The Peter McCormack Show

Location: Squadcast Date: Thursday 29th October Company: Real Vision Role: Co-Founder & CEO The Bretton Woods agreement was created in 1944, following the end of the Second World War. The agreement pegged the US Dollar to gold, with other nations pegging their currencies to the dollar. The agreement was an attempt to stabilise economies after the devastation of the war. The IMF recently released an article in which they called the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic a "new Bretton Woods moment." Suggesting that the pandemic's effect on the economy and the substantial fiscal stimulus required may be too hard to come back from without change. The IMF announcement happened in the shadow of central banks around the world looking more and more at issuing their digital currencies. These Central Bank Digital Currencies, known as CBDCs, will give more power to the state over the control and flow of money. While this control does offer some benefits, they do also increase surveillance and reduce monetary freedoms. Are we in the midst of a revolution in money? And what does it mean for Bitcoin? In this interview, I am joined by Raoul Pal, macroeconomist and co-founder & CEO of Real Vision. We discuss the IMF considering a new Bretton Woods type system, central banks issuing digital currencies and what this means for Bitcoin.

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 14th October Company: Prime Trust Role: Chief Product Officer Over the last few years, neobanks and fintech companies such as Cash App, Revolut, Venmo (amongst others) have grown hugely in popularity, with many choosing to step away from traditional banking and jump on this new wave in finance. Neobanks offer features that you cannot access in the traditional finance world. Along with quick and more effortless transactions, many services allow you to invest in stocks, commodities and Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies), from within their apps. So, what impact will exposing hundreds of millions of people to Bitcoin have? Prime Trust is one of the companies behind that help these fintech businesses operate, and in this interview, I talk to Kevin Lehtiniitty, their Chief Product Officer. We discuss financial censorship, the outdated legacy infrastructure in the US, neobanking and the role of bitcoin in the future of financial applications.

Location: Squadcast Date: Friday 25rd September Company: Blockstream Role: Lightning Network Developer Bitcoiners can be firm in their views and are often called toxic by outsiders; however, this toxicity plays an important role. Bitcoin is a threat to the legacy financial system. It is therefore open to a broad range of attacks from technical to social and Bitcoin's immune system defends against these attacks to protect the protocol. In previous episodes, I have looked at the pros and cons of toxicity and how it acts as an immune system for Bitcoiner. Does this immune system lead to silly narratives going unchallenged? Can Bitcoin fix everything or are we missing critical nuanced debates regarding its potential? Rusty Russell is somewhat of a contrarian in the Bitcoin space. He is a lightning network developer for Blockstream but also runs the Shit Bitcoiners Say Twitter account which regularly calls out some of the more overzealous and outlandish claims by Bitcoiners. In this interview, Rusty and I discuss the lightning network, open-source development, narratives and overzealous Bitcoiners.

Location: Squadcast Date: Tuesday 20th October Company: Gemini Role: Co-Founders In August, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss released The Case for $500K Bitcoin. A paper that outlines the value proposition of Bitcoin, why it is a superior store of value and hedge against inflation than either gold, oil and the US dollar. In the paper, they describe the world as 'drowning in debt', even before the coronavirus outbreak, and predict that the pandemic may cause everyone to come face to face with the reality of debt spiralling out of control. While the impact on the world may be scary for the broader economy, the twins outline Bitcoin as a major winner in this scenario and predict Bitcoin's market cap to grow from its current market capitalisation (approx. $225 billion) to that of gold (approx. $9 trillion). With the price of a Bitcoin at around $550K. We discuss their paper, why Bitcoin is the best hedge against inflation, the debt reckoning and Wall Street investing in Bitcoin.

Location: Squadcast Date: Thursday 17th September Role: Bitcoin Core Developer Due to the decentralised nature of Bitcoin, committing to becoming a full-time core developer comes with challenges. While the Bitcoin network is worth over $200 billion, there is no central development fund to ensure that developers are working full time on the protocol. While there are numerous independent contributors, many developers rely on support from a growing number of companies such as Chaincode Labs, Blockstream, Lightning Labs and a handful of others who fund work on the protocol. In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin Core Developer Amiti Uttarwar. We discuss her residency at Chaincode Labs, contributing to Bitcoin Core, working on open source projects and the blacklist controversy.

Location: Squadcast Date: Monday 7th September Company: Bitfinex Role: CTO Bitfinex is one of the oldest and largest Bitcoin exchanges. Since 2014, the exchange has had to endure multiple hacks, including at $60 million theft in 2016. iFinex, the parent company of Bitfinex, also oversees Tether. Tether is the largest stablecoin, regularly facilitating over $50 billion in daily trading volume and is supported by close to 150 exchanges. It too isn't without its controversies, there have been calls to audit Tether to prove that it is fully reserved and there are claims ether printing has been used to manipulate the markets. Despite the controversies, the Bitfinex and Tether teams have been instrumental in supporting the growth of Bitcoin. In this interview, I talk to Paolo Ardoino the CTO of Bitfinex. We discuss how Bitfinex dealt with the exchange hacks, protecting against future attacks, Tether, the Lightning Network and funding Bitcoin projects.

Location: Squadcast Date: Thursday 8th October Company: MicroStrategy Role: CEO In August, MicroStrategy made the bold move of purchasing 21,454 Bitcoin to add to their treasury, spending $250 million. In doing so, CEO Michael Saylor stated that he views Bitcoin as a "dependable store of value and an attractive investment asset with more long-term appreciation potential than holding cash". The next month MicroStrategy announced that they had doubled down on their conviction in Bitcoin and acquired an additional 16,796 Bitcoin, taking their total spend to $425 million. This move sent a clear message to businesses everywhere that Bitcoin is a valuable asset and can be a key part of a company's treasury. Following in the footsteps of Microstrategy, last week Square announced that they too had added Bitcoin to their treasury with the purchase of 4,709 Bitcoin for ~$50 million. In the second part of my interview with Michael Saylor, the CEO of Microstrategy, we discuss his Bitcoin value proposition, his view on maximalism and alts, privacy, decentralisation and the Bitcoin circular economy.

