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.

Location: Skype Date: Wednesday, 17th December Project: nathanielrich.com Role: Author In December 2018 Gerald Cotten, the CEO of Canadian crypto exchange Quadriga, was on his honeymoon in India with his new wife. While there Gerald fell sick and a few days later died from complications related to his Crohn's disease. Gerald was the only person who held the private keys to Quadriga's cold storage wallet, leaving an estimated CA$250m ($190 US) of customer deposits unrecoverable. In January 2019 QuadrigaCX, Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange shut down for business, filing for bankruptcy in April. While initially it was suspected the loss was down to gross incompetence and failure to structure a contingency plan, conspiracies quickly started to circulate:  Had Gerald faked his death in India as an elaborate exit scam? When Gerald lost $millions of Ethereum in a smart contract bug a couple of years earlier, had he used customer funds on other exchanges to try and trade his way out of this hole? Had Gerald lost funds he was harbouring for criminal gangs and escaped to avoid repercussions? To add to the mismanagement of funds and keys the events leading up to and following his death were equally suspicious:  Just days before the trip Gerald had signed a new will leaving his entire estate to his wife.  Following his death, Gerald's wife did not request an autopsy and removed the body from the hospital.  His death was announced on January 14th, Despite dying on December 9th. Whatever the course of events in India, the death and mismanagement of the exchange and private keys raise many questions, and there are likely parts of the story we may never know. In this interview, I talk to author Nathaniel Rich about his investigation into Quadriga for Vanity Fair. We discuss the suspicious death of Quadriga's CEO Gerald Cotten, the missing $250m of customer funds and the FBI's investigation. Note: following my interview with Nathaniel, the lawyers representing the customers of Quadriga have asked Canadian authorities to exhume Gerald's body. You can read more about that here.

Location: Skype Date: Tuesday, 26th Nov Project: Premier Ark LLC Role: Manager When Bitcoin is held on an exchange or with another 3rd party custodian, that 3rd party owns the Bitcoin, they have control of the private keys and can they have the ability to use it as they choose. As the customer to that custodian, all you have is the promise of that Bitcoin. One of the core fundamentals of Bitcoin is that it allows you to become self-sovereign; so is adding a layer of trust to a trustless system antithetical to what it was designed to do? On the anniversary of Bitcoin’s genesis block Trace Mayer’s Proof of Keys campaign encourages everyone to take control of their Bitcoin and remove it from these 3rd party custodians. Not only does this encourage everyone to control their private keys, but it also ‘stress tests’ the exchanges and offers proof that they are running fully reserved. In this interview, I talk to Trace about his Proof of Keys campaign, exchange hackings, claiming your monetary sovereignty and stress testing custodians.

Location: Los Angeles Date: Monday, 25th Nov Project: hollyrandall.com Role: Pornographer Holly Randall is a second-generation pornographer and the daughter of Suze Randall, the first female staff photographer for both Playboy and Hustler. In 1998, at the age of 20, Holly became a photographer for the family-run website suze.net. Having worked in the industry for 20 years, Holly has experienced the porn industry pre and post-internet and witnessed how the industry has adapted to the growth in free online content. Despite porn being legal, like others in the adult industry, Holly faces a constant battle with financial censorship. Banks regularly close accounts, credit cards are often rejected, payment operators freeze accounts and standard business services such as employee insurance can be hard to get.  With its censorship resistance, trustless and decentralised nature, Bitcoin is a natural fit to help the adult industry solve problems of financial censorship; however, as of now, it is a niche solution for the tech-savvy. In this interview, I talk to pornographer Holly Randall about censorship. We discuss how the industry has changed, financial censorship, whether Bitcoin can be a solution and the misconceptions and misrepresentations of adult performers.

