The Peter McCormack Show

Location: Skype Date: Thursday, 17th October Project: Gold Bullion International Role: Co-Founder Bitcoin's design allows you holders to claim monetary sovereignty, taking money and power away from banks and the legacy financial system. So, why do Bitcoiners seem so desperate to see the influx of institutional investors? A large injection of capital into the markets would likely see the price of Bitcoin go up, but, would it not be best to see organic growth in adoption by people, rather than corporations? It is easier than ever for institutional investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin. With the recent launch of Bakkt futures contracts along with LedgerX and CME, there are ways for large traders to get skin in the game. But the volume is low, why? Education is an often overlooked part of the Bitcoin onboarding process. No matter what background someone is from getting them to see past Bitcoin as 'magic internet money' can be incredibly challenging. Dan Tapiero is a veteran global macro investor and a co-founder of Gold Bullion International. Having worked as a portfolio manager and analyst he became aware of Bitcoin in 2013, initially writing it off for having a too-small market cap and a "VC plaything". Dan's opinion has gone from not seeing the value in Bitcoin to believing it could take over as a financial system. In this interview, Dan explains what changed his mind on Bitcoin, gold as a safe haven asset, Twitter, wealth redistribution, trade wars and Trump's influence over the markets.

Location: Los Angeles Date: Thursday, 26th September Project: Edge Role: CEO & Co-Founder Time is arguably our most valuable resource and we are constantly making choices about how we use it. But do we give enough consideration to our time? One of the theories behind our decision making is time preference. Time preference refers to the value of something now compared to its value at a later date. Those who favour high time preference prefer to value their current self and spend money faster, while people with a low time preference will make sacrifices to ensure a better outcome for their future self. It doesn't just relate to personal choices though; time preference is an excellent tool for considering money, specifically when comparing Bitcoin and fiat. Inflationary fiat currencies favour a high time preference. With no supply cap and governments printing more money at will, there is little economic incentive to save. Bitcoin, however, favours a low time preference. Being sound money with a fixed supply, Bitcoin lends itself to saving. While time preference finds its roots in economics, it can be applied to almost anything and is how you prioritise now vs future; from health to journalism, productivity to savings. In this interview, I speak to Paul Puey, the CEO & Co-Founder at Edge who are building a self custody exchange and wallet. We discuss time preference, Bitcoin, health & diet, journalism and Libertarianism.

Location: Skype Date: Wednesday, 2nd October Project: Ledger Role: CEO One of the earliest bits of advice a Bitcoin beginner will get will be to not keep their coins on an exchange. By keeping coins on an exchange, hodlers expose themselves to counterparty risk and undermine many of Bitcoin's inherent benefits. When you invest in an asset that allows you to be self-sovereign and take trust away from 3rd parties, why immediately give that up? While some exchanges, like Kraken, take their security incredibly seriously, the history of Bitcoin is littered with exchange hacks and the theft of coins. In just the last 12 months Binance, Bithumb and Cryptopia have all been hacked, with the latter closing down. There are many ways to manage your private keys, and hardware wallets are one of the most secure and simple options. Ledger is one of the leading hardware wallet manufacturers and has recently celebrated its 5th birthday. In this interview, I speak to Pascal Gauthier; CEO at Ledger. Ledger recently celebrated their 5th birthday, so I got Pascal on the show to discuss hardware wallets, being your own banker, competition and what's to come from Ledger.

Location: Los Angeles Date: Sunday, 1st September Project: Bitcoin Is Role: Founder Bitcoin's value lies not in its price but in its innate qualities and the freedom that those qualities offer. It is decentralised, trustless, secure and the hardest money ever to exist. It's irreversible, scarce and accessible to everyone. But many new to Bitcoin fail to understand these qualities. Usually, a first entry point is a fast-moving bull run where Bitcoin's price is rapidly growing. Whether a newcomer makes gains or gets rekt, not all will stay, and those that do usually venture down the rabbit hole to learn more. So how do you encourage mass adoption from people who might not understand the full capability of Bitcoin? Russell Okung is an offensive tackle for the LA Chargers and he's trying to do just that. In September he launched Bitcoin Is, a conference in LA to help encourage mass adoption of Bitcoin. This show is the fireside chat I hosted with Russell Okung at his event. We discuss what Bitcoin means to Russell, negotiating his own NFL contract, asking to be paid in Bitcoin and controlling your wealth.