Location: Squadcast Date: Thursday 8th October Company: MicroStrategy Role: CEO In August, MicroStrategy made the bold move of purchasing 21,454 Bitcoin to add to their treasury, spending $250 million. In doing so, CEO Michael Saylor stated that he views Bitcoin as a "dependable store of value and an attractive investment asset with more long-term appreciation potential than holding cash". The next month MicroStrategy announced that they had doubled down on their conviction in Bitcoin and acquired an additional 16,796 Bitcoin, taking their total spend to $425 million. This move sent a clear message to businesses everywhere that Bitcoin is a valuable asset and can be a key part of a company's treasury. Following in the footsteps of Microstrategy, last week Square announced that they too had added Bitcoin to their treasury with the purchase of 4,709 Bitcoin for ~$50 million. In this interview, I talk to Michael Saylor, the CEO of Microstrategy. We discuss their Bitcoin purchase, where his conviction in Bitcoin came from, Square buying Bitcoin and the process of adding Bitcoin to a public companies treasury.

Location: Squadcast Date: Thursday 24th September Company: BHB Network & Blockstream Role: Director & Marketing Director Bitcoin can be a toxic place. Ask the wrong question or fall on the wrong side of an argument; the community can be vicious in its response. It is a daunting place with Bitcoiners not only clashing with altcoin projects but with each other regarding Bitcoin ideas too. Rarely a day passes without a fight of some kind exploding on Twitter. However, toxicity plays an important role. Bitcoin is a threat to the legacy financial system, and being decentralised; anyone can contribute. Bitcoin is therefore open to a broad range of attacks from technical to social and Bitcoin's immune system defends against these attacks to protect the protocol. Segwit2x highlighted how a group might choose to co opt Bitcoin with dangerous consequences. Radical scepticism is levelled against other projects, people and companies to ensure that no outside party can have a negative influence on the future of the best money we have ever had. So, what are the positives and negatives of toxicity in Bitcoin? When does toxicity cross the line and are there any unintended consequences? In this interview, I am joined by Bitcoin consultant and educator Giacomo Zucco and Neil Woodfine, Marketing Director for Blockstream. We discuss toxic Bitcoin maximalism, unintended consequences and politics within Bitcoin.

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 30th September Company: Human Rights Foundation & BYSOL Role: Chief Strategy Officer Belarus is in the midst of massive protests, sparked in August by an election win for the long time leader of the country, Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko has been in power since the first presidential election in Belarus in 1994 when the country gained independence from the Soviet Union. The constitution following independence limited presidents to two terms but Lukashenko fought to change this and has remained in power since. Following the disputed election on August 9th hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets claiming Lukashenko rigged the election results. Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is claiming that she is the rightful president with reports that she had won 60-70% of the votes. These marches have become violent with Lukashenko's state security forces using rubber bullets, tear gas and extreme brutality against the protesters. Protestors are targeting state infrastructure by striking. To support those standing up to the regime, the Human Rights Foundation has set up a Belarus Solidarity Fund. They are using Bitcoin as a censorship-resistant way of getting money to those striking to supplement their lost wages. In this interview, I talk to Alex Gladstein the Chief Strategy Officer at The Human Rights Foundation and Jaraslau Likhachevski from BYSOL We discuss the political situation in Belarus, the protests and how Bitcoin is helping activists.

Location: Squadcast Date: Tuesday 22nd September Company: Unchained Capital, Parallax Digital & Senior Software Engineer Role: Head of Business Development, Founder & Peach If you ask 100 people what Bitcoin is, you will likely get 100 different answers. Whether it is a medium of exchange, gold 2.0, a hedge against inflation or purely as a speculative asset, all of these answers are valid. The decentralised nature of Bitcoin means that it has no owner and no single leader who decides what it is or how to use it. Bitcoin is an entirely personal experience based on the needs of the individual. As such, since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin has had many narratives. Championed initially as being a tool for digital commerce, with the advent of the Silk Road and other dark markets it's censorship-resistant property grew in popularity. More recently, Bitcoin is widely considered as gold 2.0 and a must-have asset to protect your wealth against inflation. With the absence of a central narrative, infighting is typical in Bitcoin, most notably in 2017 with the contentious Bitcoin Cash fork over what some believed the purpose that Bitcoin should serve. However, central to Bitcoin is its permissionless nature and therefore any Bitcoiner can choose to use it however they wish. In this interview, I am joined by Parker Lewis, Robert Breedlove and Vijay Boyapati to answer the question: what is Bitcoin? We discuss the use cases, what money is, institutional investors and the path to hyperbitcoinisation.

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 23rd September Company: Ark Investment Management Role: Thematic Analyst Before the advent Bitcoin, financial systems operated based on trust. Central banks, government-issued fiat money and payment processors all rely on trusted third parties. Relying on trust-based systems leaves the user vulnerable to decisions that do not necessarily benefit them, from inflation of the money to supply to the censoring of transactions. Bitcoin changes this. With Bitcoin, there is a fixed supply and rigid monetary policy, and the rules of the system can't be changed at the whim of a small group of people. Add to this the ability to truly custody your wealth; it is clear to see why Bitcoin is so revolutionary. Not everyone has been quick to pick up on Bitcoin. Many institutional investors are still sceptical for many reasons, from the old defunct arguments that Bitcoin is for criminals and terrorists to concerns around price volatility. However, there are signs that institutions are beginning to shift their thinking, highlighted by MicroStrategy's recent decision to move $425 million of their treasury into Bitcoin. In this interview, I talk to Yassine Elmandjra, a Thematic Analyst at Ark Investment, who recently published two whitepapers on Bitcoin. We discuss trust-based v trust minimised systems, property rights and institutional investment in Bitcoin.