Location: Austin Date: Friday, 23rd Nov Project: Jimmy Song Consulting Role: Bitcoin Educator, Developer and Entrepreneur Bitcoiners regularly criticise altcoins; so much so that the term “shitcoin” has become synonymous with anything which isn’t Bitcoin. From the centralised nature of these projects to premines, often Bitcoiner will identify altcoins as a poor investment with some going as far as calling everything that isn’t Bitcoin a scam. Why are these projects still able to raise $millions in funding and why are investors so divided in their opinions? Are Bitcoiners right that Bitcoin is the only use for a blockchain or are they just toxic and close-minded? Are multicoiners right that this is a new wave in decentralised technology or holding a bias due to their bag holding? How are inexperienced investors meant to navigate this minefield? There are nearly 5000 cryptocurrencies with many claiming to have the superior-tech to Bitcoin; whether that’s faster block times or cheaper transactions, Turing complete smart-contracts or environmentally friendly consensus mechanisms. But at what cost? The key trade-off with blockchain technology is decentralisation, where Bitcoin outperforms every other cryptocurrency in the market on almost every measure. So if decentralisation is key and Bitcoin is king, why do altcoins continue to attract investors despite apparent risks? Is it all down to marketing and the centralised foundations, creators and businesses and are they all doomed to fail? In this interview, I talk to Jimmy Song; Bitcoin educator, developer and author. Following his recent article “On Altcoin Valuation”, we discuss why altcoins are a poor investment, the misuse of blockchain and why shitcoins rely on marketing to grow.

Location: Austin Date: Thursday, 22nd Nov Project: Adamant Capital Role: Founding Partner The 16th-century Reformation was a political and cultural upheaval that spread across central and northern Europe. Reformers questioned the power and authority of the Roman Catholic Church and wanted change. With the Reformation came decades of rebellion and several wars. However, the Reformation also brought with it a significant political and religious shift to greater freedom and a move towards the world we now live. Could a new Reformation have Bitcoin at its heart? Will cryptography, computation and telecommunications be the 21st-century equivalents of the printing press, bookkeeping and the hourglass of the 16th century? Millennials have grown up in the wake of 9/11, where safety is not guaranteed, and trust is not a given. The millennials early adulthood witnessed the 2008 global financial crisis, living through a recession and budget cuts alongside reckless and immoral banking practices. Millennials are also the primary adopters of Bitcoin, and by 2029 they are expected to be the generation with the largest share of disposable income. They will likely be controlling the management of significant funds and institutional money, and this could mean a paradigm shift in the way the world sees and uses Bitcoin and lead to the Bitcoin Reformation. In this interview, I talk to Tuur Demeester; macro investor, analyst, business cycle expert and founding partner at Adamant Capital. We discuss his recent article The Bitcoin Reformation, Bitcoin financial services and distrust in the current banking system.

Location: Austin Date: Thursday, 22nd Nov Project: Texas Gun Sense Role: Executive Director (Texas Gun Sense) & Board Member (c) The 2nd Amendment to the U.S constitution outlines Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. America is now home to more guns than people and is the country with the highest number of deaths by firearms in the world. The gun debate continues to polarise the nation. While many firmly stand by the constitution and see removing their right to own a gun as an attack on their civil liberties, others see the weapons as a dangerous and unnecessary threat responsible for tens of thousands of deaths per year. Texas Gun Sense is a group who come at this debate with a more nuanced viewpoint. They aim to bring ‘common-sense, fact-based gun policies to Texas’. The organisation is not anti-gun, but they do support increased and more rigorous background checks alongside education to improve gun safety practices. In a previous episode, Ragnar Lifthrasir joined me on What Bitcoin Did, and we discussed why he believes it is every American’s right to own a gun. To continue the discussion, in this episode, we hear from Executive Director at Texas Gun Sense, Gyl Switzer and Leesa Ross from Lock Arms for Life, whose son was killed in a handgun accident. We discuss their approach to gun ownership while still supporting the 2nd Amendment.

Location: Austin Date: Thursday, 22nd Nov Project: Noded Podcast Role: Co-Host The ideology of Bitcoiners aligns closely with Libertarians as both value self-sovereignty and self-governance. Because of this, going down the Bitcoin rabbit hole often leads to Libertarianism and Austrian Economics. There are though many levels of Libertarianism. Some believe in minarchism, the reduction but not complete removal of the state while others believe in full anarchy where there is no centralised state planning, and the free market determines what is best. Alternatively, some see it as a personal philosophy that they follow within the lines of current government and state systems. How would the free market operate in an imperfect world? Without regulations, would it be possible to keep people safe? What about human greed? Would there be a social cost to a society structured this way? To find out the answers to some of these questions, I talk to Michael Goldstein, the co-host of the Noded Podcast and President of the Nakamoto Institute to discuss Libertarianism. We discuss Libertarianism, the free market, rejecting activism and the transition to an anarcho-capitalist society. 