Location: Skype Date: Thursday, 3rd October Project: Crypto Voices Role: Host The monetary base is the amount of currency in any one country. It is a combination of both the circulating supply and money held in reserve at the central bank. In the 1900s, the global base currency was gold; however, in 1971, the U.S severed all ties with the gold standard and the monetary base changed to being government-issued fiat currency. In a government-issued fiat-based monetary system, the government controls the printing and inflation of its currency. This allows governments to increase the monetary base at will. Whereas previous base money, gold, was hard to inflate, with fiat money it is easy. This leads to, for example, the U.S global base money rising from $100 billion to $19.2 trillion since 1970. With Bitcoin, however, issuance and supply are fixed. There will only ever be 21 million created, with the issuance dropping every four years and no ability to inflate the supply. Could this lead to Bitcoin becoming the next global base money? In this interview, I talk to Matthew Mezinskis from CryptoVoices. Matthew explains what base money is and if Bitcoin will ever become the worlds base money. We also discuss what money is, the gold standard, central banks holding Bitcoin and decentralisation.

Location: Los Angeles Date: Friday, 26th September Project: Libbitcoin Role: Lead Developer Bitcoin is the best performing asset of the last ten years. It has the potential to disrupt entire states, overturn traditional financial institutions and change the way corporations do business. With so much potential and with the stakes so high, it's easy to see why discussions around Bitcoin's ideology can become so heated. Hyperbitcoinisation is touted as the end game by many Bitcoiners. In this scenario, Bitcoin would displace all fiat currencies to become the world's most dominant money and reserve currency. But not everyone shares this vision. Some believe that the economic game theory isn't strong enough for Bitcoin to ever reach hyperbitcoinisation and that in reality, if it were achieved, governments wouldn't relinquish power so easily. In this interview, I am joined by Eric Voskuil, who John Carvahlo described as Bitcoin's most rational thinker. After starting his career as a software developer, he took a 10-year hiatus flying fighter jets in the U.S Navy before returning to software engineering and Bitcoin. We discuss libertarianism and anarchy versus minarchy, fractional vs full reserve banking and remaining a rational Bitcoiner.

Location: Skype Date: Tuesday, 1st October Project: Independent Trader Role: Bitcoin Quant Analyst Stock to flow is a metric used to measure the scarcity of an asset. The only asset with a higher stock to flow than Bitcoin is gold. Gold has a stock to flow value of 62, meaning that to produce the same amount of gold currently held in reserve, it would take 62 years of production. Every 210,000 blocks (~4 years), the amount of Bitcoin rewarded to miners is cut in half. The next halving is set to take place sometime around May 2020 and will see the reward decreased from 12.5 to 6.25 Bitcoin per block (~every 10 minutes). The reduction in the reward means that miners have less Bitcoin to sell to cover their operational costs and thus less Bitcoin released to the market. Historically, this has led to an increase in the price of Bitcoin and with the next halving and the subsequent drop in emission, Bitcoins stock to flow value will rise from 25 to 50, getting ever closer to gold. Will this lead to another surge in price and push Bitcoin to the 1 trillion dollar market cap as PlanB's stock to flow model predicts? In this interview, I talk to PlanB, known for his Bitcoin stock to flow ratio analysis and the author of Modeling Bitcoin's Value with Scarcity. We discuss gold's stock to flow compared to Bitcoin, scarcity, halvings and safe-haven assets.

Location: Laramie, Wyoming Date: Saturday, 21st September Project: Premier Ark LLC Role: Manager The unique properties of Bitcoin make it the hardest money which has ever existed and allows those who adopt it to claim their monetary sovereignty. As the Bitcoin market cap has grown, those accumulating have had to condition themselves to a volatile price, with dollar-cost averaging a popular way of stacking sats. Many people, however, still don't own their private keys, leaving their Bitcoin on an exchange or in the hands of a 3rd party custodian. In doing so, they miss one of the fundamental aspects of Bitcoin, claiming their sovereignty. Before Bitcoin, gold was the traditional way to claim financial independence. Like Bitcoin, Gold allows holders to take wealth management away from banks and financial institutions. With this, gold is also a hedge or 'safe haven' asset during currency declines and/or recessions. With the global economy, again looking fragile, will another economic downturn see Bitcoin, like gold, become a 'safe haven' asset? In this interview, and for the second time in a week, I'm joined by accountant, lawyer and Bitcoin OG Trace Mayer. We discuss the U.S monetary system being unconstitutional, negative interest rates, gold vs Bitcoin and Proof of Keys.

Location: New York Date: Friday, 17th May Project: Formerly of CoinDesk Role: Formerly Editor-in-Chief For varied reasons, not all interviews are released. I previously recorded a show with Pete Rizzo, while he was Editor-in-Chief at CoinDesk. Following the interview my show editorial went Bitcoin only but due to the topics discussed with Pete, I decided to archive it. I enjoyed our chat and following his recent departure I felt that it would be good to release the show and allow people to hear about what we discussed. In the world of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency where everyone is an investor and has a vested interest, unbiased news is hard to find. Now more than ever in a news environment that is driven by clicks, likes, listens and views. News organisations can often struggle to find the right balance between stories that capture people's attention and information that is factual, important and without agenda. So how do news organisations in the space maintain the balance between producing unbiased informative content whilst still capturing people's attention and engagement? In this interview, I speak to Pete Rizzo who recently left his position as Editor-in-Chief at CoinDesk. We discuss journalistic responsibilities and freedom.

