The Peter McCormack Show

Location: Zoom Date: Thursday 28th May Project: Abra Role: Founder & CEO This week, Goldman Sachs held an investment advisory call for its clients during which it slammed Bitcoin as an investment and refused to accept it as an asset class. Goldman's take on Bitcoin was in equal parts bearish and ignorant, with the investment bank listing five reasons for not classing Bitcoin as an asset or a suitable investment: Bitcoin does not generate cash flow like bonds. Bitcoin does not generate any earnings through exposure to global economic growth. Bitcoin does not provide consistent diversification benefits given its unstable correlations. Bitcoin does not dampen volatility given historical volatility of 76%. Goldman points to March 12 when bitcoin fell 37%. Bitcoin does not show evidence of hedging against inflation. Goldman raised numerous regularly debunked points as a negative, from scarcity to hard forks to illicit use cases, and compared Bitcoin to the Tulip mania of the 17th century. Godman's investor call is not Bitcoin's first time Wall Street has challenged Bitcoin. In 2017 Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan called Bitcoin a fraud and Warren Buffet has called all cryptocurrencies worthless. So why do some on Wall Street refuse to accept Bitcoin? Is it down to ignorance or does Bitcoin threaten their business model? In this interview, I am joined by Bill Barhydt, the CEO and Founder of Abra. We discuss and debunk Goldman Sachs' arguments against Bitcoin as well as the reasons behind their lazy research.

Location: Zoom Date: Friday 22nd May Role: Independent Trader Despite being the best performing asset over the past decade, Bitcoin is an incredibly volatile asset and risky to trade. Outperforming the market is hard, and very few people manage to beat the strategy of buying and holding. Unlike traditional markets, bitcoin markets are open 24/7/365, and traded on both regulated and unregulated exchanges. High leverage options and low liquidity altcoins make it easy for a newcomer to wipe out their trading accounts quickly. While few traders are profitable, a large number of the Bitcoin community find the temptation to increase their bitcoin stack hard to resist. I always recommend against trading, especially if you are new to Bitcoin, but this doesn't stop people. So, if you want to try trading, what are the basic things you need to understand? In this episode, I talk to Flood, an independent Bitcoin trader. We discuss the key things a newcomer to trading needs to know from which exchanges to use, trading strategies, leverage, finding your edge and the common mistakes.

Location: Zoom Date: Monday 18th May Project: Gemini Role: Co-Founders The Social Network, directed by David Fincher, introduced Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss to the world. The film told the story of how Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea to create Facebook, and would later settle for $65 million. After settling the court case and retiring from their careers in rowing, where the twins represented the USA in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they started a fund and discovered Bitcoin. In 2014 they created Gemini, now one of the largest regulated cryptocurrency exchanges. The film portrayed the twins as cliche sporting jocks, an image which has been hard to shake off. Cameron and Tyler are more at home building things and their success since Harvard is not luck. My picture of the twins, like most, was created from the Social Network and their appearances on mainstream news discussing finance, but I wanted to know more about them. This interview is, therefore, the interview I have wanted to hear from them. We discuss The Social Network, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, how they discovered Bitcoin, regulations and the role of Wall Street.

Location: Zoom Date: Friday 15th May Project: Blockstream Role: CEO & Chief Strategy Officer Bitcoin: decentralised, permissionless, censorship-resistant and unconfiscatable. Unique properties which make it a unique form of money For Bitcoin to keep growing, these features mustn't be compromised. However, scaling solutions for Bitcoin, may trade off some of these features for other benefits. With the vast majority of the community in agreement that block sizes must remain small to maximise decentralisation, Bitcoin is best scaled using layered solutions. The Liquid Network, like the Lightning Network, is a layer two solution that, by sacrificing some aspects of decentralisation and censorship resistance, can improve speed and scalability. Liquid is a project spearheaded by Blockstream and is aimed at traders, exchanges and market makers to offer faster and more confidential transactions than the Bitcoin basechain. It also adds the ability to build tokens on the network. In this interview, I talk to Adam Back and Samson Mow Blockstream's CEO & Chief Strategy Officer. We discuss The Liquid Network, the tradeoffs between Liquid and the basechain, how it differs from Lightning network and tokenised securities.

Location: Zoom Date: January to March 2020 Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin offers you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance, and it is changing the world. Bitcoin is multifaceted. Some treat Bitcoin as a speculative tool for growing wealth, others as a way of avoiding financial censorship from traditional payment channels, and some use it as a way of claiming their monetary sovereignty and removing power from the banks and state. On 31st October 2008, Bitcoin was introduced to the world by its pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin brought with it an alternative to the banking system, a way of truly controlling your finances and the opportunity to 'be your own bank'. Being your own bank is incredibly powerful but is often a confusing and misused term. There are currently 1.7 billion people across the world who do not have access to proper banking services. Bitcoin can fix this by allowing users to hold, send and receive value. Governments have a history of putting pressure on payment systems and censoring transactions. In 2010 Visa, Mastercard and PayPal all stopped allowing payments to WikiLeaks. Bitcoin fixed this. Bitcoin's power is in its decentralised, censorship-resistant, neutral, permissionless network that allows you to transact globally without any intermediary or third party and with whoever you want for whatever reason you want. Bitcoin doesn't care. We will soon be living in a cashless society, government-issued 'fiat' currency will become entirely digital, and we will wave goodbye to any remaining shreds of financial privacy that still exist. Some governments will look to create a cryptocurrency alternative; providing the perfect tool for increased financial surveillance and oppression and represents the antithesis of Bitcoin. We may have to choose whether we use Bitcoin or a state-run digital currency. So, why should we choose Bitcoin? In this episode, I have compiled various clips from my 17-part Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin with some of the leading experts in the space. As an introduction to Bitcoin, this guide covers essential Bitcoin topics from how it works to its monetary policy.

Location: Zoom Date: Sunday 10th May Project: Hypersheet Role: Co-Founder On May 11th, at block 630000 Bitcoin had its 3rd halving, cutting the block reward issued to the miners from 12.5BTC to 6.25BTC. This reduction in the subsidy is seen by many as a bullish event for Bitcoin. With the block reward cut in half, the amount of Bitcoin available for the miners to sell in the market drops from 1800 BTC/day to 900 BTC/day, reducing the sell pressure from newly minted coins. Bitcoin's recent drop in price has been attributed, by some, to miners selling off some of their Bitcoin, to support lower revenues with the blog subsidy halving. While miners have typically been the largest sellers in the Bitcoin market, now that the subsidy has again cut in half, Willy Woo has claimed the majority of the sell pressure will not come from the exchanges. Woo puts this down to the rise in popularity of the derivatives and futures markets on exchanges such as BitMex and Deribit. These exchanges take fees of up to 0.075% per trade and offer high leverage options of up to 100x. As the popularity of these exchanges has grown, so have the fees. With the selling pressure from miners dropping and the sell pressure from the exchanges growing, is trading detrimental to the growth of Bitcoin? In this interview, I am joined by Willy Woo, an on-chain analyst and the co-founder of Hypersheet. We discuss Bitcoin trading, the rise of the unregulated, high leverage futures platforms and if trading is damaging to the growth of Bitcoin.

Location: Zoom Date: Tuesday 5th May Project: The Libertarian Party Role: Party Leader & Coordinator Long before Bitcoin dropped on the world, libertarians have criticised government-issued fiat money, arguing that it goes against their core beliefs of political freedom and autonomy, viewing gold as a superior currency. Many libertarians were early to Bitcoin, understanding its sound monetary policy. I have spoken with many US-based libertarians, but like any political movement or philosophy, there is no one size fits all approach, and the libertarians range in their beliefs from full anarcho-capitalists to minarchists. So, I wanted to get a different perspective from libertarians in the UK, engaged in the political process to ultimately reduce then bring an end to the state. In this interview, I talk to Adam Brown & Sean Finch, the party leader and coordinator for the UK Libertarian Party. We discuss the current political landscape, the push for less government, healthcare and freedom of speech.