Location: Indianapolis Date: Monday, 18th November Project: Coinist Podcast Role: Host Two years ago I sat down with Bitcoin trader & analyst, Luke Martin in LA to record the very first episode of What Bitcoin Did Luke has dropped out of school to focus on his trading full time, and he’s now known as being one of the most followed in his field. He’s also a fellow podcaster, the host of the Coinist Podcast and even been a guest on CNN. By coincidence, we managed to find ourselves in the same city exactly two years ago to the day that Luke and I recorded WBD001. Two years is a significant amount of time in Bitcoin and lots has happened. Luke and I have remained friends, and we have supported each other along the way, Luke telling me to stop fighting on Twitter, and I have encouraged Luke to continue podcasting. As a fellow podcaster, Luke speaks with people in the industry, gaining insights predominantly on the Bitcoin market, trading and exchanges. In this interview, we sit down and reflect on the two years since we recorded WBD001 and discuss Bitcoin, financial services and Twitter.

Location: New York Date: Thursday, 14th Nov Project: Kraken Role: Head of OTC Sales & Trading Liquidity is crucial for any tradeable asset. A liquid market means lots of buyers and sellers, making it easy to move in and out of a position without paying a premium or selling at a discounted price. Increased liquidity also means a smaller spread (the gap between the highest bid and the lowest ask). Bitcoin is the most liquid cryptocurrency by far but compared to traditional stocks, bonds or precious metals, it is still comparatively illiquid. For smaller trades this doesn’t present a significant problem, however, for large traders buying and selling tens, hundreds or even thousands of Bitcoin, this can present a challenge as even $100,000 can move the market significantly, especially during times of low volume. Large traders have the option of using an over-the-counter service which allows them to place an order which is fulfilled by the OTC desk utilising multiple exchanges or other OTC clients orders to limit the effect that these large trades have on the market. In this interview, I talk to Nelson Minier. Nelson is a Wall Street veteran who, for the last two years, has been head of Kraken’s OTC desk. We discuss working on Wall Street, how an OTC desk operates, and if institutional investors are buying Bitcoin.

Location: London Date: Monday, 11th Nov Project: The Missing Cryptoqueen Role: Host OneCoin, a project founded by Ruja Ignatova, promised a financial revolution. By the time Ignatova disappeared, the scam was alleged to have received over $5bn in investment (though some estimates may put it at over $15bn). While OneCoin claimed to be running a private blockchain, in reality, it was a Ponzi scheme where buyers purchased 'packages' and received 'educational material'. During the process, they earned OneCoin tokens, and there were incentive schemes to onboard new users. Once people had received their OneCoins, the only place they could trade them was with another OneCoin user on the scheme's private 'exchange'. While the scam began to unravel with the disappearance of Ruja and the arrest of her brother, many struggled to accept it was a scam and money continued to pour in. The word scam is thrown around loosely in crypto, often from cult-like followers who disagree with an ideology that another coin possesses or sometimes due to a lack of knowledge. While some projects may be misguided or have questionable use-cases, not all are scams like OneCoin Bitconnect and PlusToken. Experienced investors see these projects and immediately identify the warning signs; sadly, this is not necessarily the case for newcomers. The language used in Bitcoin and crypto can be confusing, and when regular people hear or read about a project that is 'The New Bitcoin' with promises the project is like buying Bitcoin at $1, $10 or $100, these scams can quickly suck in naive investors. So, should Bitcoiners be doing more to spread awareness of these scams as they arise and what can Bitcoiners learn about guiding new investors from scams such as this? In this interview, I talk to Jamie Bartlett, host of the BBC's podcast The Missing Cryptoqueen, an investigation into OneCoin and the disappearance of its founder Ruja Ignatova. We discuss scams, Ponzi's, pyramids, cults and multi-level marketing.