Location: Laramie, Wyoming Date: Friday, 20th September Project: Wyoming Blockchain Coalition + Premier Ark LLC + State of Wyoming Role: Co-Founder + Manager + House District 1 Representative With technology innovation, there is often a divide between those who embrace it and those who push back against it, especially when it challenges the state. Bitcoin is no different. Countries like China and India have taken a harsh regulatory stance towards Bitcoin, effectively outlawing it. However, in the U.S, regulators have been more accepting of the technology but the laws that surround Bitcoin vary hugely from state to state. New York implemented the BitLicense, requiring Bitcoin businesses to comply with a complex bureaucratic process. Many argue that this hasn't improved the space or made it safer, but has deterred companies from operating there. Wyoming, has seen this as an opportunity and over the past two years have implemented 13 laws to entice Bitcoin-based businesses to the state. While Wyoming is not a state you may consider a natural hub for tech-startups that is exactly what it is becoming, thanks to the libertarian principles of those in power. In this interview, I sit down with Caitlin Long, Trace Mayer & Tyler Lindholm. We discuss the differences between state and federal laws, the states power to nullify federal laws, cannabis, guns and if U.S politics is really like House of Cards.

Location: Denver Date: Wednesday, 18th September Project: ShapeShift Role: Founder & CEO Since its birth over 10 years ago, Bitcoin has resonated with Libertarians. Through its very design, Bitcoin aligns closely with the Libertarian belief that governments should have no interference in people's lives or money. Helped by popular Bitcoin books such as Saifedean Ammous' The Bitcoin Standard, more and more newcomers to Bitcoin are becoming aware of Libertarianism as well as Austrian Economics. However, these can be confusing concepts to grasp, especially for those growing up always accepting and/or believing that there must be a state. So, what is Libertarianism? Should we strive for smaller decentralised societies with little or no government intervention or regulation? And could Bitcoin play a key role in reducing the size of governments around the world? In this interview, I speak with Erik Voorhees the Founder and CEO at ShapeShift. Erik explains the theory behind a Libertarian state, reducing the size of governments, minarchism vs anarchism, and internal Libertarian conflict points.

Location: Los Angeles Date: Sunday, 31st August Project: Kraken Role: Director Of Business Development Bitcoin is hard! There is no easy way into Bitcoin. Yes, it can be easy to buy, but understanding the asset, from economics to the tech, requires a dedication to learning. For Bitcoin to reach hundreds of millions, if not billions of people and overturn our corrupt financial systems, it must become more accessible. The Bitcoin community lends itself to the technically savvy and inquisitive. However, to reach mainstream adoption, Bitcoin needs to work for people who are not technically confident and are more risk-averse. For a new Bitcoiner with little or no technical knowledge, even the most fundamental and straightforward requirements in Bitcoin, such as managing your private keys, is a daunting task. There are no insurance policies, no 3rd party to fall back on, and if mismanaged the consequences are severe. Controlling and managing your private keys is fundamental to Bitcoin and the cypherpunk movement. It is this that allows you to stay sovereign and in control of your finances. Phrases such as "not your keys, not your Bitcoin" are used to remind people to take money off exchanges and away from custodial services and therefore 3rd party risk. These fundamental parts of Bitcoin are challenging and inherently pose some risk. Is this the model that we take into hyperbitcoinisation? Or, is the user experience entirely flawed? If we are to bring Bitcoin to the masses, do we need some form of custodial services, or can better UX provide the solution? In this interview, I am joined by Dan Held, who's company Interchange was recently acquired by Kraken. We discuss the UX challenges Bitcoin faces, the importance of nodes, advertising and marketing.

Location: Los Angeles Date: Sunday, 1st September Project: Guns N' Bitcoin Role: Chief Range Officer America has the highest number of civilian-owned guns in the world, with around 40% of people owning or living in a house with firearms. The right to own a gun is firmly embedded within the US constitution and to many Americans, removing their ability to do so would be an attack on their civil liberty. Since 1982 there have been over 110 mass shootings in the U.S alone. With every mass shooting, the media spotlight is drawn towards U.S gun laws and polls show that the majority of Americans are now dissatisfied with them. However, as mass shootings only account for a small proportion of all gun deaths, is it unfair to remove the right to bear arms from U.S citizens? Should the small number of incidents change the law for the vast majority of responsible gun owners? It is easy to draw comparisons between guns and Bitcoin as both align with libertarian principles. Where guns give you the owner the ability to protect themselves from individuals and tyrannical gove, Bitcoin allows holders to protect yourself from corrupt financial systems and poor state monetary policies. For this polarising topic, I am joined by Bitcoiner and gun advocate Ragnar Lifthrasir from Guns N' Bitcoin. We discuss the culture of guns in America, if there should be a limit to the type of weapon you can buy, Bitcoin and privacy.