Location: Zoom Date: Monday 4th May Project: Parallax Digital Role: Founder & CEO The properties for measuring the soundness of money include divisibility, durability, portability, recognisability and scarcity. Current government-issued and controlled fiat money fit some of these characteristics but, with the central bank's ability to print money at will, the current system completely fails as a scarce resource. Historically metals have been the best form of money, with gold outcompeting all other metals to become the number one metal used as a currency and store of value. It is durable, recognisable and scarce; however, government-issued fiat became a better form of cash as it is more portable and divisible. Since 1971, when the US came off the gold standard, and the government has been able to issue more fiat, the purchasing power of the dollar has fallen. As such, gold has proven to be a better store of wealth than fiat. Many see Bitcoin as digital gold with the added benefits of being highly divisible and able to be sent anywhere in the world quickly and at low cost. Bitcoin also offers censorship resistance, immutability and the ability to store wealth out of the reach of the government. Bitcoin is a new paradigm in money. In this interview, I talk to Robert Breedlove the Founder and CEO of Parallax Digital. Robert recently wrote An Open Letter to Ray Dalio explaining how Bitcoin will reshape the world. We discuss Bitcoin's ability to outcompete the current financial system.

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday 29th April Project: Independent Trader Role: Bitcoin Quant Analyst Plan₿'s Stock-to-Flow model was warmly received by many in Bitcoin. The chart gave context to price action around halvings, validating the importance of scarcity. The S2F model does have critics, and with the third halving approaching, some had questioned whether the reducing subsidy drive price. The halving is one of the most significant events in the Bitcoin calendar. Every 210,000 blocks (~4 years) the block subsidy issued to the miners reduced by half. Initially, the block reward was 50BTC, now 11 years later on approximately May 12th, we will have the 3rd halving taking the block reward from 12.5BTC to 6.25BTC. By the end of this reward period on May 12th, 87.5% of all Bitcoin will have been mined. Satoshi implemented the halving as a way of controlling inflation, front-loading the rewards to kick start the protocol. Dan Held stated that halvings are a viral marketing loop which creates awareness. Historically, the Bitcoin price in the weeks and months following the halving has seen significant moves to the upside, with supply cut in half Bitcoin becomes more scarce and demand may increase. The Stock-to-Flow model tracks the scarcity of an asset and following the halving the stock to flow ratio of Bitcoin will rise from 25 to 50, meaning it would take 50 years for miners to mine enough Bitcoin to match the current Bitcoin supply, at the current level of issuance. When applied to non-digital assets such as gold and silver, stock-to-flow becomes a benchmarking tool. Plan B identified a flaw in the model, the overreliance on time. In the latest version of his model, Bitcoin Stock-to-Flow Cross Asset Model (S2FX), time is removed, and other assets such as gold and silver are added. The new model includes a significant change, Phase Transitions, which identifies that the properties of an asset can change. These changes in the properties of Bitcoin, for example maturing from digital cash to digital gold, identify why the market for the asset grows; thus, there is increasing demand. In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin Quant Analyst & creator of the popular stock to flow model, Plan₿. We discuss his new S2FX model, the upcoming Bitcoin halving, predicted price action and the impact on miners.

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday 22nd April Project: Coinkite Role: CEO & Co-Founder Bitcoin attracts a broad range of enthusiasts with different backgrounds, experience and political beliefs. The spectrum is broad, from those who treat it purely as a speculative asset, happy to buy and hold, to those who head deep down the anti-state and hard money rabbit hole. Those who are attracted to Bitcoin's hard money properties may often align with Libertarian ideas, free markets and the separation of money and state. These Bitcoiners will often push hard important topics such as holding your own private keys, validating transactions with a node, enhancing privacy with CoinJoin and generally hating on any altcoin or token project. The most hardcore of Bitcoiners may even avoid exchanges due to KYC/AML legislation and find other ways to accumulate Bitcoin. Almost all Bitcoiners will fit somewhere between these two extremes, and the beauty of Bitcoin is that it doesn't care about your personal beliefs. As Bitcoin continues to grow, it will attract people who may not align with some of the more anarcho-capitalist opinions but still wish to use Bitcoin. So, is it the job of more radical Bitcoiners to push everyone towards holding their keys, running a node and improving their privacy and OPSEC? While these are good practices, what about those who do not align with libertarianism or Austrian Economics, should Bitcoin welcome all or be toxic to those who don't follow certain ideologies. In this interview, I talk to Rodolfo Novak, the CEO & Co-Founder of Coinkite and Bitcoin OG. We get into Bitcoin purity and discuss self custody & personal responsibility, hardware wallets and Bitcoin narratives.

Location: Zoom Date: Monday 3th March Project: Bitcoin & Co Podcast Role: Host Earlier this year, I travelled to Venezuela to find out the reality of Bitcoin adoption in the country and what I found didn't exactly fit the widely accepted narrative. The truth is that while Bitcoin may have some use cases for the middle and upper classes, the poorest in Venezuela are surviving on a few dollars a month, and Bitcoin is not a useful currency for them. Zimbabwe, like Venezuela, is often touted as a perfect use case for Bitcoin. Both countries have experienced hyperinflation, both have significant wealth disparity, and both have a high percentage of the population unbanked. So, is Bitcoin more widely adopted in Zimbabwe, and how can Zimbabweans take advantage of it? In this interview, I talk to Anita Posch, Bitcoin podcaster, speaker and author. We discuss Anita's recent trip to Zimbabwe, free speech & freedom of expression, scams & MLM, hyperinflation and if and how Zimbabweans are using Bitcoin.

Location: Zoom Date: Friday, 10th April Project: Circle Role: CEO & Founder By complementing Bitcoin trading, and making it easy to send digital dollars around the world, stablecoins continue to grow in popularity. Commercial banks operate on a fractional basis, holding only a small % of deposits. During challenging economic times, this can lead to what is known as a run on the bank, where depositors attempt to withdraw their funds. Unlike fractionally reserved banks, some stablecoins claim to be fully backed, meaning (for example) that for every 1 USDC, GUSD or USDT, the company claims they hold an equivalent $1. Stablecoins come with their risks and trade-offs, from the risk of being hacked to platform dependency. In a time of economic uncertainty, do stablecoins offer a better saving solution than our banks? And what are the pros and cons of self custody vs the high-interest rate savings accounts? In this interview, I talk to Jeremy Allaire, the CEO & Founder of Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin. We discuss the use case for stablecoins, the benefit of being fully backed rather and the impact on the economy from coronavirus.

Location: Zoom Date: Friday, 10th April Project: Blockstream Role: Director of Research Bitcoin is very conservative. Unlike the typical tech industry ethos of move fast and break things, it is paramount that Bitcoin upgrades and changes to the protocol are absolutely necessary, slow, well planned and well tested. Two protocol changes that have been discussed for a while now are Schnorr signatures and Taproot. These proposals have lots of positive implications, including an improvement to privacy and scalability, but what will it mean for an average Bitcoin user? What is next on the roadmap? In this interview, I talk to Andrew Poelstra, the Director of Research at Blockstream. We discuss the upcoming upgrades to the Bitcoin protocol, including Schnorr signatures, Taproot and Miniscript and what that means to Bitcoin users.

