The Peter McCormack Show

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 19th July Company: Blockstream, Lightning Labs Role: Researcher, Infrastructure Engineer The Bitcoin blockchain is an open public ledger, thus building privacy solutions on-chain is challenging. However, the Lightning network's design is a massive improvement in privacy as the tradeoffs are different. Lightning removes transactional friction with significant security and privacy assurances today. But what are the potential attack vectors, and how might they be mitigated? In this interview, I talk to researcher Christian Decker and infrastructure engineer Carla Kirk-Cohen. We discuss the current state of privacy on Lightning, potential vulnerabilities and most likely solutions.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 15th July Company: Validus Power Corp, Bitcoin Magazine Role: Bitcoin Strategist, Director of Financial Markets & Research In Ray Dalio's video How the Economic Machine Works, he explains the concept of deleveraging long-term debt cycles. Currently, central bankers have pulled all the levers they can to avoid unwinding the supercycle of global debt, but eventually, something has to give. The final tool that central bankers have to avoid creative destruction is inflation, and it is now a mathematical certainty that a devaluation of fiat currencies is coming. Is the rise of Bitcoin the only logical conclusion to the fiat money system? In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin Strategist Greg Foss and Dylan LeClair from Bitcoin Magazine. We discuss crony capitalism and perpetual bailouts, why debt cycles spell inflation, and how the world will turn to Bitcoin.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 15th July Project: Strike Role: Role: CEO With Strike, Jack Mallers is taking on the traditional financial rails and neobanks by facilitating the sending of money anywhere in the world, near-instantly and for free. Strike does this by utilising the largest and best open monetary network of all time, bitcoin. After running a successful pilot campaign in El Salvador, a country that relies heavily on remittances, Jack was instrumental in its groundbreaking bill that made it the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. In a country where a vast proportion of the population operating outside of the banking system, Strike helps build financial inclusion, and they now have their sights set on the rest of the world. In this interview, I talk to Jack Mallers, CEO of Strike. We discuss the Lightning Network as a medium of exchange, the power of open networks, and how the Bitcoin rails change remittance.

Location: Remotely Date: Wednesday 7th July Project: RaspiBlitz Role: Role: Developers Bitcoin operates thanks to a decentralised network of nodes whose job it is to 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. Setting up a Bitcoin & Lightning node can be a daunting task for those that aren't technical, but there are now a number of simple 'plug and play' style nodes like Umbrel, MyNode and Raspiblitz. In this second episode of our Lightning series, I talk to RaspiBlitz developers Openoms and Rootzoll. We discuss the importance of running a node, tradeoffs between custodial and non-custodial wallets and the different node solutions available.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 5th July Project: aantonop.com / Freelance Role: Role: Speaker, Author and Educator / developer and Data Scientist The Lightning Network helps Bitcoin scale. As a layer two solution, Lightning takes transactions off the base chain and allows for near-instant transitions for a small fee. While Lightning Network is growing fast, there is still a learning curve to understand and use the technology. This series will go through everything from how the Lightning Network works, the improved privacy, and why Lightning is vital to Bitcoin's success. In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin Speaker, Author & Educator Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Lightning Network developer René Pickhardt. We discuss how the Lightning Network works and why scaling off-chain is so essential.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 6th June Company: Unchained Capital Role: Head of Business Development When people attempt to understand bitcoin, it is easy to get caught up in some of the myths we addressed in Gradually then Suddenly Pt 1 - Killing the FUD. In this Part 2 episode, we go deeper into the principles of monetary economics. Money solves the intersubjective problem of trade and facilitates specialisation in society. Therefore, how we solve these problems can help objectively evaluate the properties of money. The most important property of money is scarcity, and bitcoin, with its fixed supply and monetary properties, reigns king. But from where do these properties derive? And what about other blockchains? How can bitcoin obsolete all other money? In this interview, I talk to Parker Lewis, Head of Business Development at Unchained Capital. We discuss the principles of money, monetary convergence, and why Bitcoin obsoletes all other money.