Location: San Francisco Date: Tuesday, 3rd September Project: balajis.com Role: Angel Investor & Entrepreneur A little over a year ago Coinbase announced the acquisition of Earn.com in a $120 million deal. Earn.com allows users to earn cryptocurrency by replying to emails or completing tasks. As a vital part of the acquisition, Balaji Srinivasan the CEO and Co-founder moved into the role of CTO at Coinbase where he oversaw the integration of Earn.com into the exchange and the launch of the controversial Coinbase Earn. This allowed users to earn several cryptocurrencies directly from the Coinbase website by merely answering a few questions to aid the education of the exchange users. After just a year as Coinbase CTO, Balaji has recently departed the company. It was a mixed year for Coinbase with reports of infighting with regards to the direction of the business. Still, they managed to raise $300m, at $7.7bn valuation, navigate a brutal bear market and build out an entirely new infrastructure to support multiple crypto assets. So, what was life like at Coinbase for Balaji? Coinbase has often felt the wrath of Bitcoiners, many arguing that they were on the wrong side of history regarding the New York Agreement. Add to this delay in implementing Segwit and supporting other contentious forks, does Coinbase hate Bitcoin? In Part 2 of my interview with Balaji, we explore the world of Bitcoin, altcoins and Coinbase. Is it irresponsible for Coinbase, an entry-level Bitcoin onramp, to list an ever-growing list of questionable altcoins? Is the earn.com integration encouraging risky token investments? Balaji Srinivasan joined me in San Francisco to discuss this and lots more. As well as: The Earn.com acquisition Whether daily active users is a flawed metric for cryptocurrency ICO's, scams and founders dumping on retail investors Whether Earn.com should be teaching risk management Democratising investment The lack of adoption for many cryptocurrencies

Location: San Francisco Date: Tuesday, 3rd September Project: balajis.com Role: Angel Investor & Entrepreneur A little over a year ago Coinbase announced the acquisition of Earn.com in a $120 million deal. Earn.com allows users to earn cryptocurrency by replying to emails or completing tasks. As a vital part of the acquisition, Balaji Srinivasan the CEO and Co-founder moved into the role of CTO at Coinbase where he oversaw the integration of Earn.com into the exchange and the launch of the controversial Coinbase Earn. This allowed users to earn several cryptocurrencies directly from the Coinbase website by merely answering a few questions to aid the education of the exchange users. After just a year as Coinbase CTO, Balaji has recently departed the company. It was a mixed year for Coinbase with reports of infighting with regards to the direction of the business. Still, they managed to raise $300m, at $7.7bn valuation, navigate a brutal bear market and build out an entirely new infrastructure to support multiple crypto assets. In Part 1 of this interview, Balaji and I take a deep dive into the world of virtual reality and gaming, the integration of AI into our daily lives, politics and state surveillance. These are not unfamiliar subjects for the podcast, but the questions and ideas Balaji raised undoubtedly were. Could migrant workers use virtual reality to work remotely without the need for a visa? Could your local coffee shop barista become a simulated 'non-player role'? Will humans one day emigrate not to a particular country but geographically, based on a belief system? Balaji Srinivasan joined me in San Francisco to discuss this and lots more. As well as: Solving San Francisco's drug and homeless problems Virtual worlds and AI VR remote working A geographical free market where the currency is your belief system Software CEO's becoming de-facto heads of state Separating money and state Is the U.S surveilling as much as or more than China

Location: New York Date: Thursday, 25th July Project: Byrne & Storm and Compound Finance Role: Partner & General Counsel Shortly after Facebook announced the launch of Libra, the U.S government hauled David Marcus, the head of the proposed currency, in front of Congress. For two days, Marcus answered tough questioning from both The House and The Senate on everything from Libra's intentions to Facebook's previous issues such as Cambridge Analytica. Quite predictably, the creation of a new global currency was seen as a threat to the Dollar and was met with hostility by large parts of Congress, but was this part of Facebook's plan? Are they using and audacious initial proposal as a way of shocking Congress before 'revisiting' the proposal and easing the regulatory path? Or, is Facebook using cryptocurrency and blockchain under the guise of 'innovation' as a shield against harsh regulation, well aware of the government's fear that China controlled WeChat and Alipay could weaken the position of the Dollar? Why is Facebook launching this project? With Facebook, active users dropping rapidly has the novelty of the social network worn off and is this just a pivot to stay relevant and maintain control? For the next episode in my Libra Deep Dive I talk to Preston Byrne & Jake Chervinsky about the regulatory side of Libra. We discuss whether Libra is a security, if the Foundation is really a non-profit and whether Libra is even a cryptocurrency.