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday, 8th April Project: BlockFi Role: Co-Founders On March 12th Bitcoin fell by over 50% from ~$8,000 to ~$3,800. One day earlier, the World Health Organisation had escalated the evolving COVID-19 situation to pandemic status, and Bitcoin wasn't alone in this, markets around the world crashed. The Coronavirus black swan event caused huge volatility which has been a critical concern held by many Bitcoiners about Bitcoin financial service companies. Critiques of these services have questioned what the impact would be of such an event on crypto-backed loans and whether they would lead to high default rates from borrowers. Would the risk management strategies put in place by companies such as BlockFi be robust enough? Coronavirus would trigger the market collapse that would test the doubter's theories. In this interview, I talk to Zac Prince and Flori Marquez, the co-founders of BlockFi, a bitcoin financial services business. We discuss how they manage high volatility, operating as a custodian and the state of the Bitcoin market.

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday, 1st April Project: WTFhappenedin1971.com Role: Host The gold standard was a monetary system in which the value of countries currency was directly linked to the amount of gold held in reserve. Although not currently used by any government, it was once a widely used system. A currency backed by a scarce asset such as gold prevents the government from printing more money without consequences. In 1931 the Bank of England abandoned the gold standard 'temporarily'; however, it never returned. Following Britains move to abandon the gold standard, a number of other countries followed suit. In 1933, during the Great Depression, US residents began hoarding gold which led US President Roosevelt to order all gold worth over $100 to be returned to the federal reserve and exchanged for paper money. The following year the price of gold, set by the US government, was increased to $35/once which, raising the feds balance sheet by 69%, marking the beginning of the end of the gold standard in the US. 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., putting an end to any remnants of a gold standard. WTF Happened in 1971 is a website that charts the economic impact and societal shift that has followed the abandonment of the gold standard. In this interview, I talk to Ben Prentice and Collin, the creators of WTFhappenedin1971.com. We discuss the gold standard, the Bretton Woods Agreement, monetary policy, inflation and hyperbitcoinisation.

Location: Zoom Date: Thursday, 9th April Project: Junseth's World Role: Host Junseth was the co-host of the hugely popular Bitcoin Uncensored, but in 2017 he and co-host Chris DeRose parted ways. One thing that made Bitcoin Uncensored both popular but also divisive was their ability to cut through the noise and call out ideas or bullshit in the crypto industry. Their interview with Perianne Boring is still one of the greatest podcasts in the world of "blockchain". There are so many topics that I have been wrestling with recently, from the politicisation and government response to the coronavirus pandemic to the very radical Bitcoin narratives offered by some of the most vocal and well known Bitcoiners. In this bonus episode, I am joined by Junseth the former co-host of Bitcoin Uncensored and host of Junseth's world. We discuss coronavirus, the politicisation of the pandemic and the economic impact, libertarianism, modern art and Bitcoin narratives.

Location: Zoom Date: Friday, 3rd April Project: Pantera Capital Role: Co-Founder & CEO Markets around the world have posted their worst quarterly results in decades with the FTSE, DJI, S&P500 and many others down over 20%. While the coronavirus pandemic is certainly the catalyst behind this drop, it may have been the pin that popped the global economy propped up by cheap credit. With the markets falling, the forced closure of businesses and unemployment at record levels, governments around the world have taken unprecedented action with their monetary and fiscal policies. With huge amounts of quantitative easing globally, this economic event again highlights the benefits of Bitcoin's monetary policy. It was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, born out of years of cheap credit and poor government oversight. Now nearly 12 years since its creation, we are again in a time of financial crisis. So, could this crisis lead people to a non-sovereign, global, immutable, digital, decentralised, hard money? In this interview, I talk to Dan Morehead, a veteran investor and the co-founder & CEO of Pantera Capital. We discuss the effect of coronavirus on the economy, how the markets will recover, and Bitcoin's coming of age.

Location: Zoom Date: Thursday, 2nd April Project: Chainalysis Role: Co-Founder Bitcoin's strengths lie in its ability to separate money and state, censorship and seizure resistance. It is an open and permissionless network that allows anyone to interact with it. It is an entirely public network, but that doesn't mean it is anonymous. Addresses do not use personal information but created using alphanumeric characters, and addresses can be monitored to watch transactions and follow the flow of Bitcoin. Chainalysis is a controversial company, with many claiming they are antithetical to the ideals behind Bitcoin. They offer blockchain analysis software that will scan the blockchain and report on illicit or suspicious uses of Bitcoin. They provide these services to exchanges, governments and law enforcement to help tie real-world identities to Bitcoin transactions. In this interview, I talk to the co-founder of Chainalysis Jonathan Levin. We discuss whether Chainalysis is antithetical to Bitcoin, how they decide who can use the software, and if they are helping erode privacy.

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday, 1st April Project: aantonop.com Role: Speaker, Author & Educator The coronavirus COVID-19 is an unprecedented global health crisis. There are now more than one million reported cases, the death toll continues to rise, and across the world, economies have been left decimated. The crisis is bringing to fore many questions regarding the role of the state, challenging political identity. Conservatives are considering socialist policies; Libertarians are considering state responses and socialists are considering free markets. While government responses vary, different approaches to lockdowns, surveillance and contact tracing are providing live case studies on how to handle the crisis. All these approaches question the role and the reach of the state, especially as some have seized this opportunity to implement new draconian laws. With stock markets posting their worst quarterly results in decades, central banks have slashed interest rates, offering bailouts and implementing unprecedented stimulus packages. Did Coronavirus cause these problems or highlight hidden issues? What does a post-coronavirus world look like? And what will the role of the state be? In this interview, I talk to Andreas M. Antonopoulos, speaker, best selling author and Bitcoin evangelist. We discuss whether Coronavirus is a challenge to political identity, the largest monetary experiment in history, bailouts and money printing.

Location: Skype Date: Friday, 27th March Project: Libertarian Institute Role: Founder & Director With the rapid spread of coronavirus COVID-19, governments around the world are taking drastic action to try and flatten the curve, slow the infection rate and take the strain off already struggling healthcare systems. China's authoritarian government quickly implemented strict controls, sealing people into apartments and increasing surveillance. All of which were reported as very useful, at least temporarily in slowing the spread. But, under democratic rule, how far can and should, the state go to save lives? Many governments have issued lockdowns forbidding people from leaving their homes for all but essential tasks and businesses order to close. Many of the measures are designed as temporary, but some fear that governments will be reluctant to revoke these new controls once the pandemic is over There is a direct trade-off between the encroachment on our civil liberties and saving lives, so are the strict measures worth it? And where do you draw the line? In this interview, I talk to Scott Horton, the Founder and Director of the Libertarian Institute. We discuss the ongoing coronavirus crisis, if a state is beneficial in this extreme public health crisis and how an anarchist society would deal with a pandemic.

Location: Skype Date: Thursday, 26th March Project: Real Vision Role: Co-Founder & CEO The coronavirus pandemic has led to a global economic crisis. With the movement of people heavily restricted, businesses forced to close and supply chains disrupted. Stock markets around the world have crashed, leading many to question if the restrictive measures to limit the spread of the virus are worth the economic impact. Donald Trump has stated that the "cure" cannot be worse than the "problem". To fight the recession and help those in need, most major economies, including the US, UK, Canada and Germany, have announced unprecedented economic stimulus packages to support the economy and those out of work. The severity and duration of the impact coronavirus will have on the economy is almost impossible to predict; however, this event will likely alter the world forever. In this interview, I talk to Raoul Pal co-founder & CEO of Real Vision and macroeconomist. We discuss the political and economic impact of coronavirus, the role of the state and the societal change that will occur.