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 23rd September Company: Kraken Financial & Kraken Role: CEO & Chief Legal Officer Last week Kraken announced that the Wyoming Banking Board had voted in favour of the exchange's application for a banking charter under Wyoming's Special Purpose Depository Institution statute. This charter makes Kraken the first cryptocurrency company to gain banking status. Receiving the banking charter opens traditional rails in the finance world that had previously been unavailable to the exchange, and in turn, will lead to the development of a range of innovative new banking services. In this interview, I talk to Kraken Financial CEO David Kinitsky and Kraken's Chief Legal Officer Marco Santori. We discuss the creation of a crypto bank, what it will mean to both the industry and Kraken customers and why they chose Wyoming.

Location: Squadcast Date: Monday 21st September Company: lynalden.com Role: Macroeconomist When COVID-19 struck, governments across the world implemented unprecedented stimulus packages to help what were already fragile economies, which had never fully recovered from the 2008 global financial crisis. While the economy moves in short-term 5-10 year cycles, a larger multi-decade cycle appears to be coming to an end. As governments pursue further rounds of quantitive easing, debt to GDP levels are heading towards what Lyn calls the event horizon, where debt to GDP is over 130% and currency devaluation is the most likely outcome. Holding cash through a currency devaluation risks losing purchasing power as governments increase the money supply to service debt, thus scarce assets such as gold and Bitcoin are a safe haven. In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and founder of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy. We discuss the current state of the economy, monetary and fiscal policy debt cycles and if we should expect currency devaluation.

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 9th September Company: FFTT, LLC Role: Founder 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/oz, putting an end to any remnants of a gold standard and ushering in a new era in finance. This new system led to decades of excessive risk-taking, cheap credit and questionable incentive structures. In 2008, the new system came crashing down when the US housing bubble burst and in turn, sent the entire world into the worst financial crisis since the great depression. To manage the economic crash, central banks pushed quantitative easing to stimulate the economy, but now, 12 years later, the world's economy is again teetering on the edge. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the fragility of the global economy. With decades of currency debasement, investors are turning to scarce assets such as gold and Bitcoin to hedge the risk of inflation. In this interview, I talk to macroeconomist and founder of FFTT, LLC Luke Gromen. We discuss the current macroeconomic climate, how the system that has been in place for the last 50 years is coming to an end and why we need Bitcoin.

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 19th August Company: Casa Role: CEO & CTO One of the earliest lessons for a new Bitcoiner is the security of your Bitcoin. If you lose your private keys or someone hacks you, it is almost certain you will never see that bitcoin again. Protecting your private keys is one of the first concepts for anyone holding Bitcoin to master. It is the basic building block for becoming self-sovereign, separating your wealth from the legacy financial system. There is no one way to secure your private keys, and bitcoin holders have a wealth of options available to them, but building a robust security solution which protects you against every possible scenario requires planning. Casa is a company that specialises in security and offers multisig solutions that help robustly secure your bitcoin while retaining custody. In this interview, I talk to Nick Neuman and Jameson Lopp, Casa CEO and CTO. We discuss how to secure your Bitcoin, the types of attacks that you need to be aware of and Casa's multisig solutions.

On 24th & 25th September The Human Rights Foundation hold their annual Oslo Freedom Forum. With COVID this event will be virtual for the first time ever. To register for the event and find out more go to https://oslofreedomforum.com/.

Location: Squadcast Date: Thursday 3rd September Company: aantonop.com Role: Speaker, Author & Educator Some of the most vocal people in the Bitcoin community are highly technical, anarcho-capitalist libertarians, drawn to Bitcoin for its sound money properties. Some have a vision that Bitcoin will change many aspects of the modern world by reducing the role of the state and leading to a more open and free society, but is this vision shared by all? While it has been essential to protect the Bitcoin protocol from attacks by nefarious parties, has this immune system evolved into ideas beyond Bitcoin which become counter-productive to Bitcoin adoption? In a space with more than its fair share of scams and people with questionable intentions, some people play an important role in calling these out and protecting investors. However, some Bitcoiners hold others to a very high standard on other political and ideological issues which can create an intimidating environment. Is Bitcoin an apolitical tool for the censorship-resistant transfer of wealth, or is it a weapon for a political revolution? Recently, I asked the question on Twitter "What is an xPub"? As someone who is not very technical, this seemed to be a reasonable question, however, I received a lot of backlash from the more technical Bitcoiners. Are there a set of core principles that Bitcoiners should hold and if so, how are these defined, or are these principles just representative of one sub-community within Bitcoin? In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin Speaker, Author & Educator; Andreas M. Antonopoulos. We discuss toxicity in the Bitcoin community, the steps to better Bitcoin privacy and what an xPub is.

Location: Squadcast Date: Thursday 3rd September Company: Blockstream, MIT Digital Currency Initiative, Ethereum, PISA Research Role: Director of Research, Research Scientist, Founder, Co-founder & CEO In my recent Bitcoin Vs Ethereum show, I was joined by Samson Mow and Vitalik Buterin to discuss the philosophical differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum. For me, the fundamental differences between the two are quite clear, where Bitcoin is conservative and slow, focusing on sound monetary policy, Ethereum is inflationary, experimental and has, what many consider unachievable goals. Following the debate about the philosophical differences I was keen to expand the conversation into the technical differences between the two networks. In this episode, I am joined by Andrew Poelstra, Tadge Dryja and Vitalik Buterin and Patrick McCorry. With Paddy as co-host, we discuss the fundamental and technical differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum, scalability and use cases.

