only possible because the network is meaningfully decentralized. Decentralization is achieved by bitcoiners worldwide running nodes (a computer connected to the bitcoin network, e.g. Bitcoin Core). These nodes maintain the network rules, known as consensus, and ensure all transactions and blocks are valid by keeping a copy of the entire history of the blockchain. Aside from supporting the network, running a node helps improve your privacy and allows you to validate your transactions without requiring a 3rd party. If you are not running a full node, you cannot use the bitcoin network in a trustless way. It is hard to know the exact number of nodes connected to the bitcoin network. However, Luke Dashjr estimates the number to be somewhere around 80,000. In this interview, I talk to Shinobi, the host of Block Digest. We discuss what a node is, why running a node is crucial for the network, which hardware & software to use, and the impact on privacy.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 25th Feb Company: lynalden.com Role: Macroeconomist Bitcoin is not slowing down after its massive start to 2021, and February has been another incredibly bullish month for bitcoin. First, following Tesla's announcement that they bought $1.5bn of bitcoin for their corporate treasury, the price surged above $50,000 for the first time. A few days later, with the bitcoin price at $53,763, the market capitalisation of bitcoin broke $1 trillion. Although bitcoin has since dropped back below the $1 trillion market cap, some analysts have suggested that if bitcoin can hold above that level, this de-risks bitcoin as an investment. With this, some institutional investors may begin to see bitcoin as a more feasible option. In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and investment strategist. We discuss Tesla buying bitcoin, MicroStrategy's billion-dollar raise, hitting a $1 trillion market cap and the sovereign bond market.

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 22nd Feb Company: Hypersheet Role: Co-Founder Since last month's episode with Willy Woo, bitcoin went from ~$30,000 to a new all-time high of over $58,000. This price action came on the back of a couple of massive announcements: Tesla added $1.5bn of bitcoin to its company treasury. MicroStrategy announced a raise of $600m in a convertible senior note sale to buy bitcoin before reassessing and increasing the raise to $900m. Upon completion of the raise, the company estimated the proceeds to be close to $1.05bn The bitcoin market cap broke through $1 trillion While corporations are still driving the bitcoin price, Willy Woo believes that we have entered a new phase of the bull market and that retail traders have arrived. As stated in his recent newsletter: "Bitcoin's blockchain is seeing 20,000 new users per day, this is a sudden 3x increase over the normal 5,000-10,000 per day previously. It's a very sure sign that retail investors are now coming in. They typically start ramping up in numbers during the middle phases of bull markets." In this interview, we discuss the Tesla & MicroStrategy news, the recent drop in price and what retail entering the market will mean for bitcoin.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 18th Feb Company: Abra Role: Founder & CEO In the last week, bitcoin broke $50,000 for the first time, a significant milestone, helped by corporate adoption. Tesla's $1.5bn bitcoin buy was a watershed moment. Still, it would likely not have happened without MicroStrategy, who themselves announced this week that they would be raising another $900 million to acquire more bitcoin. Using Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset is only expected to grow, with some bitcoiners suggesting that as many as half the S&P500 will hold bitcoin in their balance sheet before the end of 2021. The next logical step after corporate adoption of Bitcoin is the nation-state. With India looking to ban Bitcoin, it is clear there is still a large amount of scepticism from nation-states. However, the first country to embrace Bitcoin will likely see the same benefits as MicroStrategy did. In this interview, I talk to Bill Barhydt, the CEO and Founder of Abra. We discuss what $50k bitcoin means, increasing corporate adoption and which nation-state will be the first to embrace Bitcoin.

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 15th February Company: Bitcoin Magazine & Independent Role: Media Editor & Bitcoin Writer Bitcoin is the separation of money and state. It allows hodlers to opt-out of government-issued fiat currency and take sovereignty over their money. For many libertarian-minded Bitcoiners, this was the draw to Bitcoin, even before it had any real value. Throughout late 2020 and into early 2021, more and more companies have added Bitcoin to their treasuries. MicroStrategy led the way, but the most notable is Tesla's recent $1.5bn Bitcoin acquisition. For many, Bitcoin's attraction is due to its monetary policy and thus is a hedge against the unprecedented levels of money printing and the fear of high inflation. However, as Christian Keroles said in his article for Bitcoin Magazine The Sovereign Company Thesis "As companies adopt Bitcoin, they will begin to gain new levels of sovereignty and leverage over the state … this in and of itself will challenge the dynamics of governance and the nature of nation-states as we currently know them. So, what does the future of sovereign companies look like? In this interview, I talk to Christian Keroles, the Media Editor of Bitcoin Magazine and Robert Breedlove. We discuss the idea of sovereign companies, jurisdictional arbitrage and moving away from a state-controlled world.