Location: Skype Date: Monday, 16th March Project: CoinTracker Role: COO Nothing is certain but death and taxes, and for most people, their largest expense is not their rent, mortgage or car, it is their taxes. Most see taxes as an unavoidable fact of life, however, many Bitcoiners are also libertarians who believe taxation is theft and an infringement on their property rights. So, when I introduced a new What Bitcoin Did sponsor, Cointracker, who helps you prepare cryptocurrency tax returns, I received a few direct messages for supporting "the man". I understand that tax and Bitcoin do not necessarily go hand in hand, with tax being somewhat antithetical to Bitcoin. Bitcoin was created to separate money and state and with that taxation. Tax is not something I support or want to pay; however, I do so to avoid fines and legal retribution. In this bonus episode of What Bitcoin Did, I talk to Chandan Lodha, the COO of Cointracker. We discuss the ramifications of not filing crypto taxes, techniques to save money on your tax return and major exchanges getting subpoenaed.

Location: Skype Date: Monday, 23rd March Project: Amber Role: CEO In late January, when the Chinese City of Wuhan was placed into a government-enforced lockdown to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. All non-essential businesses were closed, travel restricted, and people could only leave their home to buy food. While the measures put in place appeared extreme, they helped to 'flatten the curve' and reduce the spread of the virus. Since then, the disease has spread rapidly throughout the rest of the world. Some governments have chosen to follow China, opting for widespread lockdowns. Italy implemented a nationwide quarantine in early March, Spain followed suit shortly after and the UK announced yesterday it was placing the country into lockdown. There are now 17 countries with lockdown measures in place. The hope is that by reducing the number of people infected, it will, in turn, lessen the strain on local healthcare systems and reduce the number of people dying from the disease. What is the cost of these draconian measures? Is it worth the impact on the economy and the erosion of civil liberties? Many Bitcoiners align themselves closely with Libertarianism and are against state intervention and therefore disagree with the restrictive measures put in place across the globe. We do though live in a democracy; if the will of the people supports these measures, then should they be supported? In this interview, I talk to Aleks Svetski, CEO at Amber and a passionate Bitcoiner. We discuss the COVID-19 coronavirus, state response to the pandemic, the economic impact and the threat to our civil liberties.

Location: Bedford Date: Tuesday, 17th March Project: Myjam Role: CEO In 2011, growing levels of unrest over lack of employment, political freedom and high levels of corruption in Syria led to a small number of pro-democracy demonstrations. Inspired by the ongoing Arab Spring revolution in nearby countries, the movement began gaining traction within Syria. The Syrian government retaliated with deadly force, leading to widespread calls for the president Bashar al-Assad to resign. Disdain for the government grew, and with it, the government's attempts at suppression intensified, escalating into a civil war that has now gripped the country for over nine years. It is no longer a case of for/against Assad as numerous groups and nations have been dragged into the conflict. The Syrian civil war is the second most deadly in the 21st century and has displaced millions. The total number of Syrian refugees is predicted to be over nine million with many heading to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, with many migrating through Europe. For the people of Syria, Bitcoin offers enormous advantages over cash. Within Syria, a large percentage of the population does not have access to banking services, and the Syrian Lira suffers from high inflation. For refugees, there is a risk of theft and confiscation as they make their way to new countries. Once settled, Bitcoin is also a perfect tool for remittances to their families back in Syria. In this interview, I talk to Moe Ghashim, a Syrian Bitcoiner now living in the UK. We discuss the ongoing civil war in Syria, the devastating physical and economic damage to the country, and how Bitcoin is a perfect tool to help refugees.

Location: Skype Date: Friday, 13th March Project: BHB Network Role: Director COVID-19 continues to spread around the world. 169,717 people are now infected, and the death toll stands at 6,518. The virus is highly contagious, making containment incredibly tricky. As the seriousness of the situation escalates, countries around the world are implementing strict controls on movement and contact. The COVID-19 coronavirus originated in China, where the number of cases has now risen to over 80,000. As the virus has taken hold, the Chinese Communist Party has implemented draconian measures. Despite criticism, the aggressive use of quarantine appears to have been effective in reducing the spread of infections. The number of reported daily new cases in China has dropped from almost 2,000 per day a few weeks ago, to less than 20 at the time of writing. Italy now has the highest number of cases outside of China, with over 25,000 testing positive. A nationwide lockdown is in effect, with police and soldiers enforcing the quarantine conditions, and on the 15th of March, the EU recorded the highest number of deaths in a single day so far. Giacomo Zucco is a Bitcoiner who is currently under lockdown in Italy. In this interview, he explains what life is like on lockdown, the measures that have been put in place, how he thinks the governments around the world have dealt with this pandemic and why he believes centralised planning is poorly suited for dealing with the crisis.

Location: Skype Date: Friday, 6th March Project: New project coming soon… Role: N/A Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginner's Guide Part 17- Fuck You, Bitcoin! with John Carvalho Bitcoin is not only the best version of decentralised money the world has seen; it is the best money the world has seen. It takes power away from centralised authorities and allows individuals to transact with whomever they want. With Bitcoin, nobody can confiscate your money, and the protocol has a clear set of rules that everyone on the network can see and follow. The Bitcoin protocol is robust, secure and self-governing, and with that, Bitcoin is 'fuck you' money. If a centralised powers want to seize your Bitcoin or stop payment, Bitcoin empowers individuals to say fuck you in a way that has never been seen before. Regardless of politics, economic uncertainty or almost any event imaginable, every 10 minutes Bitcoin continues to produce blocks, giving individuals the freedom to use it how they choose. In Part 17 of the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin, I talk to John Carvalho. We discuss removing power from governments, why altcoins are a poor investment, and why Bitcoin is 'fuck you' money.

Location: Skype Date: Friday, 6th March Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginner's Guide Part 16 - The Future of Bitcoin with Jeremy Welch In just 11 years, Bitcoin has already achieved so much: The price has grown from $1 equal to 1,309.03 BTC in 2009 to $7,950 per Bitcoin (at time of writing), having peaked at $20k in 2017. Market capitalisation is nearly $150 billion, and Bitcoin is now on the radar of investors globally. A phenomenal ~ 110Exahash secures the network. Transactions are regularly well over 300k per day. Bitcoin is the most decentralised and censorship-resistant currency in the world. A lot has happened in a short space of time, but what will the future hold for Bitcoin? There are still many challenges for Bitcoin, whether that is scaling, enhancing privacy or UX and ease of use. At the moment, Bitcoin is still for the relatively tech-savvy. While Bitcoin has been met with either scepticism or fear by governments, in general, there has been little action taken to disincentive people from owning using it. If adoption continues to grow, will the world powers enforce stricter regulations? In Part 16 of the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin I talk to Jeremy Welch to discuss the future of Bitcoin. We get into how governments and central banks will react as Bitcoin poses more of a threat, and if we will see hyperbitcoinisation.

Location: Skype Date: Saturday, 29th February Project: Castle Island Ventures Role: Partner Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginner's Guide Part 15 - Bitcoin FUD with Nic Carter Bitcoin is a peculiar beast, and as with any new technology, it takes some time to understand it and its potential impact on the world. While Bitcoin media reporting is improving, there are still lots of untruths and myths that are perpetuated by mainstream media. Further, competing projects, anti-Bitcoin proponents and the uneducated add to the confusion by repeating false accusations. Blanket statements such as "Bitcoin is only used by terrorists, criminals and money launderers" or "proof of work is wasteful and uses as much energy as X country", continue to cast a shadow over the technology. Bitcoin is still a relatively new form of digital money, the likes of which the world has never seen, as such, it is easy to be misled by outdated or poorly formed arguments. "Bitcoin isn't backed by anything" is another commonly used argument, which fails to recognise that neither is fiat currency and is printed at will, whereas Bitcoin has a fixed supply. In this interview, I am joined by Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures, and we discuss and dispel the myths, untruths and FUD that Bitcoin faces.

