Stephan Livera Podcast

By Stephan Livera

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Subscribers: 240
Reviews: 3

Matt Northridge
 May 24, 2020
Great show with interesting guests!

Fabian
 Aug 10, 2019
Awesome, educational podcast. He goes into a lot of depth and has the ability to still make the talk interesting and give some relation to why this stuff is important. Highly recommended!

Lord Bless'ya
 Jul 10, 2019
Great show, Livera is a natural approaching Austrian Economics and Bitcoin, enabling for great interviews with deep insights

Description

Join Stephan as he interviews the sharpest economic and technical minds in Bitcoin & Austrian Economics to help you understand how money is changing and evolving. This is one of the leading podcasts in the space, and listening to this show is one of the fastest ways to learn and get up to speed on Bitcoin.

Episode Date
SLP244 Nik Bhatia - Bitcoin: The Safest Layer
3789

Nik Bhatia, CFA, author and university lecturer (previously worked as a bond trader and at OpenNode) joins me to talk about Bitcoin and its role in a layered money world. We talk about the concept of money operating in layers and what this might look like going into the future. We also chat about the idea that Bitcoin could be the safest layer to operate at.

Nik Bhatia links:

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jan 18, 2021
SLP243 PlanB Demand For Bitcoin Will Skyrocket
3570

Bitcoin price has been rising and some argue that it is tracking along with the S2F model! Others argue that this is statistically invalid. PlanB, pseudonymous analyst and creator of the S2F and S2FX models rejoins me on the show to talk:

  • S2F and S2FX vs recent market action
  • Critiques and spurious correlations
  • Comparison with past cycles
  • PlanB’s thoughts on whether this is the final cycle
  • Macro factors - Tether and others
  • Negative rates
  • Cash and carry trade

Previous episodes:

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Stephan Livera links:

 Jan 15, 2021
SLP242 Jonas Schnelli Maintaining Bitcoin Core: Contributions, Consensus, Conflict
4920

Jonas Schnelli, one of the Bitcoin Core maintainers joins me to talk about Bitcoin development, contribution, funding and the ecosystem of Bitcoin. We get into:

  • How contribution happens
  • How to deal with conflict as a maintainer
  • What rough consensus means
  • Taproot
  • Privacy
  • Lightning
  • Mining
  • Outlook for next 5 years

Jonas links:

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 Jan 13, 2021
SLP241 Bunnie - Precursor: Open Source Hardware Development Platform (Feat. Nicolas Dorier as guest host)
3703

In the Bitcoin world, we say “Don’t Trust, Verify”. But do we do this with our hardware and hardware wallets? Andrew “bunnie” Huang is a hacker and open hardware activist, holding a PhD in Electrical Engineering. He joins me and Nicolas Dorier (as guest co host) to talk about his new project and how it could be used in the Bitcoin world, potentially as a fully open source bitcoin hardware wallet.

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 Jan 08, 2021
SLP240 Jimmy Song & Robert Breedlove - Thank God For Bitcoin
3543

Jimmy Song and Robert Breedlove join me to talk about a new book they co-authored (with other authors) on Bitcoin and how it fixes fiat money. This new book is inspired by The Ethics of Money Production and Honest Money, which blends an austrian analysis of fiat money and fractional reserve banking, with a christian perspective.

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 Jan 05, 2021
SLP239 Jake Chervinsky - Pushing Back on FinCEN non-custodial Bitcoin Regulation
3968

Jake Chervinsky, GC of Compound Finance joins me on the show to talk about Steven Mnuchin’s proposed new regulations for US Bitcoin companies and how to push back:

  • What the new regulation would do
  • Terminology ‘unhosted’ and self-hosted
  • Compliance burden and chilling effect
  • Can the regulations be pushed back?
  • Non-US customers of US businesses
  • FATF and how to push back

Jake's link:

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Stephan Livera links:

 Dec 23, 2020
SLP238 Zach Herbert & Ken Carpenter - Passport by Foundation Devices: Air Gapped Hardware Wallet
3822

The market for high quality hardware wallets is becoming more competitive with new entrants over time. Zach Herbert & Ken Carpenter of Foundation Devices join me to talk about their new upcoming product, Passport. Passport is fully air gapped (QR or microSD), PSBT, and designed with an open source mindset. We chat:

  • Zach and Ken’s history with Obelisk prior to Foundation
  • Overview of Passport
  • Features
  • Approach with software
  • QR air gapping
  • Seed Generation
  • Firmware updates
  • Pricing and Timing

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 Dec 21, 2020
SLP237 Saifedean Ammous - Fiat Standard & Fiat Propaganda
3914

Saifedean Ammous, author of The Bitcoin Standard rejoins me on the show to talk about his upcoming book, The Fiat Standard. We chat about how the fiat standard started, and the propaganda that they use to maintain it.