Location: Remotely Date: Friday 5th February Company: SwanBitcoin Role: Founder We are just over a month into 2021, and it has already been a wild start of the year for Bitcoin and the broader financial markets. The r/wallstreetbets subreddit took it to Wall Street by collectively buying up the heavily shorted GameStop (GME). The stock price went from around $20 in mid-January to over $450 in less than two weeks, wiping a staggering $4.5 billion off Melvin Capital's balance sheet. In early February, corporate Bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor held his 'Bitcoin for Corporations' event which around 7,000 companies attended. Just days after the conference, Tesla announced that they had bought $1.5bn of Bitcoin. With any bull market, shitcoins also see an increase in activity. With the rise of Clubhouse, the salesmen are out in force. Yet, Bitcoiners are marshalling the rooms, educating newcomers on why Bitcoin is the only asset they should be considering. In this interview, I talk to Cory Klippsten, the founder of SwanBitcoin. We discuss how shitcoiners are invading Clubhouse, r/wallstreetbets, corporations buying Bitcoin, and which nation-states will first disclose a Bitcoin position first.

Location: RemotelyDate: Monday 8th FebruaryCompany: N/A & The Investors PodcastRole: N/A & Host On Monday, Tesla made the announcement that Bitcoiners had been anticipating. In their annual report to the SEC, Tesla disclosed that they had invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and the Bitcoin price soared to a new all-time high of over $47,000. In 2020, Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy paved the way for corporations to add Bitcoin to their treasuries and since then several companies have followed suit, including Square and MassMutual. However, as the richest man in the world and one of the most influential in the tech industry, Elon Musk's could prove to be the most important in the history of Bitcoin. It has sent shockwaves through the corporate world and will make the CEO of every publicly traded company question their treasury strategy. But, what does this mean for Bitcoin? And does this mark the beginning of the corporate race for Sats? In this interview, I talk to American HODL and Preston Pysh, author, engineer & the host of The Investor Podcast. We discuss Tesla's announcement, MicroStrategy's influence and corporations scrambling to buy Bitcoin.

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 1st February Company: Kraken Role: Director of Business Development The Gold Standard was a monetary system that linked the value of a country's currency to the amount of gold held in reserve. The Gold Standard placed restrictions on a governments ability to print money. Still, in 1971 Nixon announced that the US would sever all ties between the dollar and gold, and would no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value of $35. Nixon's decision severed all links to The Gold Standard, and since then the world has been in a fiat monetary system. Many Bitcoiners believe that the fiat monetary experiment is failing and it is inevitable that, at some point, the hardest form of money will win out - bitcoin. Hyperbitcoinisation is when bitcoin becomes the world's dominant form of money and the entire financial system's base asset. But how do we get there? And what are the implications on society? In this interview, I talk to Dan Held, the Director of Business Development at Kraken. We discuss the implications of a Bitcoin Standard, onboarding, adoption, decentralisation and layer one ossification.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 28th January Company: Kraken Role: Director of Business Development Jack Dorsey has been one of the leading public supporters of Bitcoin in Silicon Valley, stating his belief is that "Bitcoin has the potential to become the world's sole currency by 2030". In late 2020 Dorsey went a step further when his company Square put $50 million of Bitcoin in their treasury. Following the purchase, he tweeted "More important than Square investing $US50mm in #Bitcoin is sharing how we did it (so others can do the same)." Jack Dorsey is a hugely influential figure in Silicon Valley, and his actions sent a clear message of his belief in the importance of Bitcoin. Silicon Valley has mostly ignored Bitcoin, and Dan Held thinks this is a culture issue. While Silicon Valley values moving fast and breaking things, Bitcoin is the opposite. It is conservative, slow and most importantly, hard to change. In this interview, I talk to Dan Held, the Director of Business Development at Kraken. We discuss Dan's experience in Silicon Valley, what drives VCs to invest, and the changing Bitcoin narratives within Silicon Valley.