Location: Skype Date: Sunday, 14th July Project: Casa & Independent Consultant Role: CTO & Applied Cryptography Consultant Libra promises to be the first distributed ledger to transition from a permissioned system to permissionless. However, it faces many significant technical challenges, many of which have yet to be solved by other cryptocurrencies. One of the main issues Libra faces is scalability. At launch, Libra is tipped to offer 1,000 transactions a second, but with a network of potentially billions of users, this will very quickly reach maximum capacity. Will Libra be able to solve its scaling issues? Will people care enough about Libra to want to use it? What happens when there are disagreements within the Libra foundation? In the second episode of the Libra series, I discuss these issues with Jameson Lopp and Peter Todd, as we take a deep dive into the technical side of Facebook's Libra.

Location: Palo Alto Date: Wednesday, 24th August Project: Abra Role: CEO & Founder Facebook announced in June that they would be launching Libra, with the mission of enabling a "simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people". Libra proposes a permissioned blockchain, meaning that unlike Bitcoin it isn't a decentralised project as control over the network is governed by the Libra Association. With these unique properties, Libra doesn't fit into the government-issued fiat financial model or the decentralised and trustless Bitcoin model instead. Libra is the dawn of a new type of money, the dawn of corporate money. Libra has not come without criticism, from central banks to governments to the cryptocurrency community and even the President of the United States, the announcement has ruffled feathers. Following two days of hearings in DC, where the head of Libra faced questions from Congress, there is still regulatory uncertainty regarding the currency. Other governments have also been pushing back, and there are rumours that some of Libra Association Founding Members are backing out. Will Libra even launch? If so, will it revolutionise money? To kick-off the What Bitcoin Did Libra series I am joined by Bill Barhydt, the CEO and Founder of Abra. We discuss why Facebook is launching Libra, why they didn't use Bitcoin and why Bill considers Libra as positive.

Location: Skype Date: Monday, 26th August Project: Casa Role: Product Manager Full nodes are fundamental to the security of the Bitcoin network by maintaining decentralisation and validating transactions and blocks by enforcing consensus rules. While running a full node is an act of supporting the Bitcoin network, it also ensures that you are not trusting any third party. If a transaction breaks consensus rules, then your node will reject it, irrespective of what others nodes do. Further, running a full node offers increased privacy and safety. So why do so few Bitcoiners run a full node? Many either do not understand the benefits of running a full node and/or find it intimidating. While there are many useful online guides, most rely on at least some technical ability and not everyone has the inclination, hardware requirements or technical knowledge. The difficulties mean many, understandably, opt to use a hardware wallet, lite wallet and even trust exchanges or custodial wallets to secure their Bitcoin. It is hard to put a number on the number of nodes in operation, but certainly, the total amount is a long way off Luke Dashjr's target of 85% adoption. How can more users be encouraged to run a full node? Casa is one company trying to help by solving some of the friction points around education, design and user experience. Casa offers an out of the box, plug-and-play Bitcoin and Lightning node. In this interview, I sit down with Brian Lockhart from Casa to talk about Bitcoin full nodes. We discuss why it is vital to the individual and for the Bitcoin community, and how Casa is working to make it easier for people to run a full node.

Location: Skype Date: Thursday, 22nd August Project: The Stephan Livera Podcast Role: Host The principles of Austrian Economics and Libertarianism have grown in awareness with the rise of Bitcoin. Where Austrian Economists have adopted Bitcoin as the hardest form of money, conversely, Bitcoiners have become aware of Austrian Economics as an alternative model for the economy. Bitcoin is the perfect monetary tool for proponents of both Austrian Economics and Libertarianism. The principles of a free market, removing central banks and taking power away from the state are inherent features of Bitcoin. These topics are hotly debated within the Bitcoin community but can also be difficult concepts for beginner's to understand. Many have only known a world of identity politics dominated by left and right-wing arguments, and a shift to a society without a state is mostly theoretical. It is useful to explore these subjects, to challenge not only the role of the state but its reach. Are socialist policies flawed? Are salaries caps and minimum wage policies ultimately harmful? Why do free markets outperform regulated markets? In this interview, I speak with my buddy and fellow podcaster Stephan Livera, to learn more about Austrian Economics and Libertarianism. Stephan explains why Bitcoin is the perfect tool for a free market and taking control away from the state.