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 2nd September Company: Independent Trader, Entrepreneur & Author, The Investors Podcast Role: Bitcoin Quant Analyst, Independent & Host When Plan released his revised Stock-to-Flow model as a Cross Asset Model (S2FX), he added a new concept: phase transitions. This revision to the model takes into consideration the evolution of Bitcoin's use and meaning, as such, from proof of concept to payments to e-gold to a financial asset. Following the halving in May, many have speculated what the next transitional phase would be for Bitcoin, with the model predicting the price of Bitcoin potentially reaching $288K. With Bitcoin being a provably scarce asset, in times of unprecedented money printing and fiat currency debasement, the bull case for Bitcoin is clear. However, in August, MicroStrategy sent a clear message to businesses everywhere, when in August they announced their purchase of 21,454 Bitcoin, over 1% of the total supply. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said that they view Bitcoin as a "dependable store of value and an attractive investment asset with more long-term appreciation potential than holding cash". Other companies have started following MicroStrategy by holding Bitcoin within their treasury. Could companies holding Bitcoin to protect their cash reserves be the next phased transition for Bitcoin? In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin quant analyst & creator of the stock to flow model, Plan₿, author of The Price of Tomorrow Jeff Booth & author, engineer & the host of The Investor Podcast, Preston Pysh. We discuss how Bitcoin S2F is entering phase 5.

Location: Squadcast Date: Monday 31st August Company: INX, Casa, Blockstream Role: Executive Managing Director, CTO, Chief Strategy Officer Last week INX launched their token offering, a first of its kind, a security token approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. INX is a trading platform bringing regulated and digital asset opportunities to institutions and retail investors. Their token offering allows investors to gain pro rata distributions from the companies cumulative adjusted operating cash flow. Controversially the token was launched on the Ethereum blockchain. The project already has its detractors and critics, with the advisory board catching direct criticism with accusations of hypocrisy, specifically Jameson Lopp and Samson Mow. While many Bitcoiners have expressed their opinions against the project, others have thrown their support behind it, believing that INX is a legitimate use of a token. In this interview, I talk to Alan Silbert, Jameson Lopp and Samson Mow about the launch of INX. We discuss why they chose to tokenise on Ethereum, what makes something a shitcoin and the key criticisms directed towards them.

Location: Squadcast Date: Monday 24th Aug Company: Independent Role: Developer and Consultant, Bitcoin Activist A deep divide exists between the Bitcoin and Ethereum communities. Bitcoin is conservative and slow and appeals to people who value sound money, censorship resistance and decentralisation. The Ethereum mindset is to "move fast and break things" with broader goals that many Bitcoiners see as flawed and impossible to achieve. Following my recent episode with Samson Mow and Vitalik Buterin, the responses demonstrated the split in these two communities. Finding impartial voices able to consider the arguments from both camps objectively is challenging, so I asked Udi Wertheimer to come on the show and dissect the interview with me. We discuss the Bitcoin Maximalist mindset, flaws with the Ethereum protocol and the supplygate saga.

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 5th August Company: N/A Role: N/A Throughout 2019 and early 2020, the global economy was signalling fragility. However, with the rapid spread of COVID19 and the resulting lockdowns, the global economy is heading into a deep recession. As governments have worked to control the virus, economies are opening back up. Across the world, governments are facing the challenge of stimulating these faltering economies while managing localised lockdowns. The Fed announced a new effort to support the economy, including programmes for small and medium-sized businesses, via Main Street lending, however, banks are still, seemingly, reluctant to offer loans. In this interview, I talk to anonymous Twitter account FEDUPBIZOWNER. We discuss COVID's impact on the lending markets if the banks are facing an insolvency crisis, why stock markets are hitting all-time highs and hedging with gold and Bitcoin.

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 12th August Company: Wasabi Wallet Role: Contributor Many newcomers to Bitcoin mistakenly think of it as private, but the truth is far more complicated than that. While it is possible to use Bitcoin with a high level of privacy, it has been complicated by the growth in regulations. Exchanges must enforce KYC in most jurisdictions to allow them to retain their banking services, while chain analysis is increasingly used to flag transactions deemed illicit. While privately utilising Bitcoin is becoming harder, there are many tools available for Bitcoiners to reclaim their privacy. One of them is Wasabi wallet, best known for CoinJoin, a method which allows users to increase their Bitcoin anonymity. In this interview, I talk to Wasabi wallet contributor Max Hillebrand. We discuss remaining anonymous while using Bitcoin, Wasabi wallet & CoinJoin, custodian solutions and living a Bitcoin-only life.

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 12th August Company: The Cryptoconomy & WTFhappenedin1971.com Role: Host & Creators Modern Monetary Theory is a relatively new school of economic thought. MMT suggests that if governments carefully control inflation, then they should not be concerned with increasing levels of debt. The views of MMT proponents is in stark contrast to the views held by most Bitcoiners who often favour Austrian economics, which Bitcoin's monetary policy and fixed supply align closely. Following my recent interview, with Stephanie Kelton, who put forward what she sees as the benefits to MMT, I wanted to follow up with a panel of Austrian economics proponents to look at the potential flaws in this system. In this episode, I talk to fellow podcaster Guy Swann, as well as Ben Prentice and Collin, creators of WTFhappenedin1971.com. We discuss Modern Monetary Theory, Austrian economics, and MicroStrategy buying Bitcoin.

Location: Squadcast Date: Thursday 13th August Company: Blockstream & Ethereum Role: Chief Strategy Officer & Founder The Bitcoin community can be a very hostile place, in an industry that has more than its fair share of scams and questionable projects it often falls at the feet of Bitcoiners to call them out. In many ways, Ethereum is the antithesis of Bitcoin. Whereas Bitcoin is slow and conservative in its goals and development, the ethos of Ethereum is to 'move fast and break things'. These philosophical differences often lead to fiery debates between the two communities. Over the past few days, a new debate was sparked by the seeming inability to verify the total supply of Ethereum. Supplygate has divided the two communities again with many Bitcoiners believing that the ability to audit the supply should be one of the fundamental principles of a money system. With Bitcoin, it is the monetary policy which gives it value over fiat, therefore having a fixed supply and the ability for anyone to run a node and audit the supply is critical. Believers in Ethereum argue that Ethereum's value proposition is different and that difficulty of getting consensus around the total supply is not a significant issue. During this debate Chief Strategy Officer at Blockstream, Samson Mow, and Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin traded blows on Twitter. I asked them to come on the show and discuss the philosophical differences between Ethereum vs Bitcoin.