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 25th January Company: Kraken Role: Director of Business Development The design of Bitcoin issuance leads to clear four-year market cycles. While Bitcoin experienced bull runs in its first cycle, 2013 was the first, mainstream bull market and the price climbed to over $1,000. What followed was a multi-year bear market and an 80% drawdown. 2016/17 marked the next bull cycle with the Bitcoin price reaching $20,000 only to, again, experience an extended bear market and another 80% drawdown. Many speculate the catalyst for these cycles is the four-year halving, where the issuance rate of Bitcoin to miners cuts in half. With reduced supply and sustained demand, the price of Bitcoin pushes higher. However, each successive bull market presents a new and different set of participants. In 2013, the early adopters were the people who understood the technology or needed censorship-resistant money for the Silk Road. While it had become simpler to buy Bitcoin during this cycle, the fall of MtGox marked the end of this bull market. 2017, was mainly a retail-driven bull market, with few institutions investing in Bitcoin, due to the lack of infrastructure and regulatory clarity. A civil war also marked 2017, where Bitcoienrs debated the block size, ending with a hard fork, a split in the community and the creation of BCash. The current bull market is again different. Institutions have woken up to Bitcoin, and Michael Saylor has paved the way for corporations to add Bitcoin to their balance sheet. With the unprecedented levels of money printing and reckless policy, the need for hard money that is state resistant is more apparent than ever. As Dan Held says "Never before has Bitcoin had such strong fundamentals against a macro backdrop that highlights exactly why Bitcoin is needed, the narrative is singular, and the ability for global value to flow into Bitcoin has never been easier." In this interview, I talk to Dan Held, the Director of Business Development at Kraken. We discuss Bitcoin market cycles, the halving's impact, and the catalysts that could make this cycle a supercycle.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 26th January Company: Hypersheet Role: Co-Founder Bitcoin has had a great year so far, after hitting a new all-time high of ~$42,000 it has been in a consolidation range bouncing between $30,000 and $40,000. Since that top, we have seen a massive uptick in FUD, including a misreported double spend. This 'double spend' scared some investors and NexTech, a software company that had recently bought 130 Bitcoin, sold off the $4 million of Bitcoin they had acquired as a result. With Bitcoin cooling off for the first time in this bull market, what is the on-chain data telling us, and how can you know when a bull market is coming to an end? In this interview, I talk to on-chain analyst and the co-founder of Hypersheet; Willy Woo. We discuss the run-up to $42,000, what the on-chain data indicates, price targets for Bitcoin and how to call the top.

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 25th January Company: lynalden.com Role: Macroeconomist Since early January Bitcoin has been consolidating between $30k and $40k and the fundamentals and technicals remain strong. Grayscale has ceased their hiatus, MicroStrategy has added to their position during this time and, in early February, will be holding a conference for other corporations to go through their Bitcoin playbook.Since early January Bitcoin has been consolidating between $30k and $40k and the fundamentals, remain strong. Grayscale has ceased their hiatus, MicroStrategy has added to their position during this time and, in early February, will be holding a conference for other companies to explain their Bitcoin playbook. However, the big story over the last couple of weeks has been Wall Street Bets, the Reddit community taking on Wall Street. These retail investors have picked highly shorted stocks such as GameStop and AMC and bought in huge numbers. Traders activated a massive short squeeze on GameStop, and at least two hedge funds have had to cover their positions at a considerable loss. During this period the GameStop price went from ~$19 to ~$460. With retail traders desperate to take it to Wall Street, what is the eventual outcome, and what role has the COVID lockdowns and subsequent stimulus played in this? In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and investment strategist. We discuss the Bitcoin price action, retail investors/WSBs and Lyn's economic analysis of Ethereum.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 15th December Company: Block Digest Role: Host Checking your balance or sending Bitcoin can be as simple as opening an app or scanning a QR code and clicking send, but what is happening behind the scenes to make that happen? Unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) are the monetary units of bitcoin. They are likes coins and notes in the traditional financial system but can be of any value. When accessing a wallet, the software creates your balance by totalling the value of all your UTXOs, and when you want to send someone bitcoin, your wallet selects the UTXOs required to make up the amount you want to send. In many cases, wallet software abstracts away UTXOs so that the user does not have to consider them. However, it is a crucial part of the system that, when properly used, can help protect your privacy and reduce your transaction fees. In this interview, I talk to Shinobi, the host of Block Digest. We discuss UTXOs, what they do, how they work and the implications for both privacy and transaction fees.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 12th January Company: Swan Bitcoin Role: Head of Institutional Investment Why buy bitcoin is a complicated question to answer. Bitcoin is many different things to different people. It is a censorship-resistant form of payment for those living under authoritarian regimes; for some, it is a hedge against inflation, while it is purely speculative for many others. Even with Bitcoin adoption growing and maturing, the public perception of Bitcoin is still mixed. The mainstream media is somewhat to blame. It regularly pedals false narratives such as the funding of terrorism or Bitcoin being for drug dealers and network security that is melting the polar icecaps. As Bitcoiners we are used to dealing with this kind of FUD, Bitcoin has been declared dead hundreds of times, yet it continually bounces back. So, why buy Bitcoin? In this interview, I talk to Andy Edstrom, author of Why Buy Bitcoin. We discuss his investment thesis for Bitcoin, why Bitcoin continues to thrive and address the common misconceptions and FUD surrounding it.