Location: Skype Date: Tuesday, 20th July Project: Real Vision Group Role: Co-Founder & CEO "Chancellor on the brink of second bailout for banks" the Times headline on 3rd Jan 2009 and the now infamous words included in the Bitcoin Genesis Block. This was Satoshi Nakamoto's message to the world as the Bitcoin protocol launched. Many believe this was also a carefully chosen message to establish Bitcoin's role. The U.K.'s Chancellor of the Exchequer was about to bail out the U.K.'s failing banks for a second time. At the same time, Satoshi was releasing Bitcoin into the world as a way of controlling your own wealth, and bypassing the seemingly broken banking system. Now 10 years later, the world's economy is again in a fragile state with many economists predicting another global economic recession. Bitcoin is seen as the antithesis to traditional finance, and if the global economy does turn to a recession, people may seek solace in Bitcoin as a hedge against legacy markets. Raoul Pal is a leading macroeconomist who has worked for Goldman Sachs, managed hedge funds and advised to some of the largest funds in the world. He now runs Real Vision, a digital content platform with the aim of getting leading economist traders and hedge fund managers from across the globe to share their thoughts with everyone. Not just the select few. In this interview, we discuss the possibility of a global financial crash, how likely it is that Bitcoin will become a safe haven, Bitcoins volatility, Brexit, as well as: How to get people to care about Bitcoin The 2008 Global Financial Crisis Economic boom and bust cycles Bitcoins volatility being the sign of a free market How to protect our capital if there is another recession How the banking system will look in the future The threats from automation and AI How behavioural economics is changing the world

Location: Skype Date: Monday, 29th July Project: SatoshiPoint Role: Managing Director SatoshiPoint is the UK's largest Bitcoin ATM business, starting out in London in 2014 and initially struggling to find locations for the ATMs SatoshiPoint has since gone on to thrive and now operates in over 40 locations across the UK. With their ATM volumes now exceeding the peak Bitcoin volumes, seen during the 2017 bull run, Hassan Khoshtaghaza, the Managing Director is now looking at ways to grow his team and scale his business by adding locations throughout the UK and internationally. In this interview, we discuss the difficulties faced when trying to grow an ATM business, the regulation and security requirements and looking for new territory.

Location: Skype Date: Wednesday, 15th August Project: Frost Brown Todd LLC Role: Corporate Attorney Regulations are have always been in front of mind for the Bitcoin industry. Ever-increasing surveillance has accompanied the evolution of technology, primarily financial surveillance. Bitcoin is the first money owned by the people and is often seen as a threat to the state, as such the state has struggled to adapt to it. For businesses who operate in the industry, working with and understanding state regulations is non-negotiable. One company helping companies navigate this is Frost Brown Todd, one of the largest law firms in the Midwest United States. In this interview, I speak to Bill Repasky, a Corporate Attorney with the firm, to talk about the potential hurdles of operating a Bitcoin ATM business. We discuss the regulatory requirements of FinCEN, Money Transmitter Licenses, and how the current landscape lends itself to companies able to scale.

Location: Skype Date: Monday, 29th July Project: LibertyX Role: Co-Founder & CEO LibertyX launched the first Bitcoin ATM in the U.S. Starting out with a single machine at Boston's South Station they have grown to operate the largest network of Bitcoin ATMs, cashiers and kiosks. Unlike many other operators, LibertyX has spread its wings beyond ATMs, integrating their system with the traditional network of cashiers, ATMs and kiosks to build the largest network of in-person Bitcoin options. In this interview, I sit down with Chris Yim, LibertyX co-founder and CEO. We discuss launching the very first ATM in the US and the hurdles they had to overcome to grow the business, the benefits of an ATM over an exchange and making Bitcoin available on every block in the U.S.

Location: Skype Date: Sunday, 21st July Project: General Bytes Role: Owner Since the first Bitcoin ATMs started appearing in 2013, the market has grown at a significant rate, seemingly unaffected by Bitcoin's volatility. With a fast-paced market and strong competition, manufacturers have to keep up with a growing demand for machines and new feature requests. General Bytes has become the largest manufacturer of Bitcoin ATMs with over 1,700 machines in over 40 different countries (according to Coin ATM Radar). They are now faced with navigating the regulatory landscape and finding a business model that is sustainable in this new and emerging market. In this episode, I speak to Karel Kyovsky the owner of General Bytes. We discuss how they stay ahead of their competition, the challenges of implementing The Lightning Network, security and regulations.

Location: Chicago Date: Tuesday, 2nd July Project: Athena Bitcoin Role: Compliance Officer, CEO and Co-Founders The Bitcoin ATM market continues to grow, and according to a recent report by Coin ATM Radar there are now over 5,000 Bitcoin ATMs worldwide. While the vast majority are located in the United States, a growing number are appearing in countries where the general population may have less access to proper banking infrastructure and greater economic uncertainty. In these countries, Bitcoin ATMs offer an easy to use FIAT onramp which allows people to hedge against fragile economies and extreme inflation using Bitcoin. In this interview, I speak with Gil Valentine and Eric Gravengaard co-founders of Athena Bitcoin. Athena Bitcoin started out in Chicago but now operate across 8 US states as well as in Mexico, Columbia and Argentina. We discuss the challenges of growing a Bitcoin ATM business, operator fees and opening up to the South American market.