Location: Remotely Date: Friday 25th June Company: Suredbits Role: Software Engineer Bitcoin's proof-of-work blockchain solves a specific problem: achieving consensus of a distributed ledger without a central authority. Out of this decentralised network, new properties emerge like censorship resistance and probabilistic finality. Bitcoin's success led to an explosion of altcoins, with most claiming to improve upon Bitcoin somehow, whether it's speed, privacy or scalability. However, blockchains are a delicate balance of specific tradeoffs, and these altcoins pale in comparison to Bitcoin's decentralisation and censorship resistance. While changing a parameter might seem to add functionality, it can also introduce unintended consequences. To resist influence and attacks, Bitcoin must remain decentralised by allowing for easy validation. Can we achieve sufficient privacy and functionality on the second layer? And why are other consensus methods, like proof-of-stake, flawed? In this interview, I talk to Suredbits software engineer Nadav Kohen. We discuss why blockchains must scale with second layers, proof-of-stake vs proof of work, and tradeoffs of privacy technology.

Location: Zoom Date: Saturday 27th June Project: Tonga Role: Tongan Politician & Noble of the Realm. Following El Salvador's groundbreaking decision to make bitcoin legal tender, politicians from all over Central & South America, Africa and the Pacific Islands began putting laser eyes in their Twitter bios and publicly endorsing bitcoin. One of these politicians was Lord Fusituʻa, a Tongan politician. Tonga is a small country in the South Pacific. Their economy relies heavily on remittances, most notably from Australia, New Zealand and the United States. With close to 41% of their GDP coming from remittance and fees, sometimes as high as 50%, the Polynesian country would benefit greatly from removing these middle-man fees. After seeing Strike's success in El Salvador and their government's steps to legalise bitcoin, Lord Fusituʻa wants to bring bitcoin to Tonga. In this episode, I talk to Tongan Politician and Noble of the Realm, Lord Fusituʻa. We discuss the history of Tonga, why the country relies so heavily on remittance payments and the steps he is taking to bring Bitcoin to the Tongan people.

Location: Remotely Date: Friday 25th June Project: CJ Wilson Racing, WBD Employee of the Month Role: Owner and founder, N/A CJ Wilson has led an exciting life. He was a two-time All-star during his decade-long major league baseball career, and he went on to found a professional sports car racing team. Given his understanding of sound money, bitcoin was something he had to pursue to protect his wealth. CJ is a bitcoin maximalist, a term initially coined as a pejorative and now worn as a badge of honour. The culture of toxicity is under constant criticism, with opponents suggesting it pushes people away from Bitcoin, while bitcoiners maintain it's an essential defence against scams and misinformation. Critics claim that maximalism itself is in opposition to liberty, but taking a hard stance is a cornerstone of sovereignty. Is maximalism anti-freedom? Or is it simply the free market's rallying cry of a monetary revolution? In this interview, I talk to American HODL & MLB all-star and sports car racer CJ Wilson. We discuss CJs sports career, racing fast cars and the role of toxic bitcoin maximalism.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 22nd June Project: Kraken Role: Head of OTC Options Trading Derivatives are contracts that allow traders to take a position with an asset based on possible outcomes; while they can provide dramatic rewards, they come with risk. Derivative exchanges have been a growing part of the maturing bitcoin ecosystem. However, with the rise of exchanges like FTX and Binance, offering high leverage, there is an increasing lens on these exchanges. Derivative contracts are a valuable tool for experienced traders. With exchanges offering leverage of up to 125x, inexperienced traders can quickly amass significant losses. Whenever bitcoin has a sharp move in either direction, those on the wrong side of the trade often get liquidated. These capitulation events regularly wipe out hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars in positions. Some people suggest that high amounts of leverage are detrimental to the price discovery of bitcoin, but it's clear from the rise of certain exchanges that these are the types of markets traders want. In this interview, I talk to Juthica Chou, Head of OTC Options Trading at Kraken. We discuss how bitcoin derivatives work, the different types of contracts, and Microstrategy's leverage plays.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 24th June Project: Hypersheet Role: Co-Founder Over the last few weeks, a significant amount of bad news and FUD has circulated bitcoin. Elon Musk publicly questioned the energy mix used by the bitcoin network shortly before the initial drop to ~$30k, and since then, Bitcoin has ranged between $30k and $40k. While other positive news has come to market, such as El Salvador making Bitcoin legal tender, the news cycle has been dominated by bearish narratives, from energy concerns to China, again, banning Bitcoin. During this period, the hash rate has dropped by nearly 50% as miners turn off their machines and move out of China, and the difficulty adjustment, expected around 2nd July, is expected to drop by over 25%. The last month has been turbulent in bitcoin, and the narrative has become cloudy, with bitcoin continually defending the ~$30k mark. Is this the bottom? Or just the start of a longer-term bear market? In this interview, I talk to on-chain analyst and the co-founder of Hypersheet, Willy Woo. We discuss the reliability of on-chain data and TA, miners moving out of China and whether we have entered a bear market.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 22nd June Project: lynalden.com Role: Macroeconomist The new legislation in El Salvador making Bitcoin legal tender is a bold move for the country. As a dollarised nation and with remittance making up 15% of GDP, there are clear benefits in bringing bitcoin and the Lightning Network to the country. A catalyst for this move is the macroeconomic fallout of 2020 which included unprecedented monetary expansion and economic disruption. Today, it seems some of the effects are starting to appear in price inflation and oddities in the overnight lending markets between financial institutions. Will El Salvador's bet on Bitcoin pay off? And are these simply transitory macroeconomic irregularities, or is there cause for concern? In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and investment strategist. We discuss El Salvador making Bitcoin legal tender, other countries adopting Bitcoin, the Lightning Network and the reverse repo market.