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday 5th July Company: Blockstream, BHB Network, Zap & Strike, Tales from the Crypt & Rabbit Hole Recap, Castle Island Ventures Role: Director of Research, Director, Founder, Co-Host, Partner For my 250th show special, I asked some of my favourite Bitcoiners to join me for a panel discussion. In this episode, Andrew Poelstra, Giacomo Zucco, Jack Mallers, Matt Odell, Nic Carter and myself discuss all things Bitcoin.

Over the last three years, I have had a huge array of guests from cypherpunks, developers, economists, libertarians, activists, Wall Street veterans and punk rock legends all with one thing in common; Bitcoin. In this episode, to celebrate What Bitcoin Did's 250th show, I asked some of my previous guests to tell me one thing about Bitcoin, that matters to them.

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday 5th July Project: The Yaron Brook Show Role: Host Ayn Rand was a Russian-American philosopher and author who developed a philosophical system known as Objectivism. Objectivism has many similarities with Libertarianism, both believe in non-aggression as well as capitalism via a genuinely free market; however, the critical area they differ on is the role of a central government. While many libertarians believe anarchy is the only way of overcoming government overreach, objectivists believe in a limited government. In this interview, I talk to Yaron Brook, host of the Yaron Brook Show and Chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute. We discuss the differences between libertarianism and objectivism, how an Objectivist society would work and Bitcoin.

Location: Zoom Date: Monday 27th July Company: Start9 Labs Role: CEO/Co-Founder & Co-Founder/Head of Engineering The birth of the internet caused one of the most significant cultural shifts in human history. Global communication and information sharing has allowed for considerable advancements in society, and it is integral to the world we live in today. However, it is not all positive; the internet sucks up vast amounts of personal data which is then sold and exploited. There are many ways your data is used against you from targeted advertising to voter manipulation, and Tim Berners Lee, the creator of the internet, cited the loss of control of our personal data as one of his biggest concerns regarding the current state of the internet. By utilising encryption tools and browsers like Tor, you can still retain your privacy while using the internet, but it is not straight forward. Start9 are changing this. In this interview, I talk to Matt and Aaron from Start9. We discuss the growing demand for a private internet, retaining control of personal data, encryption and why bitcoin is fundamental to all of this.

Location: Zoom Date: Sunday 2nd August Company: The Pomp Podcast Role: Host The benefits of holding a scarce asset have never been more apparent. All over the world, central banks have been printing money at an unprecedented rate to attempt to stimulate faltering economies. With the outbreak of coronavirus and subsequent lockdowns in March, the majority of markets crashed. Bitcoin was no different, hitting local lows of ~$4,000. Since then Bitcoin has rallied and is currently sitting at ~$11,000. The price action and current economic conditions have led many to believe we are at the beginning of a bull market like the one we saw in 2016/2017. In this interview, I talk to Anthony Pompliano, founder and partner at Morgan Creek Capital and the host of the Pomp podcast. We discuss his recent interview with Roger Ver, the economic impact of the coronavirus & the Bitcoin bull market.

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday 29th July Company: Stony Brook University Role: Professor of Economics and Public Policy With the abandonment of the gold standard in the early 20th century, there has been nothing to limit the amount of money a central bank can print, leading to a rapid rise in national debts. In the US debt alone, the national debt stands at $26.5 trillion, and the growth is accelerating. While conventional economic theory would suggest this ever-growing debt is dangerous as it can lead to uncontrollable rises in inflation and a devaluing of the dollar, there is a newer school of thought; Modern Monetary Theory which makes a different argument. MMT suggests that governments should not be concerned with increasing debt, arguing the only risk is inflation, which is controllable. MMT is the antithesis to the Austrian school of thought that aligns with Bitcoin's monetary policy of fixed supply and deflationary issuance. In this interview, I talk to Stephanie Kelton, professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University. We discuss the benefits of modern monetary theory, why increased spending may not lead to inflation, national debt and money printing.

Location: Zoom Date: Tuesday 21st July Company: hardmoneyfilm.com Role: Film Maker Some of the earliest forms of money included seashells and glass beads before people discovered precious metals and began trading using silver and gold. Anything can be a medium of exchange, but the forms of money that have stood the test of time are scarce. We are now in the era of fiat money; government-controlled, paper money, with no intrinsic value or backing. Fiat money is easy to produce, and with that, there is a huge incentive for governments to keep printing more of it. They do this for several reasons from bailing out business to providing economic stimulus when their policies have failed. Throughout history, gold has been the hardest form of money, until 2009, when Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin. With a fixed supply of 21 million and a controlled issuance, Bitcoin is the hardest money we have ever seen. In this interview, I talk to Richard James, the creator of Hard Money, a film looking at how money has been corrupted and co-opted. We discuss Austrian economics, the similarities between gold and Bitcoin, Hard Money and modern art.

Location: Zoom Date: Thursday 23rd July Company: Coinbase Role: Co-Founder & CEO Coinbase is amongst the largest and most established Bitcoin companies in the world, and it has secured itself as one of the most accessible places to buy and sell Bitcoin. Its latest round of funding valued Coinbase at $8.1 billion, and there are rumours that the company plans to be listed on a U.S stock exchange later this year. Forbes recently called Coinbase 'Bitcoin's Guardian Angel' and claimed it would make 'crypto safe for all'; however, the view within the Bitcoin community is quite different. Coinbase has come under heavy scrutiny in recent years, most notably for their $13.5 million acquisition of blockchain intelligence company Neutrino. Following this acquisition, it was revealed that the Neutrino founders were involved in the Hacking Team, a team of people who reportedly sold surveillance tools to governments, including authoritarian regimes. With this news, #deletecoinbase was trending on bitcoin twitter, putting CEO Brian Armstrong under considerable pressure to fire the team. More recently, Coinbase again sparked controversy when The Block reported that the company agreed to sell blockchain analysis software to The Secret Service and the IRS, and was planning a similar deal with the DEA. In this interview, I talk to Brian Armstrong, CEO and Co-Founder of Coinbase. We discuss the difficulties in running a large startup, regulations, the Neutrino acquisition & providing analytics to government agencies with Coinbase Analytics.