Location: Skype Date: Thursday 27th Feb Project: What Bitcoin Did & Defiance Role: Host Venezuela is in the midst of a political crisis. For 20 years the country has been governed by the socialist party, led by Hugo Chavez from 1999 until his death in 2013. Following his death, Nicolás Maduro, his preferred successor, took control of the country following a much-disputed election. Under Manduro, the economy and local currency have collapsed, with extreme hyperinflation reaching unprecedented levels. The inflation rate reached 69% in 2014, and by 2018 grew to an astonishing 1,698,488%, leading to significant growth in poverty, hunger and mass migration, with millions leaving the country to find work, food and medical supplies. With the collapse of the Bolivar, many Bitcoiners, including myself, asked whether Bitcoin could help. Could Bitcoin reduce the impact of hyperinflation? Could locals mine Bitcoin at low energy costs to earn an income? I visited Venezuela to find the answers to some of these questions and asked fellow podcaster Stephan Livera to interview me about my experience. We discuss the realities of life in Venezuela and the myths and truths of Bitcoin adoption.

Location: Santiago, Chile Date: Tuesday, 4th February Project: Buda Role: Co-founder Chile was one of South America's richest and most politically stable countries, but recent political unrest has led to daily violent protests. These protests are considered the worst in Chile's history and were sparked by a rise in the Santiago Metro's subway fare. This was seen as another attack on the working class and highlighted the inequalities prevalent in the system. Since the protests began on October 7th there have been a reported 29 deaths, 2,500 injuries and over 2,800 arrests. In this interview, I talk to Guillermo Torrealba the Co-founder and CEO of Buda, a Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange that operates in Chile, Argentina, Colombia & Peru. We discuss the ongoing political crisis in Chile, Bitcoin and climate change.

Location: Skype Date: Tuesday, 25th February Project: What Bitcoin Did & Defiance Role: Host Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginner's Guide Part 14 - Bitcoin Things You Need to Know with Peter McCormack The Bitcoin Beginner's Guide is all about breaking down the complexities of Bitcoin and making them as simple as possible to understand. In the series, we've explored everything from why we need Bitcoin, the economics, the protocol and even privacy, but, what have we learned? As a breakaway from the regular show structure, I decided to put myself in the hot seat and answer questions about Bitcoin. I wanted to challenge myself, see how much I have learned, and whether I can explain these complicated subjects accurately. With the help of my producer Danny, we break down the key takeaways from the Beginner's Guide series. We discuss Satoshi and the whitepaper, the 21 million hard cap, block rewards and size, mining, running a node and privacy.

Location: Las Vegas Date: Thursday, 20th February Project: Zap & Strike Role: Founder Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginners Guide Part 13 - The Lightning Network with Jack Mallers Bitcoin produces a 1mb block on average every 10 minutes. The block size and time limitations are essential for keeping the blockchain small enough so that anyone is realistically able to run a full node, keeping Bitcoin decentralised. The block size limit, however, does present a scalability issue, as there is a maximum number of transactions that can be broadcast in each block. The limit led to an acrimonious scaling debate, lasting years which resulted in a fork of the Bitcoin protocol and the arrival of Bitcoin Cash. With Bitcoin, layer two solutions have been hailed as the best way to solve scaling. The Lightning Network is a Layer 2 solution that runs on top of Bitcoin. By allowing users to create channels, Lightning allows for P2P micropayments that settle almost instantly and at a low cost. The Lightning Network offers other benefits such as improved privacy because the details of Lightning payments aren't on the public blockchain. The Lightning Network is still a relatively new protocol, as such, it can be intimidating to newcomers as the user experience has some key differences from transacting on the basechain. In Part 13 of the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin, I talk to Jack Mallers, the founder of Zap Lightning Wallet and Strike. We discuss the Lightning Network, the scaling debate, fees, settlement and the future of the protocol.

Location: Skype Date: Monday, 17th February Project: Casa Role: CTO Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginners Guide Part 12 - Bitcoin Privacy & OpSec with Jameson Lopp When entering Bitcoin, you leave behind the traditional banking system. Bitcoin allows you to take back your monetary sovereignty, and with that, you must secure your coins. With Bitcoin, there is no insurance or fraud prevention, and if you mismanage your private keys and someone can access them, hackers can steal your Bitcoin. There are several techniques that you can use to protect your Bitcoin from hackers as well as your transactions and personal information from data-hungry companies such as Facebook and Google: VPN - Running a VPN masks your identity and location. 2FA - Two-factor authentication such as Google Authenticator & YubiKey adds another layer of security to your accounts. (Not SMS 2FA) Browsers - Privacy focused browsers such as Tor & Brave help shield your online activity from trackers and fingerprinting Hardware Wallets - Using a hardware wallet such as ColdCard, Ledger or Trezor takes your private keys offline and if your seed phrase is stored correctly is a very secure way of holding your Bitcoin Running a Node - A node is a program that directly connects to the Bitcoin network and allows you to verify the state of the blockchain and validate transactions. This removes the need to trust someone else's node to verify your transactions and balances. In Part 12 of the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin, I talk to Jameson Lopp, co-founder and CTO at Casa, and renowned Bitcoin privacy expert. We discuss Bitcoin privacy, best practices and operational security.

Location: Caracas, Venezuela Date: Thursday, 13th February Project: Cointelegraph Role: Journalist Venezuela is many years into a political and economic crisis. Rooted in the Hugo Chavez presidency and continued by Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela is a mafia dictatorship wearing the cloak of socialism. Years of economic mismanagement and corruption has led to financial disaster in Venezuelan, comparatively worse than the Great Depression, Zimbabwe's 2008–2009 hyperinflation crisis and the breakup of the Soviet Union. Hyperinflation led to significant growth in poverty, starvation and mass migration, with millions leaving the country. With the collapse of the currency, many Bitcoiners, including myself, asked whether Bitcoin could help. Could Bitcoin reduce the impact of hyperinflation? Could locals mine Bitcoin at low energy costs to earn an income? I visited Venezuela to find out. In this interview, I talk to Javier Bastardo, a journalist for Cointelegraph, based in Caracas, Venezuela. We discuss Venezuela's political and economic situation, hyperinflation and the reality of Bitcoin adoption in the country.

Location: Bogota, Colombia Date: Tuesday, 11th February Project: InTiColombia & Buda Role: Co-Director & Country Manager Colombia The use case for Bitcoin can vary from country to country. How people use Bitcoin in New York will differ from on the border of Colombia and Venezuela. Where speculators may have access to the best hardware wallets and sophisticated security, those in the developing world may have to share a phone and have limited data connectivity. As part of my series covering Bitcoin Around the World, I am going to visit the far reaches of our planet, to look at how different communities are using Bitcoin and the challenges they face. In this interview, I speak to Mauricio Tovar Gutierrez & Alejandro Beltran Torrado, part of the Bitcoin community in Bogota, Colombia. We discuss the politics and economics of Colombia, Bitcoin regulation and their close ties with Venezuela.

Location: Skype Date: Tuesday, 4th February Project: Ikigai Asset Management Role: Chief Investment Officer Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginners Guide Part 11 -Bitcoin and the Macroeconomy with Travis Kling Bitcoin was born in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, the worst economic disaster since the great depression. A bubble born out of years of cheap credit and poor government oversight, Satoshi recognised this. In 2009 as the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer was preparing to bail out the UK's failing banks, for the second time, Satoshi Nakamoto was releasing Bitcoin to the world. Bitcoin's monetary policy is the antithesis of the central banks, by removing centralised decisions and forcing the market to fix itself. Further, It is a non-sovereign, global, immutable, digital, decentralised, hard money. Twelve years on from the global financial crisis, some economists believe we may be heading towards a global recession. If this is correct, can Bitcoin become a hedge or insurance? Could it even emerge as the global reserve currency? In Part 11 of the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin, I talk to Travis Kling, Chief Investment Officer at Ikigai. We discuss the great big fiat experiment, monetary and fiscal policy, social unrest and where Bitcoin fits into all of this.