Location: El Salvador Date: Friday 18th June Project: El Salvador Role: President Twenty years ago, El Salvador became a dollarised nation, bringing economic stability to the country and improving the country's potential for investment. However, it did so at the cost of giving up its monetary policy to the US Federal bank. Two decades later, following the COVID-19, the global economic outlook has changed significantly. As a result, the Fed has taken extreme measures to combat the economic impact of the pandemic and is printing money at previously unseen levels. The stimulus packages that help American's do not make their way to dollarised El Salvador, but the people of Salvadorans do suffer the adverse effects of the US debasing the dollar. Two years ago, Nayib Bukele won a landslide presidential election in El Salvador, becoming the first President since the Salvadoran Civil War who did not represent either of the two major parties. As the founder of the political party Nuevas Ideas, President Bukele lived up to his reputation when on the 8th of June 2021, El Salvador enacted its Bitcoin Law, making it the first country to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender. The decision has been met with excitement and scepticism. Could this bold move be a catalyst for prosperity in El Salvador? And will other nations follow suit, potentially helping billions? In his first interview since the Bitcoin law was passed, I talked to El Salvador President Nayib Bukele. We discuss the decision to make bitcoin legal tender, education & infrastructure, volcano mining, and why he believes bitcoin is a 'no-brainer'.

Location: El Salvador Date: Thursday 17th June Project: Strike Role: CEO El Salvador made history by becoming the first country to embrace bitcoin as legal tender. This bold step to adopt Bitcoin empowers Salvadorians and utilises Bitcoin's powerful technology to build a better financial future for the country. As a dollarised country, El Salvador is at the whim of the Fed, and the groundbreaking legislation included this excerpt: "Central banks are increasingly taking actions that may cause harm to the economic stability of El Salvador; That in order to mitigate the negative impact from central banks, it becomes necessary to authorise the circulation of a digital currency with a supply that cannot be controlled by any central bank." The bitcoin project in El Salvador has a long history; Bitcoin Beach, a project started by Michael Peterson in El Zonte, a surf town that has become a bitcoin hub in El Salvador. This local project has become the poster child of what a bitcoin community and economy can look like. Jack Mallers and the Strike team have taken El Salvador by storm, but this story is bigger than any one person. From Bitcoin Beach to developers, and the entire community, every bitcoiner played a part in bringing a fair and inclusive financial future to El Salvador. In this interview, I talk to Jack Mallers, CEO of Strike. We discuss the story that led to Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador, all the credit due to the community, and his mission to secure financial freedom for all.

Location: Miami Date: Monday 7th June Project: Griid Infrastructure Role: WP of Strategy Bitcoin mining has been subjected to a considerable amount of criticism over recent years, but the number of articles disseminating misinformation has exploded over the last few months. Almost every mainstream media outlet has shared ill-researched hit pieces, and several hugely influential figures, from Elon Musk to Elizabeth Warren, have publicly questioned its energy usage. While the conversation about Bitcoins energy usage is worthwhile, almost all of the criticisms come from a misunderstanding of Bitcoin and the energy sector. However, the reach of these articles is widespread and potentially damaging. To address this FUD, I talk to Harry Sudock, the Vice President of Strategy at Griid. We discuss the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining, energy generation & the power grid and the case for renewable energy.