Location: New York Date: Friday, 26th July Project: Chaincode Labs Role: Bitcoin Engineer As an open source initiative, Bitcoin does not have a central fund to pay developers. Instead, it relies on a community of committed devs and a core group of companies and Bitcoin philanthropists to fund them. One of the companies leading the way in providing a platform for these developers is Chaincode Labs. Every year, Chaincode Labs runs a Hackers Residency which allows people from all around the world to come to New York, connect with developers and work on Bitcoin. In 2016, John Newbery quit his job in telecoms and took a spot on Chaincode Labs first residency. Following a successful four weeks, he was hired to work full time as a Bitcoin Developer at Chaincode. Since then John has dedicated his time to working on the Bitcoin Protocol, Lightning and building a community for Bitcoin developers by running the residency program for Chaincode. In this interview, John explains what it is like working on the Bitcoin protocol and with other core devs, the risks of a reducing block subsidy for miners, privacy and development on the Lightning network. Bonus: I also hear from 3 of the current residents on the Chaincode program. They tell me about their diverse backgrounds, how they ended up in New York, and what they will be working on once the residency is over.

Location: New York Date: Friday, 26th July Project: Tales from the Crypt & Rabbit Hole Recap Role: Founders/Presenters There are a handful of Bitcoiners who bleed orange, those with so much conviction it is hard to listen to them talk about Bitcoin and dismiss its importance. Matt Odell is one of those, and I have a little secret for you, Matt was the trigger for taking What Bitcoin Did full Bitcoin. Having wrestled with this for a while, I heard Matt on Stephan Livera's show discussing podcasts where he said he liked some of what I was doing. "Some". So Matt and I had a long chat about this, and it was a trigger for me to realise there is enough with Bitcoin to focus on. Matt previously came on the show with Neil Woodfine to discuss what we would like to see for Bitcoin in 2019. I have though been keen to have him back on for a while, so when I was in NY recently I hit him up, and he agreed to come on. Bonus: Matt's co-host and the founder of Tales from the Crypt, Marty Bent joined us for the first half of the show. Since starting in October 2017, Marty has interviewed some of the most exciting people in the space, including Matt Corallo, Caitlin Long, Dan Held and even Jack Dorsey and have built their reputation as one of the premier Bitcoin podcasts. It is also my go-to podcast on a long drive. We sat down over a glass or two of whiskey to discuss the podcasting industry and our favourite guests. We also look back at the community split during S2X and consider whether issuance and inflation could be the catalyst for a future contentious hard fork.

Location: San Fransisco Date: Monday 22nd July Company: Blockstream Role: Co-founder Pieter Wuille is one of the most influential, respected and prolific Bitcoin developers. While his career began at Google, the appeal of working on Bitcoin's open-source protocol was too tempting and led him to co-found Blockstream. Pieter has had a significant influence on the Bitcoin project and has the third most commits on the codebase. He has helped to implement some of the most significant changes to the protocol, including Segregated Witness, one of the most contentious hard forks in Bitcoin's history. As others debate the Bitcoin roadmap, Pieter has managed to remove himself from the infighting; instead, focusing his time on improving Bitcoin. As such, he's now working on implementing Taproot, Schnorr Signatures and MAST. In this interview, we hear how Pieter first heard about Bitcoin in 2010, entering the world of mining and selling thousands of Bitcoin for $0.20. I also find out what he thinks of Bitcoin in 2019 and what he argues is the threat to its future. Bonus: we also hear from a Blockstream intern at the end about his experience working at Blockstream and supporting Pieter in developing Bitcoin.

Location: San Diego Date: Tuesday, 16th July Company: Silvergate Bank Role: CEO Since Satoshi's left the message, "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks" in the genesis block, Bitcoin has been the antithesis of banks. "Be your own bank", perhaps an overused phrase from Bitcoin proponents certainly comes under question for companies building Bitcoin-based businesses. Businesses need Fiat for operating costs: rent, wages etc. and for now, at least that is a gap that Bitcoin can't fill. Most banks have also looked at Bitcoin unfavourably, and crypto companies have struggled to find reliable banking partners. Many companies and exchanges have unexpectedly lost banking services or turned to creative solutions. Silvergate Bank, however, looks at Bitcoin and cryptocurrency differently. Since 2014 they have been building their reputation as the leading bank for cryptocurrency companies and now have over $1 billion in deposits. In this interview, I talk to Alan Lane, Silvergate's Chief Executive Officer and find out how they have been paving the way for cryptocurrency companies and are how they are offering banking services previously unheard of in the traditional industry.