Location: Remotely Date: Saturday 16th January Company: VaynerX & Parallax Digital Role: CEO & Founder Hyperbitcoinisation is the state at which Bitcoin becomes the world's dominant form of money and thus the base asset for the entire financial system. On the road to hyperbitcoinisation, there will be a tipping point where governments willingly or unwillingly seed power and move over to a bitcoin-based system. For many Bitcoiners, hyperbitcoinisation is inevitable. However, the path to a hyperbitcoinisation society is unclear and likely difficult. In this interview, I talk to entrepreneur, author & speaker Gary Vaynerchuk and founder of Parallax Digital, Robert Breedlove. We discuss the government response to Bitcoin and the road to hyperbitcoinisation.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 14th January Company: Independent Role: Software Engineer and Author As we are in another Bitcoin bull market, many new people will be considering investing, but understanding what Bitcoin is and why it is important isn't straightforward. Bitcoin is multifaceted, and the use cases can vary dramatically depending on where you live in the world and your circumstances. There is no standard narrative or way of explaining Bitcoin; for example, it is a medium of exchange, a way to bypass government and as an inflation hedge. Others are investing in Bitcoin to speculate against the net benefit of all use cases. To help answer some of the most common questions and lay to bed some of the common misconceptions, I talk to software engineer and author, Vijay Boyapati for the ultimate Bitcoin 101.

Location: Remotely Date: Wednesday 13th January Company: Independent & Castle Island Ventures Role: Author & Partner Bitcoin adoption is maturing, and veteran traders such as Stan Druckenmiller and Paul Tudor Jones, companies like Microstrategy and institutions like Grayscale and Skybridge have all made moves solidifying its reputation and profile. However, it is still not without its detractors. Arguments regarding scalability, how a deflationary system works and fears of money without government backing are topics of regular discussion. One critic who is quick to highlight Bitcoin's perceived shortcomings is Frances Coppola, and last week on Twitter, Frances caused a stir with comments about the scarcity of bitcoin. In this episode, I moderate a debate between Frances, an economist and financial author, and Nic Carter, a Partner at Castle Island Ventures, to discuss some of Bitcoin's most fundamental questions.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 22nd December In early 2017, with the Bitcoin price at around $1,200, Didi Taihuttu, his wife and three kids sold their house, cars and everything they owned and invested it all in Bitcoin. They planned to travel the world and live a nomad lifestyle. In 2017, following their decision, the Bitcoin price went to $20,000 before crashing back down to around $3,200. With this volatility, the family had to adjust their lifestyle. However, with Bitcoin hitting new all-time highs of $42,000 last week, their conviction has paid off. Now, four years later, the family are still travelling the world and living off Bitcoin. In this interview, I talk to Didi Taihuttu, and we discuss his decision to sell everything and buy Bitcoin, how the family coped during the bear market and the pros and cons of living a nomad lifestyle.

Location: Remotely Date: Wednesday 6th January Company: Bitfinex Role: CTO & General Counsel There have been claims that Tether has manipulated the Bitcoin price. Still, JL van der Velde, CEO of both Bitfinex and Tether, denied the allegations stating "Bitfinex nor Tether is, or has ever, engaged in any sort of market or price manipulation. Tether issuances cannot be used to prop up the price of bitcoin or any other coin/token on Bitfinex." As well as market manipulation there have been calls for a full audit of the Tether reserves amidst claims that the stablecoin is not fully reserved. In this interview, I talk to Paolo Ardoino & Stuart Hoegner the CTO & General Counsel at Bitfinex. We discuss Tether FUD, the claims of not being fully backed and price manipulation.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 5th January Company: Zap Role: CEO This week Jack Mallers announced the launch of Strike Global, a Bitcoin neobank that uses the Bitcoin network and lightning to facilitate the sending of money anywhere in the world, in a matter of seconds, for free. The speed and cost of payments have often been a topic of debate in Bitcoin. While the basechain is necessarily slow, the Lightning Network promises to provide instant and low-cost bitcoin transfers. With Strike, Jack Mallers is taking this to the next level allowing users to settle in fiat currencies across the Bitcoin network. Fast and no cost transfers of fiat currencies solve problems across the world, especially in third-world countries. Strike aims to run a pilot in El Salvador to prove this. Strike has also enabled Caroline Panthers Offensive Tackle; Russell Okung to become the first NFL player to be paid in bitcoin, half of his $13 million salary. In this interview, I talk to Zap CEO Jack Mallers. We discuss the newly launched Strike Global, revolutionising global payments, neobanking with Bitcoin and helping to bank the unbanked in 3rd world countries.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 29th December Company: SkyBridge Capital Role: Founder SkyBridge Capital is an investment firm, run by Anthony Scaramucci. The firm, which has $9.3 billion under management, has announced a Bitcoin fund, allowing customers to invest in Bitcoin. SkyBridge is the latest in a growing list of companies creating onramps for institutional exposure to Bitcoin, going up against the likes of Grayscale. The latter already has over half a million Bitcoin under management. In this interview, I talk to SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci. We discuss the SkyBridge Bitcoin fund, institutional interest, and 11-day stint working for President Trump.