Location: New York Date: Wednesday 9th June Project: michaelmalice.com Role: Author It's a common misconception that anarchy revolves around chaos and war when it is simply about freedom. Anarchists want to see the removal of all government and society to run on an entirely voluntary, cooperative basis. While it's uncertain what our world would look like without rulers, technology is the greatest driver of transformation in the modern world. Bitcoin has realised an anarchist dream as an incorruptible form of money, controlled by the people outside of government intervention. It is a powerful catalyst for freedom. Michael Malice is a staunch anarchist and author who believes anarchism is an apparatus for achieving human joy. In this interview, we discuss how the world would operate without state intervention, the human propensity for cooperation, and how Bitcoin is a catalyst for change.

Location: New York Date: Wednesday 9th June As of February 2021, annual growth in the money supply reached 39% in the US, leading to widespread fears of inflation and the impact on the economy. Consumer prices soared 5% in May, the largest increase since 2008. While the Fed has argued that inflation will revert to normal by next year, others are looking to hedge the risk of inflation. Bitcoin is viewed by many as the ultimate inflation hedge. With its fixed monetary policy and transparent, consistent and decreasing supply issuance, it is the antithesis of fiat currencies, perpetually debased by governments' increasingly extreme monetary policy. Are we right to fear more significant inflation? And what role do Bonds and Bitcoin play? In this interview, I talk to William Elman and Greg Mercer. We discuss bond yields and what they signal, the pros and cons of market intervention and the ever-increasing government debt.

Location: Guatemala Date: Wednesday 26th May Project: Head of Business Development Role: Host The Gradually, Then Suddenly series by Parker Lewis on the Unchained Capital blog is an excellent resource for readers with any level of knowledge. Bitcoin is not intuitive at first, and these articles cover many of the most common sticking points people come across when they fall down the rabbit hole. Parker's writings deeply examine the value proposition of Bitcoin from a first-principles basis. To truly understand Bitcoin, one must answer the question: what is money? In this interview, I talk to Parker Lewis, Head of Business Development at Unchained Capital. We discuss money as a coordination function of society, Bitcoin's energy usage, and why you cannot copy Bitcoin.

Location: Miami Date: Tuesday 25th May Project: Block Digest Role: Host Bitcoin is an entirely decentralised network, and as such, by definition, it has no authoritative organisation to dictate or coordinate rule changes. Instead, any improvements or changes must be community-driven. Changes to Bitcoin are rare, and when the developers propose protocol changes, they go through a strenuous review and test process. As such, changes are rare and slow to happen. While some see this as a negative, it is one of the strengths of Bitcoin. A monetary network that is worth nearly $1tn should not be fast or easy to change. Many even think that eventually, the base-layer of Bitcoin may reach a point where it must no longer implement any changes, and further improvements would occur on higher layers. In this interview, I talk to Shinobi, the host of Block Digest. We discuss making changes to the Bitcoin protocol, hard vs soft forks, ossification, and the upcoming Taproot soft fork means for Bitcoin.

Location: Los Angeles Date: Thursday 27th May Project: Thiel Capital Role: MD Bitcoin can be a toxic place. If you question a narrative or fall on the wrong side of a debate, you will quickly find yourself on the receiving end of the 'bitcoin plebs', and rarely a day passes without a fight of some kind exploding on Twitter. Earlier this year, Eric Weinstein found himself amongst a heated discussion after challenging the narratives of bitcoiners across Clubhouse and Twitter. Eric is a cultural commentator who has been aware of Bitcoin since as early as 2010. Whilst supporting Bitcoin and the community, he does not consider himself a bitcoiner. In this interview, we discuss Bitcoin maximalism & toxicity, Elon Musk and whether Bitcoin fixes everything. My friend Travis Kling joins me as co-host for this episode.

Location: Los Angeles Date: Friday 28th May Project: lynalden.com Role: Macroeconomist Over the last few weeks, the ESG narrative regarding Bitcoin has been growing, and we have seen a constant stream of misinformed FUD surrounding the energy sources and usage of Bitcoin miners. The primary catalyst for this narrative, and the recent drop in price, was when Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla had "suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin" due to their concerns "about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions". While the validity of this claim was quickly debunked, the narrative is spreading. With growing pressure to reduce energy consumption and comply with the ESG movement, what impact will this have on the Bitcoin market? In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and investment strategist. We discuss new sources of demand for bitcoin, ESG, Tesla, and misconceptions about fossil fuels and "green" energy.