Location: Skype Date: Monday, 3rd February Project: Tales from the Crypt & Rabbit Hole Recap Role: Co-host Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginners Guide Part 10 - Buying, Spending and Earning Bitcoin with Matt Odell Most people looking to buy Bitcoin for the first time will use an exchange such as Kraken or Coinbase because they offer a simple way to buy and sell Bitcoin. Using your debit card or bank transfer, you can quickly swap your fiat currency into Bitcoin. Once you have bought Bitcoin, you will receive it in your wallet on the exchange. While some exchanges such as Kraken pride themselves on their security, these custodians, who look after hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin are a prime target for hackers. Exchanges are continually fighting off attackers, and many exchange hacks have led to significant losses for those holding their Bitcoin with them. In Bitcoin, if you don't control your private keys, you don't own your Bitcoin. That means the first thing you should do once you have bought your first Bitcoin is to move it to a wallet you are in control of. Buying on an exchange isn't the only way to get your hands on Bitcoin. While many buy their Bitcoin, Andreas M. Antonopoulos encourages people to, instead, earn Bitcoin. While countries like New Zealand have taken steps to make paying employees in Bitcoin easier, it is still not an option that's available to everyone. So, if your employer won't pay you in Bitcoin, how else can you earn it? Bitcoin cashback is one way of increasing your holdings. Services like Lolli and Fold, offer cashback from retailers, including Amazon, Starbucks, Expedia and hundreds more. With sats back credit cards coming, there are now many ways to stack sats without buying Bitcoin. In Part 10 of the Bitcoin Beginner's Guide, I talk to Matt Odell, co-host of Tales from the Crypt and Rabbit Hole Recap. We discuss the best way to buy Bitcoin, privacy as well as how to spend and earn Bitcoin.

Location: Skype Date: Sunday, 26th January Project: Castle Island Ventures Role: Partner Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginners Guide Part 9 - Altcoins, A History of Failure with Nic Carter From faster transactions to lower fees to better privacy, almost every altcoin promises to improve upon some technical aspect of Bitcoin. The blockchain myth, as some utopian database structure, has been nothing more than a marketing term for fundraising and hype, with little to no real-world traction. The soul of Bitcoin is not embedded in some technical measure but in the trust of the protocol. Improving upon some technological measure of Bitcoin always comes with a trade-off such as reducing decentralisation or security. The beauty of Bitcoin is in its simplicity, something which can take time to understand. The altcoin marketing machine can be a tempting distraction for those new to the world of crypto, but the long-term trend suggests that these investments are risky. Even trading altcoins as a way of increasing your Bitcoin holding comes at significant risk. Since the ICO bubble of 2017/18, the vast majority of these projects have all but died, with many holding worthless bags of hopium. In Part 9 of the Bitcoin Beginner's Guide, I talk to Nic Carter Partner at Castle Island Ventures a Venture Capital firm focused on public blockchains. We discuss the history of altcoins, their inferiority to Bitcoin, and why the failure rate is so high.

Location: Skype Date: Monday, 27th January Project: Coin Center Role: Peter Van Valkenburgh & Jerry Brito Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginners Guide Part 8 - How is Bitcoin Legal with Peter Van Valkenburgh & Jerry Brito Bitcoin is still a relatively new technology. However, it is already a very real threat to government-issued fiat currencies and central banks. This has made regulating Bitcoin a tricky proposition for governments. China took a hard-line approach to this new asset class and in 2013, banned Bitcoin transactions, and in 2017, the government banned exchanges and ICOs. In Bolivia, there is a unilateral ban on all cryptocurrencies. Other countries have taken a far more progressive view of Bitcoin, embracing it, though often with caution. Most accepting has been Malta which has created the Malta Digital Innovation Authority; a government body brought in specifically for creating responsible crypto policy. While the regulatory landscape is complex and jurisdiction-specific, regulations tend to apply more aggressively to businesses in the space than users. These laws and regulations that Bitcoin businesses must comply with, however, still have an impact. For example; the majority of exchanges must follow AML/KYC rules which means when buying Bitcoin on an exchange you do give up your privacy. In Part 8 of the Bitcoin Beginner's Guide and to help explain and navigate the regulatory landscape I talk to Peter Van Valkenburgh & Jerry Britto, the Director of Research & Executive Director at Coin Center a non-profit focused on the policy issues for Bitcoin. We discuss the Bitcoin regulatory landscape and the implications to the users.

Location: Skype Date: Wednesday, 22nd January Project: Kraken Role: Head of Business Development Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginners Guide Part 7 - Bitcoin's Monetary Policy with Dan Held In our current economic system, currency is issued by the central banks. As fiat (government-issued money) is no longer backed by gold or any other scarce asset these central banks are able to print, or issue money at will. As more and more money is printed and enters circulation, the money you hold in your bank account becomes a smaller percentage of the total supply and therefore loses value. This by de-facto promotes spending rather than saving and by many, is seen as a flaw in the financial system. When Satoshi released the Bitcoin protocol, it offered an alternative to this system: scarce digital money. Satoshi gave Bitcoin a fixed supply of 21 million Bitcoins. He also designed an issuance schedule of 50BTC every ~10 minutes which is cut in half every 210,000 blocks (~4 years). The exact number of the total supply of Bitcoin is not important and it doesn't matter that the issuance schedule is designed exactly as it is, what is crucial is that this monetary policy can't be changed. These rules are part of the Bitcoin protocol and can not be amended or changed without a hard fork. Social consensus for a change like this would almost certainly never happen and Bitcoiners can be confident that their Bitcoin holdings will not lose value to do inflation. In Part 7 of the Bitcoin Beginner's Guide, I talk to Dan Held Bitcoin OG and Director of Business Development at Kraken to look at Bitcoin's monetary policy. We discuss how the economy works, the 21 million hard cap, the release schedule and block rewards.

Location: Skype Date: Friday, 17th January Project: Block Digest Role: Host Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginners Guide Part 6 - How Bitcoin Works with Shinobi As a newcomer to Bitcoin, you can begin using the network without understanding the protocol. While in the early days Bitcoin required a level of technical knowledge, there is now a plethora of companies creating products which abstract this away. As Bitcoin is such a unique form of money, you should invest time in understanding some of the more complicated aspects such as how the protocol works. While there are good wallets which will take care of validating transactions for you, by operating a node, you can become fully self-sovereign by validating your transactions. The Bitcoin protocol is complicated, so in this episode, we give you an introduction and overview of how it works: Supply - Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million coins and a fixed supply issuance. Starting at 50BTC per block this reward is cut in half every 210,000 blocks (or ~every four years). UTXOs - an Unspent Transaction Output which is used as an input for a new transaction. Open-source - openly available source code that anyone can access allowing anyone to review and contribute to the code. Consensus rules - the rules that full nodes must follow to be in agreement with all other nodes on the state of the blockchain Full Node - a program that verifies and validates all transactions and blocks for the entire history of the Bitcoin blockchain Mining - the process of adding transactions to the Bitcoin ledger and securing the network. Miners create blocks by spending energy in what is known as proof of work. The difficulty adjustment - this alters every 2016 blocks (~2 weeks) based on the time it took to mine the previous 2016 blocks, which is how the network can maintain a ~10 minute block time. In Part 6 of the Bitcoin Beginner's Guide, I am joined by Shinobi, host of Block Digest. In this episode, we are looking at how the Bitcoin protocol works. We discuss the supply & halvings, transactions & UTXOs, consensus rules, mining and nodes.