Location: New York Date: Tuesday, 22nd Oct Project: O'Shaughnessy Asset Management, LLC Role: Chairman & Chief Investment Officer Jim O'Shaughnessy is a true Wall Street Legend and the best selling author of What Works on Wall Street and Invest Like the Best. With over 30 years of research in equity returns, Jim O'Shaughnessy is a pioneer of quantitative equity research, with over $6 billion under management. How he achieved this success is no secret, and his four books share, in detail, what he's learnt along the way. As a New York Times bestseller, he writes on the roles that value, quality and momentum all play in investing. His grandfather's success sparked Jim's interest in investing. O'Shaughnessy's grandfather built what was, one of the world's largest privately-owned oil companies, before giving away 95% of his fortune. It was family discussions around what to do with that money which got 17-year-old O'Shaughnessy interested in the markets. In this interview, I sat down with Jim to discuss his career, media power & bias, censorship and free speech, quantitative easing and investing.

Location: Los Angeles Date: Friday, 18th October Project: 1000x Role: CEO Bitcoin is a public ledger, which allows anyone to view any transaction and address thus offer pseudonymity rather than anonymity. What this means is that Bitcoin can provide a certain level of privacy if your Bitcoin address is not attached to personal information, for example, exchange KYC data. Bitcoiners wanting to protect their privacy must take careful steps, a lapse in concentration can identify you as the owner of a particular address. By accessing a block explorer without using Tor or a VPN, posting your public key online, utilizing a KYC compliant exchange are all examples of how chain analysts can identify you.  Because of this, Bitcoin may not seem like the perfect tool to facilitate transactions on dark markets, yet it currently accounts for the vast majority of them. So why is this?  Bitcoin, by design, as a censorship-resistant currency enables dark markets. If you want to purchase something that your government deems illegal, and If you are willing to take the necessary precautions (using a VPN or Tor, CoinJoin and not reusing addresses) you can maintain your privacy.  Since the Silk Road, Bitcoin has been the most used cryptocurrency used to buy drugs, firearms, identity documents and anything else from dark markets. By tracking the data in this space are we able to judge whether Bitcoin adoption is growing? And, is censorship resistance the only use-case that matters? In this interview, I talk to Cedric Dahl from 1000x. 1000x is a private think tank focused on researching Bitcoin usage data. We discuss dark markets, sanctioned states using Bitcoin and censorship resistance.

Location: New York Date: Friday, 25th October Project: Bloomberg Role: Editor The Winklevoss twins first Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) application was rejected by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March 2017.  In the 2 ½ years since, there have been a number of other applications for an ETF, all of which have been rejected, with the SEC citing concerns regarding manipulation, volatility and fraudulent activity. But does a government-granted ETF fit with the ethos of Bitcoin? Bitcoin was born out of the cypherpunk movement, with the goal of taking power away from the government by giving people a trustless and censorship-resistant monetary system. As such. seeking approval from a government-run body for an investment fund is seemingly against this ideology.  It seems apparent that most Bitcoiners’ motivation behind seeking an ETF is likely down to money. The added liquidity, easy access to investors and media coverage an approved ETF would garner may well lead to a price increase and thus an ETF approval seems like an easily identifiable path to another bull market. Could this be interpreted as Bitcoiners being hypocritical and caring more about the price of their coins than the intended goal of a censorship-resistant currency? On the other hand, it could be seen as a significant achievement in terms of mainstream adoption. After all, nothing aides Bitcoin’s adoption than media coverage and price-driven FOMO. In this interview, I talk to Bloomberg Business News Editor, Joe Weisenthal. We discuss contradictory Bitcoin ideals and challenging the status quo, ETF’s, censorship resistance, privacy and the current state of the global economy.

Location: New York Date: Friday, 25th October Project: Independent Role: Tech Startup Advisor, Author & Speaker The name Hotep Jesus hit many radars for the first time when he appeared as a guest on the Joe Rogan podcast. The tech startup advisor, was there to speak about his latest book, and during the interview, the topic of blockchain was raised and BSV was mentioned. The mention of BSV, although brief, caused a significant backlash towards Hotep on crypto twitter despite it not being Hotep who raised it. Many were angry that he chose to speak out seemingly in favour of the altcoin and felt he was 'promoting' it without the required knowledge and was adding to the misinformation and confusion in the space. Although misguided, I could relate to Hotep's confusion and felt that his conversation with Rogan was a typical example of many people who are beginning their journey into Bitcoin. I too had attempted to raise the confusion when a friend asked me which Bitcoin to buy on Coinbase as he saw two options. The "2 Bitcoins" saga became a meme to attack by particular Bitcoiners, avoiding the issue of confusion. Coming into the space it can be confusing. With multiple coins with Bitcoin in the name, some with a cult-like following and all shilling different ideologies/technical narratives, it can be confusing. How is a newcomer meant to know who to believe and which Bitcoin is the real Bitcoin? The objective amongst us can understand that the narrative for each coin can be persuasive.  Some people prefer to go for the approach of letting the newcomers get rekt before finding out for themselves. However, I believe this hard-line approach can scare people out of the market altogether, and we should concentrate on educating these newcomers. In this interview, I speak with Hotep Jesus about confusion entering the market, as well as the benefits of Bitcoin, altcoins, race and equality and free speech.