Location: Chicago Date: Wednesday 26th May Project: Kraken Role: Growth Lead When Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla had "suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin" due to their concerns "about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions", the market went into freefall, dropping from around $58k to just below $30k in just a few days. Since then, the market has reacted whenever Musk tweets. On Monday, he stated that he had "Spoke with North American Bitcoin miners" in a meeting set up by Michael Saylor and that "they committed to publish current & planned renewable usage & to ask miners WW to do so. Potentially promising." While this may seem like positive news, behind-closed-door meetings are not something that bitcoiners are fans of. The meeting was somewhat reminiscent of the New York Agreement. The future of Bitcoin should be decided by the consensus of the entire network, not a small, wealthy and hugely influential committee. Some feel that appeasing one billionaire is a dangerous precedent to set. Are we heading down a slippery slope? And what will this mean for Bitcoin? In this interview, I talk to Dan Held, the Growth Lead at Kraken. We discuss the concept of leaders in Bitcoin, antifragility, and dispel some FUD.

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 24th May Project: The Human Rights Foundation & Castle Island Ventures Role: Chief Strategy Officer & Partner Bitcoin is in the midst of an immense cycle of FUD. In the last few weeks alone, Elon Musk has questioned the energy consumption, China has again imposed regulations on bitcoin miners, and even the Pope raised fears concerning fossil fuels. As Bitcoiners, we are used to the constant stream of attacks, but often the disparagement is down to a lack of understanding of Bitcoin, with people viewing it as just a visa-like payment processor. As Alex Gladstein says, Bitcoin "is not a fintech company competing with Visa. It is a decentralized asset competing to be the new global reserve currency, aiming to inherit the role gold once had and the role the dollar holds today." If bitcoin does become the new global reserve currency, superseding the dollar, will that usher in a more peaceful world? And what impact will it have on equality and foreign policy? In this interview, I talk to Alex Gladstein, the Chief Strategy Officer at The Human Rights Foundation and Nic Carter, a Partner at Castle Island Ventures. We discuss the petrodollar system, moving to a bitcoin standard and the benefits that it would have on society.

Location: El Salvador Date: Monday 10th May Project: Independent Role: Bitcoin Writer Growing food, gunpowder and the printing press, while these don't appear to have much in common, they have been the catalyst for some of the most fundamental shifts ever seen in human history. The agricultural revolution led man from small groups of hunter-gatherers to relatively large settled communities; this provided the basis for centralised political structures. The gunpowder revolution changed warfare. It removed the ultimate power of a knight on horseback and rebalanced power back towards the people. With the advent of the printing press, the spread of ideas became possible on a previously unimaginable scale; this, in turn, turbocharged the Renaissance and removed power from the church. Each one has been responsible for revolutionising how society operates and transformed people's lives. With Bitcoin, are we now amidst the next significant revolution that will change the course of history? In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin writer Robert Breedlove. We discuss the mega-political variables that shape society, the role of technology, and the logic of violence.

Location: Guatemala Date: Thursday 20th May Project: Hypersheet Role: Co-Founder The last 48 hours have been one of the craziest in Bitcoin, with the price crashing -51% from its peak. Back in April, we were hovering around $60k when a significant number of miners in China went offline due to power plant disruption; after a brief selloff, prices began to recover. Last week a tweet about Bitcoin's energy usage from Elon Musk triggered another downturn in the market. A "tidal wave of young coins" flooded into exchanges to sell, leading to a lot of leveraged traders getting liquidated and ultimately a capitulation to around $30k. While this dip was extreme, significant dips in a bull market are not uncommon, and bitcoin is already up around 40% from the lows. So was this just a minor blip, or does it signal the end of the bull market? In this interview, I talk to on-chain analyst and the co-founder of Hypersheet, Willy Woo. We discuss what caused the dip, who's buying it up, and Willy's new price targets.

Location: El Salvador Date: Saturday May 8th Project: USC Marshall School of Business Role: Adjunct Professor of Finance For a long time, asset managers in the traditional finance world have largely ignored bitcoin. Often using outdated and debunked theories as to why bitcoin is another tulip bubble that boils the oceans, kills polar bears and used by drug dealers and criminals. Over the last year, this has begun to change, institutions have woken up to Bitcoin, and they are beginning to see it for what it is, the soundest money the world has ever seen and a tool for freedom. Nik Bhatia says that Bitcoin has changed monetary technology as we know it. It is now the fiduciary duty for asset managers to consider bitcoin, not only for the economic benefit but also for societal change. In this interview, I talk by Author and Professor of Finance Nik Bhatia. We discuss his recent article 'Asset Managers, Owning Bitcoin Is Now Your Fiduciary Duty', currency debasement and how Bitcoin is the new monetary reality.