During the previous bull run, the hype led to an influx of companies using Bitcoin or 'blockchain' to inflate value and attract investment. Many of these were questionable projects, and some were outright scams. Even legitimate companies struggled with the difficulty of creating value with Bitcoin, as companies failed two thrived: Casa and BlockFi. BlockFi is building financial products for Bitcoin holders which allow them to use their crypto as collateral for taking out a loan or lend out their Bitcoin to earn interest. Casa is improving security by simplifying multisig. So why have BlockFi and Casa been able to grow and thrive duing the bear market while so many others have failed? In this interview, I speak with Casa Founder Jeremy Welch and BlockFi Founder Zac Prince, we discuss Bitcoin utility, non-financial and sometimes unexpected applications and why Bitcoin is more than a financial system.

Exchange hacks have been a constant thorn in the side of the industry. Where a physical bank robbery of $millions will make headline news, a +$100m exchange hack will barely break out of the crypto news media. Exchange hacks are now so commonplace that a recent report from Ledger's CEO Eric Larcheveque found that the equivalent of $2.7 million a day was stolen from exchanges last year. Almost all major exchanges have experienced a hack of some kind, from Mt. Gox which could have destroyed the industry to Poloniex and Bitfinex, and more recently Binance and Cryptopia, the list goes on and on. As such, security is one of the biggest challenges faced by any exchange and there are very few that haven't suffered from a breach, one that has managed to remain unscathed is Kraken. With attacks becoming more sophisticated and hackers working 24/7 to find vulnerabilities how is that Kraken has managed to succeed where so many others failed? The man in charge of this roll at Kraken is Nick Percoco, their Chief Security Officer. In this interview we discuss: Ethical hacking Finding critical vulnerabilities in iOS Vulnerability brokers Kraken's company-wide security culture The difficulties in disclosing vulnerabilities Kraken Security Labs

There are a few places retail investors can currently trade a Bitcoin futures contract, but these tend to clouded in regulatory uncertainty and most are unavailable to US retail traders. That's about to change though as LedgerX have recently announced both the first regulated physically settled Bitcoin futures contract and the launch of a new trading platform called Omni which, for the first time, will give US retail investors access to regulated derivative markets. The physical settlement in Bitcoin is a big step forward for the ecosystem. It means that when a contract expires, the buyer will now receive Bitcoin as opposed to fiat, meaning businesses and miners can now bypass the fiat system entirely, hedging or betting in Bitcoin and settling in Bitcoin. This is just one of the implications the LedgerX's new contract.Will this lead to reduced volatility in the Bitcoin price and bring in more institutional investors? I visited LedgerX in New York and spoke with the Co-founder and COO Juthica Chou. We also discussed; Regulators being open to Bitcoin The licenses required to run a regulated exchange If the institutions are coming or if they are already here Working at Goldman Sachs during the 2008 financial crisis Betting on the Bitcoin halvening $20k, $25k and $50k contracts Bitcoin being better than gold Wall street's interest in Bitcoin Ledger X's competition

When landing in the world of Bitcoin there are many concepts down the rabbit hole to get lost in, from technology to economics there is a wealth of information available. Within the world of economics, many will discover the theory of Austrian economics for the first time. Those who believe in Austrian Economics believe in free markets, the gold standard and minimal government intervention. So where does Bitcoin fit into this? Could it be the perfect tool to facilitate a free market Could it even become an improved and new gold standard? To find out more, I sat down with Saifedean Ammous, author of The Bitcoin Standard and an Associate Professor in Economics at the Lebanese American University. Having recently launched his online academy it was a great time for Saifedean to teach me more about Austrian Economics and catch up on our mutual love for Liverpool FC. We discuss: Is Austrian Economics the only economic model that Bitcoin fits into? Is taxation theft? What makes a market a free market? What is money and is Bitcoin money? Will fractional reserve banking occur with Bitcoin? Will central banks adopt Bitcoin? Will improved monetary policy kill Bitcoin? Will Liverpool win the Premier League in '20?

Whenever you hear about Bitcoin in the mainstream media, undoubtedly one of the things that comes up time and time again is the power consumption needed to secure the network and which is the latest country Bitcoin has overtaken on power usage. Is this something Bitcoiners should be worried about and can the criticism be written off as a way for Bitcoin naysayers to ignore it for a little longer? Michel Rauchs recently released The Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index to address this issue and try and put Bitcoin's power consumption into perspective. We discussed: Whether Bitcoin needs to be inefficient to work? If holding Bitcoin is using Bitcoin What is Bitcoin's carbon footprint and is it a concern How much of the power used to mine Bitcoin is renewable? If Bitcoin were to reach $1,000,000 would mining use all the available power on earth?