Location: Zoom Date: Monday 13th July Bitcoin is the most significant disruption to money the world has seen in hundreds of years. It takes power away from centralised parties, and it allows any individual to be entirely self-sovereign and operate in an open system uncontrollable and uncensorable by anyone. Bitcoin is punk rock! Punk was not just about music; it was a movement that fought for personal freedom and individualism while remaining staunchly anti-establishment. Keith Levene is a punk legend and was a founding member of iconic band The Clash and co-founded Public Image Ltd alongside former Sex Pistol, John Lydon. With the alignment of punk and Bitcoin, it is not surprising that Keith Levene is a Bitcoiner, and a couple of months ago Keith reached out to me and told me he was a regular listener of the show. In this interview, we discuss the early days of punk rock, the similarities between punk and Bitcoin and why he cares about Bitcoin.

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday 15th July Role: CEO and Chief Global Strategist The reasons to hold either gold or Bitcoin are similar, yet the two assets possess different tradeoffs and risks. Bitcoiners often refer to Bitcoin as digital gold or gold 2.0, as they consider it a store of wealth like gold. Whether you prefer one asset or are a proponent of both, these assets help protect individuals against the broken fiat monetary system, inflation and a debt-based economy. While the assets have many similarities, for some, it isn't gold and Bitcoin; instead, it is gold vs Bitcoin. Peter Schiff is a stockbroker, financial commentator, economist and gold bug who is hugely sceptical about Bitcoin. Schiff regularly derides Bitcoin on twitter and has done so since 2012 claiming that Bitcoin has no intrinsic value. In this interview, I speak to Peter Schiff, and we discuss what he doesn't like about Bitcoin, if he sees the alignment between Bitcoin and gold, the properties of sound money and if Bitcoin should be considered a store of value.

Location: Zoom Date: Thursday 2nd July Role: Author Libertarianism is something I have been wrestling with since I discovered Bitcoin. Hard money leads you down many rabbit holes, and questioning the role of the state is one of the deepest. At face value, libertarianism sounds perfect; more freedom, less intervention and limited or no state. However, I have struggled to understand how this would play out and if the idea of an anarchist society being civil and moral is just an ideological fallacy rather than a practical reality. Many libertarians see hyperbitcoinisation as the most likely manifestation of an anarchist society, in that it allows individuals to be self-sovereign, take control of their wealth and remove power from the government. In this interview, I talk to Knut Svanholm, author of Bitcoin: Sovereignty Through Mathematics and Bitcoin: Independence Reimagined. We discuss libertarianism, collectivism v individualism and how Bitcoin is the only path to a libertarian society.

Location: Zoom Date:Tuesday 30th June Company/project: Castle Island Ventures, Adamant Capital, Parallax Digital & River Financial Role: Partner, Founding Partner, Founder & Founder The global economy is in a precarious position. With the coronavirus enforced lockdowns closing down businesses around the world, central banks have been printing money at unprecedented levels to prevent economies from collapsing. While this has eased the pressure in Western nations, some smaller countries are starting to experience the impact. The currency in Lebanon has all but collapsed, and inflation in Zimbabwe has nearly reached 800%. Could high inflation be coming to the UK, Europe and the US? While the implication of a global economic meltdown may not be known for years, it is precisely this sort of situation that many Bitcoiners have highlighted as the perfect environment for Bitcoin to thrive. So, what comes next for Bitcoin? This interview is from a panel I recently hosted for Real Vision's The Crypto Gathering event, with Nic Carter, Tuur Demeester, Robert Breedlove & Alex Leishman. We discuss the current state of the economy, Bitcoin as a peaceful protest and what comes next.

Location: Zoom Date: Friday 3rd July Company/Project: DarkHorse Podcast Role: Host In 2017, Bret Weinstein was thrust into the public limelight, when he objected to a change in the college's tradition of observing a "Day of Absence". Bret stating that "there is a huge difference between a group or coalition deciding to voluntarily absent themselves from a shared space in order to highlight their vital and under-appreciated roles, and a group or coalition encouraging another group to go away." It led to widespread protests and claims that Bret was "a racist" and the college was forced to close for two days. Following the Evergreen College protests, Bret outlined the threat of behaviour like this spilling over into the outside world. His concerns were proven correct after the death of George Floyd. In the days following Floyd's death, people took to the streets across the US and then across the world. What originated as a Black Lives Matter movement, quickly became infiltrated by far-left groups. In this interview, I talk to Bret Weinstein, a biologist and evolutionary theorist, who was at the center of the Evergreen College controversy. We discuss the US protests, bipartisan politics, inequality, and where Bitcoin fits into this and #Unity2020.