Location: El Salvador Date: Saturday May 8th Project: tomerstrolight.medium.com Role: Writer The inflationary aspects of fiat money and the ultimate control wielded by the central banks create a rigged game that forces us to consume rather than save. As Tomer Strolight puts it, 'time-travelling thieves are stealing our energy and wealth'. As the soundest money the world has ever known, the magical qualities of Bitcoin fix this. Tomer Strolight has been pondering Bitcoin's profound implications for nearly a decade. His writings are unique, elegant tidbits of helpful perspectives for bitcoiners, new and old. In this interview, I talk to Tomer, and we discuss his many short articles on Bitcoin, the dark magic of fiat money, and why Bitcoin is the most important thing happening in the world.

Location: El Salvador Date: Friday 30th April Company: BTC Media Role: CEO & Co-Founder On June 4th & 5th, the Bitcoin world will descend on Miami for the largest Bitcoin-only conference in history. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, conferences and gatherings have been postponed and cancelled. It is fitting that a conference centred around Bitcoin, a tool for freedom that allows people to bypass government control, will be one of the first gatherings of its kind in a post-covid world. With the massive increase in retail and institutional interest in bitcoin, it looks to be an event on a scale not seen before for bitcoin. The lineup of speakers ranges from Michael Saylor to Jack Dorsey and Nick Szabo to Tony Hawk. In this interview, I talk to David Bailey, CEO of BTC Media. We discuss the massive Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami, maximalism, hyperbitcoinisation, and the bitcoin revolution. For tickets, head over to their website and use promo code "WBD" to save 10% off your tickets.

Location: El Salvador Date: Saturday May 8th Company: Strike, Ed Carpenter Racing Role: CEO, Owner Ed Carpenter lives life at over 373 km/h. He's worked his whole life for his dream of racing in the Indy 500. And now, with 18 Indy races under his belt, the finish line is within his sights. But Indy racing requires millions per year in funding, and the way people consume entertainment is changing. Ed's team needed to do something different, and a dose of orange pills gave them an idea. A cold email to Jack Mallers may just have changed the game forever. The two have joined forces and are looking to the Bitcoin community to raise money to enter car number 21 into the Indy500 covered in the Bitcoin logo. In this interview, I talk to Jack Mallers and IndyCar driver Ed Carpenter. We discuss Ed's racing aspirations, entering a Bitcoin car into the Indy500 and supporting open source development and Bitcoin.

Location: El Salvador Date: Wednesday 5th May Company: n/a Role: n/a Bitcoin is an open and permissionless system that, by design, is available to anyone and everyone who wants to participate, without prejudice or bias. However, while the system is open to all, some of the participants in the system push strong narratives. As a decentralised system with no single entity in control, these bitcoiners and their narratives have been fundamental in helping protect the network from bad actors and those looking to exploit it for personal gain. Some of these narratives are clearly beneficial, such as running a full node to help decentralise the network or pushing self-sovereignty through things such as not your keys, not your coins. However, several other narratives have become things that some groups of bitcoiners identify with, such as following a carnivore diet, anarchism and scepticism regarding vaccines. How important are these narratives to bitcoin? And what makes someone a 'real' bitcoiner? In this interview, I talk to American HODL and Surfer Jim. We discuss bitcoin narratives & purity, shitcoins, NFTs, the bitcoin plebs and Surfer Jim's battle with Chamath Palihapitiya.

Location: Remotely Date: Wednesday 21st April Company: Horizon Kinetics Role: Co-Founder & MD Value investing is a simple but highly effective strategy used by some of the world's most renowned traders, most notably Warren Buffet. These investors hunt out stocks that they believe to be trading below their true value. The theory is that the market overestimates both good and bad news, which means stock or asset prices can swing wildly askew of their actual value, and they then look to capitalise on this by buying cheap and holding for the long term. It is easy to argue that Bitcoin fits perfectly into this category. If you believe that Bitcoin has the potential to become the world's premier store of value and absorb a large portion of gold's market cap, then at a $1trillion market cap, bitcoin seems massively undervalued. However, many value investors, including Buffet, refuse to accept Bitcoin. Peter Doyle is a value investor who believes that bitcoin has a crucial role in our future. Not only just as a store of value and a hedge against inflation but also as a way of removing monetary policy decisions from the central bankers and politicians. In this interview, I talk to Peter Doyle, the Co-Founder and MD of Horizon Kinetics. We discuss the risks of high inflation, value investing in the current macro environment and why the world needs Bitcoin.

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).