Location: San Francisco Date: Monday, 21st October Project: n/a Role: Blockchain, cryptocurrency, and smart contracts pioneer 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. Bitcoin was not the first attempt at creating a trust minimised currency, and there were several proposals, implementations and technologies which led to Bitcoin: In the 1990's DigiCash, headed by David Chaum, attempted to make online payments anonymous. In 1997 Adam Back created HashCash using 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".  In 2004 Hal Finney built upon the idea of Hashcash and created Reusable Proofs of Work.  And in 2005 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.  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. Among Satoshi's email recipients was Nick Szabo, a computer scientist, cryptographer, the designer of Bit Gold and Smart Contracts pioneer. In a rare interview, Nick joins me to discuss the cypherpunk movement, what money is, privacy and of course, Bitcoin.

Location: New York Date: Tuesday, 22nd October Project: Kraken Role: Bitcoin Evangelist Despite the arguments that Bitcoin is the hardest money, it is the opportunity for new Bitcoiners to make a profit in their local fiat currency which is the primary driver of awareness and adoption.  Since the launch of Bitcoin over 10 years ago, there have been a number of bull markets which has seen a rapid rise in the price of Bitcoin leading to wider awareness. The volume during the most recent bull run in 2017 led to exchanges struggling to cope with the volume and some dropping offline. Such was the demand that Bittrex and Bitfinex had to close down new user registrations. Making it easier for new Bitcoiners to acquire the asset has been a key driver of adoption. Good exchange and wallet UX, and education regarding key issues such as private key management not only support adoption but help new Bitcoiners avoid making silly mistakes. The Bitcoin rabbit hole is deep and there are many new concepts which can be intimidating to new Bitcoiners which sometimes OGs take for granted. Transacting alone requires consideration for a type of transaction fee, unconfirmed transactions and the reality that mistakes can’t be reversed.  Having talked to Hotep and followed his journey into Bitcoin and the distraction with shitcoins, people told me to ignore him. I wanted to do the opposite as I wanted to learn about how someone new sees the space. Kraken recognises that UX can be a hurdle for adoption, and are working on making it as simple as possible for new Bitcoiners to acquire and understand the asset. They recently hired Bitcoin OG Pierre Rochard to help with onboarding new users and Bitcoin adoption. In this interview, Pierre and I discuss why they were the right fit for him, mass adoption, onboarding, Bitcoin financial services and the lightning network.

Location: Los Angeles Date: Friday, 18th October Project: OpenNode & Tantra Labs Role: Research Strategist State adoption of Bitcoin is unclear but countries such as Iran, North Korea and Venezuela are believed to be holding and using Bitcoin. While these countries are in the minority, some believe it is just a matter of time before Bitcoin becomes a generally accepted state-level monetary tool. State-level censorship resistance is useful for nations subject to tight sanctions. The unique properties of Bitcoin could make governmental ownership of Bitcoin a necessity in the future and increased accumulation by governments around the world may lead to the U.S Dollar being replaced by Bitcoin as the global reserve currency. Further, the global economy is becoming increasingly uncertain, with negative interest rates and the Fed's growing intervention in the repo market standing as warning signs of an imminent global recession.  Could all these factors speed up the shift towards Bitcoin adoption? In this interview, I talk to Nik Bhatia, Research Strategist at OpenNode and Tantra Labs. We discuss how banking works, the global economic outlook and why Bitcoin is a response to centralised and monopolistic money creation by central banks.

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.