Location: Zoom Date: Monday 29th June Company/Project: Real Vision, Wyoming Blockchain Coalition, Ikigai Asset Management Role: Co-Founder & CEO, Co-Founder, Chief Investment Officer In late 2019 and early 2020, the global economy was showing signs of stress. Even before coronavirus, we saw the Fed having to step in and provide liquidity for the repo market and issuing rate cuts. But the rapid spread of coronavirus around the world and the resulting lockdowns has further exposed cracks in the global economy. Stock markets experienced high volatility as the economic impact of businesses closing hit with Wall Street suffered its worst day since 'Black Monday' and oil prices going negative for the first time in history. Governments responded with unprecedented levels of quantitative easing, and some countries are now seeing their currencies collapsing. Many analysts have suggested that rather than coronavirus being the cause of this economic downturn, it was instead the black swan event that acted as the pin that popped the bubble and the enormous debts that have been amounting for decades was a disaster waiting to happen. Over the past year, I have spoken to several economists including Raoul Pal, Caitlin Long and Travis Kling, all of whom warned that a financial collapse is coming. So, what is happening at the moment, what can we expect to see next, and how can we all prepare? This interview is from a panel I recently hosted for Real Vision's The Crypto Gathering, with Raoul Pal, Caitlin Long & Travis Kling. We discuss the early warning signs of systemic issues in the global macroeconomy, what might happen next and where Bitcoin fits into this.

Location: Zoom Date: Tuesday 23rd July Company/Project: N/A & Unchained Capital Role: N/A & Director of Product Marketing Throughout 2019, President Trump's re-election campaign looked to be on steady ground, but 2020 has been a very different story. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, countries across the world have gone into lockdown. However, Trump, Fox News and a large number of key Republicans initially played down the risk of the pandemic, and Trump has faced fierce criticism for his lack of decisive action. The US has been the most severely affected country, with around one quarter of all recorded infections and deaths. During this same period, the killing of George Floyd sent shockwaves across America. Millions took to the streets to protest police brutality and to campaign for Black Lives Matter. Many of these protests quickly turned violent and, again, Trump was criticised for his lack of decisive action and leadership, epitomised when he retreated to his bunker rather than addressing the nation. The pandemic and protests have opened up the election race, and while Trump has furiously Tweeted, Joe Biden has mostly retreated from public view. Support for Trump appears to be dropping, and most recently, Trump's rally in Tulsa was only attended by 6,200 people in attendance, in a building with a 19,000 capacity. While 2020 has been mostly negative for Trump's re-election campaign, he does have fiercely loyal supporters, and while the polls indicate Biden has a clear lead, this will likely be another close election. I tweeted that I would bet anyone $5,000 in Bitcoin that Trump would lose. American Hodl (@hodl_american) took me up on the bet. Phil Geiger, from Unchained Capital, agreed to arbiter the debt, holding the 3rd key in a multisig wallet we set up using Unchained Capital's Caravan product. In this interview, Hodl, Phil and I discuss the bet, US politics, if the current economic and social situation is positive or negative for Trump, populism, voter suppression and the election race.

Location: Zoom Date: Friday, 19th June Company/Project: Kraken Role: Director of Business Development The very early believers in Bitcoin tended to fall into two camps, the Libertarians who were drawn to the censorship resistance & self-sovereignty of Bitcoin and the tech-savvy developers who saw a new experimental technology that was the first to truly offer a distributed & decentralised digital money. As Bitcoin has gained in value, it too has grown to appeal to audiences that don't necessarily fit into these two camps. Fewer tech-savvy people have come to Bitcoin for 'number go up' more than the censorship resistance and decentralisation. For these people, coming into Bitcoin can be hostile and confusing. The community is understandably frosty to those not willing to learn about the importance of holding their own keys, protecting their privacy and being self-sovereign and the software can be confusing and unintuitive. For newcomers running a node is difficult, holding your private keys daunting and interacting with the community scary. So, improving both the UX and marketing of Bitcoin is key to attracting less technical people to the space. In this interview, I talk to Dan Held the Director of Business Development at Kraken. We discuss the importance of easy user experience, how Bitcoin can be a daunting experience, if newcomers should hold their private keys and why marketing matters.

Location: Zoom Date: Friday, 19th June Role: Entrepreneur & Author In an inflationary Keynesian economic system, governments target low inflation to ensure a healthy economy and steady growth; however, inflation functions as a hidden tax on savings. Inflation also leads to a drop in purchasing power which drives the incentive to spend and invest rather than save. Deflation, the opposite to inflation, is when the price of a basket of goods and services drops. Unlike inflation, deflation means the purchasing power of your savings increase over time and therefore, incentivises saving as opposed to spending. Many traditional economists see deflation as dangerous as people will reduce spend with an expectation of products becoming cheaper, but this leads to an economy based on growth at any cost. Jeff Booth, author of The Price of Tomorrow: Why deflation is the Key to an Abundant Future presents an alternative argument. In this interview, I talk to Jeff Booth, and we discuss the current economic & social situation, how an inflationary system has caused inequality & division and how Bitcoin & deflation can fix this.

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday, 17th June Project: Basecamp Role: Founder & CTO New concerns have been raised around Apple's business model after the company rejected future updates for Basecamp's newly launched email app Hey. Apple initially approved the app, but then put it on hold — meaning Basecamp couldn't submit any updates or bug fixes until it added an option for users to subscribe to Hey's service through an in-app purchase. Basecamp has disputed this decision, saying it shouldn't be forced to allow users to sign up for Hey through in-app purchase, subjecting then to Apple's 30% tax on its subscription fee. HEY's predicament has highlighted inconsistencies in Apple's policy execution, having allowed other apps with similar business models to exist in the App Store without mandatory in-app subscriptions. They have also made exemptions for streaming applications and rivals; Amazon and Netflix. The case has raised questions about how Apple is operating and whether it's exercising an anti-competitive advantage over services from third-party developers. HEY's fight comes as the company is already facing two EU antitrust investigations after Spotify and other firms filed similar complaints to those raised by Basecamp. In this bonus episode, I talk to Basecamp Founder & CTO, David Hansson. We discuss Apple's threats to remove their email app HEY from the App Store and Apple's monopolistic business model.