Location: Skype Date: Wednesday, 15th January Project: Tales from the Crypt & Rabbit Hole Recap Role: Host Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginners Guide Part 5 - The History of Bitcoin with Marty Bent On October 31st 2008 Satoshi published the Bitcoin Whitepaper on a little known cryptography mailing list. There had previously been many attempts at digital cash, so when the whitepaper was released, it was met with a healthy amount of scepticism. A few months later on January 3rd 2009 Satoshi Nakamoto mined the genesis block and included the message "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks". The message was important and indicated Satoshi's plan for a new financial system. In the 11 years that have passed Bitcoin has gone from a niche experiment to a network worth over $160 billion, but the history has been rollercoaster. Anyone new coming into Bitcoin is likely to hear about critical points in history, and these events helped define Bitcoin and at times teach valuable lessons. January 12th 2009 - The first Bitcoin transaction between Satoshi Nakamoto and Hal Finney March 2010 - bitcoinmarket.com started operating as the first Bitcoin exchange May 22nd 2010 - Lazlo Hanyecz pays 10,000BTC for 2 pizzas November 27th 2010 - SlushPool becomes the first Bitcoin mining pool February 2011 - The Silk Road opens, utilising Bitcoin as its currency April 26th 2011 - Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto leaves Bitcoin in the hands of Gavin Andreson June 14th 2011 - Wikileaks starts accepting donations in Bitcoin. Visa and Mastercard & ban payments and PayPal freeze their accounts April 24th 2012 - Erik Voorhees launches Satoshi Dice a Bitcoin betting game June 20th 2012 - Coinbase founded November 27th 2013 - Bitcoin Reaches $1,000 January 26th 2014 - Charlie Shrem, CEO of BitInstant, is arrested. Charlie eventually pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business. He was sentenced to two years in prison February 7th 2014 - Mt. Gox, the largest Bitcoin exchange at the time, halted withdrawals after a security breach. On February 24th 2014 the exchange went offline with 744,408 Bitcoin stolen. July 2014 - GHash exceeded 51% of the hash rate July 17th 2014 - The New York BitLicense is proposed to place regulations on any company or person that uses cryptocurrencies residing in New York. January 14th 2016 - Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja release the Lightning Network Whitepaper 2016 - 2017 - The scaling war. The community were divided between Segregated Witness and/or bigger block sizes as a way of reducing congestion on the blockchain. This culminated on August 1st with the BCash fork. December 17th 2017 - Bitcoin reaches its all-time high of $20,000 December 18th 2017 - CME launches Bitcoin futures contract March 15th 2018 - Elizabeth Stark announces the initial release of lnd 0.4-beta for developers July 12th 2019 - Donald Trump tweets about Bitcoin In Part 5 of The Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin, I talk to Marty Bent the host of Tales from the Crypt & Rabbit Hole Recap. We discuss the key events in Bitcoin's history from the launch of the protocol to the Silk Road and the Scaling Wars.

Location: Skype Date: Tuesday, 14th January Project: The Stephan Livera Podcast Role: Host Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginners Guide Part 4 - What is Bitcoin with Stephan Livera Despite being considered a high-risk asset, there are many reasons why people continue to buy Bitcoin. For some, Bitcoin is a speculative tool, for others, it is a means of payment, and for some, it is a hedge against local fiat currency risk and hyperinflation. It is the unique features of Bitcoin, which is driving adoption, and it is the growth in adoption, which is driving speculation. One key feature of Bitcoin is that it is censorship-resistant, this means that anyone can send anyone else a payment which no third party can block. This was important to Wikileaks when PayPal froze their account and Visa and Mastercard stopped processing payments. Bitcoin became a lifeline for Wikileaks. The key features of Bitcoin are open to everyone. With a smartphone and an internet connection, anyone can enter this new financial system without requiring permission from the government or an account with a bank. How is this possible? Because Bitcoin is decentralised. So what makes Bitcoin censorship resistant? What is decentralisation, and why does it matter? And why are trusted third parties security holes? In Part 4 of The Bitcoin Beginner's Guide, I ask fellow podcaster Stephan Livera, what is Bitcoin? We discuss how Bitcoin works, its key features such as decentralisation and censorship resistance and the reasons why people might want to own it.

Location: Skype Date: Thursday, 9th January Project: Bitcoin Magazine Role: Technical Editor Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Beginners Guide Part 3 - Aaron van Wirdum on Bitcoin's Pre-History and the Cypherpunks Founded by Eric Hughes, Tim May and John Gilmore the cypherpunks were a group of hackers, privacy enthusiasts and crypto-anarchists. The group consisted of some of the most prominent cryptographers including Phil Zimmermann, Adam Back, Nick Szabo and Hal Finney. The cypherpunks had its factions; some focussed on privacy tools, others on encryption and some on building decentralised monetary systems. It was on the cypherpunk mailing list and during their meetups that the building blocks of Bitcoin were born. On October 31st 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto emailed the cypherpunk mailing list, telling them "I've been working on a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party." In the 11 years that followed Bitcoin has proven to be the most successful attempt at creating a censorship-resistant and trust minimised digital currency. Each previous attempt at creating a form of digital money had solved parts of the puzzle, but Satoshi was able to put these pieces together along with his innovations to create Bitcoin. The previous attempts included: In the 1990's eCash, headed by David Chaum, attempted to make online payments anonymous. In 1997 Adam Back created HashCash, a proof-of-work system to reduce email spam and prevent denial of service attacks. In 1998 Wei Dai proposed B-money to allow for an "anonymous, distributed electronic cash system". Around the same time, Nick Szabo proposed Bit Gold where unforgettable proof of work chains would share properties of gold: scarce, valuable and trust minimised but with the benefit of being easily transactable. In 2004 Hal Finney built upon the idea of Hashcash and created Reusable Proofs of Work. When Satoshi released the Bitcoin whitepaper, rather than a revolution, Bitcoin was an evolution of all that had come before it with Bitcoin being the most trust minimised, censorship-resistant and hardest currency that has ever existed. In Part 3 of The Bitcoin Beginner's Guide, I talk to Aaron van Wirdum, a journalist and Technical Editor at Bitcoin Magazine. Aaron explains the cypherpunk movement and the digital money projects which paved the way for Bitcoin.

Location: Skype Date: Monday, 6th January Project: Unchained Capital Role: Head of Business Development Welcome to The Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Part 2 - What is Money with Parker Lewis As the old adage says: money makes the world go round, but why? Money allows for free trade between people, solving the double coincidence of wants problem. To facilitate trade, early money took many forms: from Rai stones to salt to shells. The characteristics of base metals quickly led them to become the dominant form of money once introduced, with gold being the most valued. In the 1800s, both the UK and the US, as well as many other countries, implemented a gold standard, allowing banks to issue paper money to represent the gold that they held in reserve. The gold standard maintained gold as a hard currency but with paper bills solving the problem of transporting heavy bullion and divisibility. In the 1930s, during the depression, the US government devalued gold and made it illegal to own privately. In 1931 the UK abandoned the gold standard, and in 1971 the US severed any remaining ties to it. This marked the beginning of the current era of money. Whereas gold has the characteristics of sound money - it is durable, divisible, fungible and scarce, the new fiat monetary system didn't and therefore was open to abuse by government. With its infinite supply, it misses the key characteristics of sound money, scarcity and cost of production. Bitcoin has all the characteristics of sound money; however, in one key area, it far exceeds gold - transferability. In a digital age, Bitcoin is sound money that can be sent over the internet and has the potential to change the nature of money for everyone. In part 2 of The Bitcoin Beginner's Guide, I talk to Parker Lewis head of business development at Unchained Capital. Parker answers the question, what is money? We also discuss the history of money and the characteristics of sound money.