Location: Zoom Date: Tuesday 16th June Project: Human Rights Foundation & Bitcoin Developer Role: Chief Strategy Officer & Independent Developer Privacy is a fundamental human right, and with society migrating away from physical to digital cash, we are losing one of the remaining ways to transact privately. Bitcoin is an entirely public ledger, in that every transaction is broadcast to everyone running the Bitcoin software. Anyone can view these transactions, but there are ways to obfuscate your spends and make it more difficult, or even close to impossible to follow the trail of transactions. Currently, the most widely used method for adding privacy to bitcoin is to use CoinJoin services like Wasabi or Samourai. These wallets allow you to add your UTXOs to a transaction along with numerous other participants. Coinjoin can significantly increase anonymity, depending on the number of other participants. Originally put forward by Greg Maxwell in 2013, Coinswap is a somewhat different method of anonymising your footprint on the Bitcoin network. Chris Belcher recently took the idea and put together a proposal and has received funding from the Human Rights Foundation to develop it. In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin developer Chris Belcher and Alex Gladstein, the Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation. We discuss financial privacy as a human right, Bitcoin privacy, financing devs and Chris' work on Coinswap.

Location: Zoom Date: Friday 12th June Project: The Investors Podcast Role: Host With the current global economic outlook and rise in social unrest, we are living in unprecedented times. The coronavirus pandemic, subsequent lockdowns and preventative measures put in place by governments around the world has led to many businesses closing or relying on bailouts, and jobless figures are amongst the highest since records began. The killing of George Floyd at the hands of the police has seen protests against racial inequality have spread across the world. In the US, especially, these protests turned have turned into riots with looting, buildings burnt down and violent clashes. During this time of uncertainty, the S&P500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average have both climbed ~40% since the drop in March, seemingly proving that the markets can behave irrationally. Some analysts are pointing to dangerous signals that we are heading towards the collapse of currencies. Are all of these combined events the perfect storm for Bitcoin? In this interview, I talk to Preston Pysh, author, engineer & the host of The Investor Podcast. We discuss the global macroeconomy, deflation vs inflation and why now Bitcoin is more important than ever.

Location: Zoom Date: Thursday 28th May Project: Microsoft Role: Head of Decentralised Identity Social media is omnipresent with most all of us have a Twitter, Facebook or Google account, using them every day for both personal and business. We build connections, relationships and trust through them. However, these companies implement strict controls over the content on their platforms with shadowbanning and deplatforming growing. The controls which they enforce on their platforms can have further-reaching consequences. As well as offering access via a standard email and password, most websites also provide the option to login via a Facebook, Twitter or Google account. If one of those services decides to deplatform you, then you could lose your account with any associated websites. To solve this issue and improve on the nature of IDs, Microsoft has launched their Decentralised Identity program in which they offer users a decentralised personal identifier, which is under your control, using the most immutable and secure solution; Bitcoin. In this interview, I talk to Daniel Buchner, Head of Decentralised Identity at Microsoft to discuss how a Bitcoin-based decentralised identity system works. We also talk about libertarianism, coronavirus and the protests over the death of George Floyd.

Location: Zoom Date: Friday 5th June Project: Coindesk Role: Journalist The role of a journalist is to question, educate and inform. A truly free press is a fundamental pillar of a free society, and unbiased and objective reporting is crucial in getting a broad understanding of any industry. News corporations are now arguably more partisan and divided than ever before, highlighted by how Fox News and CNN have become partisan propaganda outlets. Fox News is pro-Trump and will defend him and his policies almost without exception; alternatively, CNN is pro-democrat and will question almost everything Trump and his administration do. Within Bitcoin, there can be a similar lack of objectivity and willingness to challenge the status quo critically. The Bitcoin community are often referred to as its immune system, by being aggressive and vocal about anything that seemingly questions the direction or ethos of the network they protect it from coercion and negative outside influences. While this is mostly a useful stance in an industry that has more than its fair share of scammers and questionable projects, this can make the role of journalism within Bitcoin tricky to navigate. Despite long and firmly held beliefs, Bitcoin evolves, as does the size of the user base and how they use Bitcoin. Journalists must challenge commonly held beliefs, even if these means hard criticism from Bitcoiners. In this interview, I am joined by Leigh Cuen, a journalist and writer at Coindesk. We discuss the importance of journalism, Bitcoin as a peaceful revolution and the strict narratives that are held by Bitcoiners.

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday 3rd June Project: Bitcoin & Black America Role: Author On May 25th George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin. Police were called over allegations that George Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 bill. During the arrest, Chauvin restrained Floyd by placing his knee on his neck and pinning him to the ground, during this time Floyd was pleading with the officer repeatedly stating "I can't breathe". After 8 minutes and 46 seconds and with paramedics on the scene, Chauvin finally took his knee off Floyd's neck, he was unresponsive and later pronounced dead. Following Floyd's death, there have been widespread protests across America which have now spread to other countries. In several places in the US, these protests have been violent with looting, fires and large scale destruction. While the black community is reeling at yet another death at the hands of a police officer, Isaiah Jackson, the author of Bitcoin & Black America suggests that building a black economy offers a way out of institutionalised racism. In this interview, we discuss the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests and riots, racism in the US, and how the black community can use Bitcoin.

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday 27th May Project: Guns N' Bitcoin Role: Chief Range Officer Bitcoin's immune system has evolved from years of defeating threats, staving off bad actors and protecting the core principles of the network. Many Bitcoiners consider Bitcoin as gold 2.0, threatening the corrupt practices of central banking. As such, small blocks, the fee market and hodling are essential components of defeating fiat. With such staunch views from within the community, even just opening up these topics for debate can see a backlash from Bitcoiners. Why has spending Bitcoin become such a contentious issue for some? It was the Silk Road and Wikipedia, which proved the importance of censorship resistance, enabling people to circumvent oppressive government rules. Developers working on Bitcoin are held to the highest levels of scrutiny, and rightly so, but why aren't the ideas around Bitcoin usage equally scrutinised? In this interview, I talk to Ragnar Lifthrasir from Guns N' Bitcoin. We discuss the Bitcoiner narratives, why spending Bitcoin is as important as hodling, libertarianism, guns and the 2nd amendment.