Location: Skype Date: Monday, 11th November Project: aantonop.com Role: Author & Public Speaker Welcome to The Beginner's Guide to Bitcoin Bitcoin can be intimidating for beginners. The protocol is complicated, the community can be aggressive and unforgiving, silly mistakes can lose you money, and it is easy to succumb to altcoin marketing. Bitcoin does though, offer you the opportunity to hold a new type of monetary asset, one which can't be seized by the government and is censorship resistance and It has the potential to change the way the world. The goal of What Bitcoin Did has always been about making things simple; there are no stupid questions, and the show is here to help beginners navigate this new world. To kick off 2020, we are launching a special series to help beginners understand Bitcoin. We will be looking at the basics from breaking down the protocol to explaining the economics and discussing the potential societal shift. Part 1 - Andreas M. Antonopoulos on Why We Need Bitcoin Bitcoin is multifaceted. Some treat Bitcoin as a speculative tool for growing wealth, others as a way of avoiding financial censorship from traditional payment channels, and some use it as a way of claiming their monetary sovereignty and removing power from the banks and state. The real reason Bitcoin is essential is for all of these reasons and more. On 3rd January 2009, Bitcoin was introduced to the world by its pseudonymous creator (or creators), going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin brought with it an alternative to the banking system, a way of truly controlling your finances and to 'be your own bank'. Being your own bank is incredibly powerful but is often a confusing and misused term. There are currently 1.7 billion people across the world who do not have access to proper banking services. Bitcoin can fix this by allowing users to hold, send and receive value. Cross-border payments are expensive and complicated using traditional banking and financial systems, and that's assuming the recipient has the means to receive payment. Bitcoin fixes this. Governments have a history of putting pressure on payment systems to stop allowing payments to recipients that they deem unfit. In 2010 Visa, Mastercard and PayPal all stopped allowing payments to WikiLeaks. Bitcoin fixed this. Bitcoin's power is in its decentralised, censorship-resistant, neutral, permissionless network that allows you to transact globally without any intermediary or third party and with whoever you want for whatever reason you want. Bitcoin doesn't care. We will soon be living in a cashless society, government-issued 'fiat' currency will become entirely digital, and we will wave goodbye to any remaining shreds of financial privacy that still exist. Some governments will look to create a cryptocurrency alternative; providing the perfect tool for increased financial surveillance and oppression and represents the antithesis of Bitcoin. So, maybe we will have to choose whether its Bitcoin or a state-run digital currency. Should we choose Bitcoin? This interview previously appeared on my other show Defiance and is a great starting point for the beginner's guide. Here I talk to Andreas M. Antonopoulos to find out. Andreas is a speaker and the best selling author of Mastering Bitcoin and The Internet of Money and is unrivalled in evangelising Bitcoin. Andreas explains why the current monetary and financial system is no longer fit for purpose and why Bitcoin may be the answer.

Location: New York Date: Monday, 23rd December Project: Tales from the Crypt & Rabbit Hole Recap Role: Co-host The Bitcoin space moves fast, and 2019 has been no different. Starting the year at the bottom of a harsh bear market after hitting a low of $3,100, Bitcoin began 2019 trading close to $3600. While the price spiked at around $14,000, it has settled in the $7-8k range, representing an approximate 100% rise in price. Also, despite the volatility, the hashrate has reached an all-time high. Bitcoin has been featured widely in the media, and everyone from NFL player Russell Okung to Donald Trump and even President Xi have spoken about it. The Lightning Network has grown from strength to strength with Bitfinex now accepting Lightning deposits and the Tor Project accepting Lightning donations. The SEC is still yet to approve a Bitcoin ETF with Bitwise' proposal the latest to be rejected. Jack Dorsey launched Square Crypto, and Facebook made plans to launch a 'cryptocurrency' called Libra. With exchanges, Cryptopia was hacked and subsequently shut down, and QuadrigaCX suffered the same fate following the suspicious and shock death of its CEO Gerald Cotten. So 2019 has been a busy year in Bitcoin and my final interview of the year is with Matt Odell, co-host of the Tales from the Crypt and Rabbit Hole Recap. We take a look back at 2019, discussing Bitcoin only businesses, the most important projects and our predictions for 2020.

Location: Boulder, Colorado Date: Monday, 23rd December Project: Zap Role: Founder The Lightning Network is a layer two solution that allows users to send and receive Bitcoin 'off-chain'. Sending and receiving transactions on Lightning is both fast and cheap, allowing the Bitcoin network to scale while maintaining decentralisation by keeping the basechain block size small. The technology isn't perfect though. In its current state, the Lightning Network can be complicated and intimidating to newcomers as the user experience has key differences from transacting on the basechain. Lightning is developing at pace, and UX design is abstracting away many of the intricacies of the network. Lightning as a micropayment mechanism for the mainstream market is just one potential use. Jack Mallers, Founder of the Lightning Network wallet Zap, thinks that Lightning may have a far broader value proposition. In this interview, I review The Lightning Network in 2019 with Zap founder Jack Mallers. We discuss why Lightning matters, private key management, custodial v non-custodial wallets, and how proprietary trading firms may be the next big use case.

Location: El Salvador Date: Thursday, 19th December Project: Bitcoin Beach Role: Founder El Salvador is a country gripped by gang violence. It consistently ranks among countries with the highest murder rate per capita and is one of the deadliest countries in the American subcontinent. Gangs are prolific, and unlike other Central and South American countries, the drug route through Central America misses El Salvador, so instead, the gangs here turn to extortion and murder. Jobs are scarce, and a considerable percentage of men leave the country in search of work, others are pulled into gang life, imprisoned or murdered. The breakup of the family and the difficulty of finding a job makes recruiting new gang members easy, perpetuating the gang culture. Bitcoin Beach is trying to help. The organisation is building a Bitcoin economy in Punta Mango, a small beach town in El Salvador. Bitcoin Beach offers free Bitcoin classes and pays young people in Bitcoin to do work such as clean the polluted rivers and streets and stay in education. Local businesses are incentivised to accept Bitcoin, creating a local Bitcoin circular economy. In this interview, I speak to Michael Peterson founder of Bitcoin Beach, to discuss the project, creating a Bitcoin economy, custodial vs non-custodial solutions and the gangs and violence that plague El Salvador.

Location: Uruguay Date: Sunday, 15th December Project: arielmuslera.com | IOVLabs Role: VC Investor | CEO Bitcoin is still mostly a speculative asset in the developed world. However, in countries with a history of poor monetary policy, Bitcoin is now a viable hedge against high inflation and government seizure. Argentina's recent history is one of poor monetary policy. Between 1991 and 2002 the Argentine Peso was pegged to the USD with the central bank claiming to operate a full reserve. This peg was used to combat hyperinflation and initially appeared to work with inflation falling from 3000% in 1989 to 3.4% in 1994. The reality was very different, and the strong USD overvalued the Argentine Peso and made international trade difficult. In 2001 the dollar-pegged Argentine Peso was abandoned, and the Argentine peso has lost over 98% of its value with 1 USD now buying almost 60 pesos. With hyperinflation and the capital controls used by the Argentinian government, many locals look to find ways of protecting their wealth with hard assets. While many will use USD and real estate, more and more are turning to Bitcoin as a way to preserve their capital. In this interview, I speak to Ariel Muslera and Diego Gutierrez-Zaldivar about the current state of monetary policy in Argentina, the political landscape, and how more and more Argentinians are using Bitcoin to hedge risk.