Saifedean links:

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 Dec 15, 2020
SLP236 Nic Carter Stablecoins: Bullish or Bearish For Bitcoin?
4427

Nic Carter of Castle Island Ventures, author and podcaster in the space joins me to talk about stablecoins.

  • What are stablecoins?
  • Who uses them?
  • What kind of volumes are we talking about?
  • What kind of platform risks are involved?
  • Are they bullish or bearish for Bitcoin?
  • STABLE act
  • Outlook for stablecoins going forward

Nic Carter links:

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 Dec 11, 2020
SLP235 Niall Ferguson Bitcoin & Monetary Revolution
3602

Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. He’s also author of 15 books, including The Ascent of Money. Niall and I chat:

  • Bitcoin as a store of value
  • The pandemic and impacts on how we use money
  • Debt around the world and in history
  • What’s in our financial future

Niall Ferguson links:

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 Dec 07, 2020
SLP234 Ron Paul Bitcoin, Liberty & Freedom in Money
2062

Ron Paul, libertarian former congressman and presidential candidate, joins me on the show to talk about Bitcoin, Libertarianism and Freedom in Money.

Ron Paul Links:

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 Dec 05, 2020
SLP233 Vijay Boyapati - Bitcoin Valuations & Cycles
3642

Vijay Boyapati rejoins me on the show to talk about where we’re at in the cycle. We talk through:

  • Possible valuations for bitcoin
  • Common misunderstandings
  • Errors people make in bull runs
  • Why Bitcoin is not tulips
  • Bitcoin Derangement Syndrome

Vijay links:

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 Dec 04, 2020
SLP232 Lyn Alden - Bitcoin as Emerging Store of Value
3448

Lyn Alden of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy joins me to talk about how Bitcoin is emerging as a new store of value. We discuss misconceptions on bitcoin, the impact of the constant low key influx of new capital, gold vs bitcoin, concentration of bitcoin, and the broader macro environment we find ourselves in.

Lyn Alden links:

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 Dec 02, 2020
SLP231 Stepan Snigirev Build Your Own Hardware Wallet with Specter DIY
4238

Stepan Snigirev (CTO Crypto Advance), and renowned hardware wallet maker rejoins me on the show to talk about Specter DIY and Specter Desktop updates. We chat:

  • Why make your own
  • Security model vs other HWWs
  • Airgapping with QR
  • Use in multi sig setups
  • Specter Desktop updates

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 Nov 30, 2020
SLP230 Is Lightning The Future Of Bitcoin Transactions? Udi Wertheimer and Eric Wall Discuss
4526

We’re all bullish on bitcoin, but will transactions take place on Lightning Network or other layers and tech? Udi and Eric join me on the show to discuss.

  • Monetary demand for bitcoin
  • How much payment demand is there?
  • Privacy, custody and other trade offs
  • Stablecoin payment demand
  • Platform risks of ETH

Links:

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 Nov 27, 2020
SLP229 John Newbery - Brink: Bitcoin Development
4743

John Newbery joins me to talk about his new bitcoin research and development center, Brink. John is a regular Bitcoin Core contributor, works on Bitcoin Optech, started PR Review Club, and mentors new bitcoin core developers. In this show we talk:

  • Why Brink
  • Priorities for development
  • Mentoring new developers
  • Bitcoin development culture

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 Nov 24, 2020
SLP228 OKCoin’s Bitcoin Developer Grant Program with Hong Fang
3844

Hong Fang, CEO of OKCoin joins me to talk about:

  • Her pathway to learning about Bitcoin
  • Bitcoin’s current status in the market
  • Funding Bitcoin development
  • Focus and priorities for development
  • Identifying talent

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 Nov 20, 2020
SLP227 Will Bitcoin & Dissident Tech Splinter Governments? Robert Breedlove and Jesse Lawler Debate
4665

Will Bitcoin enable the Sovereign Individual thesis to play out? Or will the state successfully find some counter to retain the level of taxation, surveillance and control that they currently enjoy? Robert Breedlove and Jesse Lawler join me on the show to debate.

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 Nov 16, 2020
SLP226 Max Keidun Can Bitcoin Do DeFi and Lending? Hodl Hodl Lend
3352

What is DeFi? Should it be a thing in Bitcoin or is that just an altcoin gambling thing? Max Keidun, CEO of Hodl Hodl joins me to talk about Bitcoin DeFi and Hodl Hodl’s new product, Lend. We talk:

  • Bitcoin DeFi
  • Hodl Hodl Lend
  • Opening up a whole new lending market
  • Risks
  • Costs
  • How it might develop

Max Keidun links:

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 Nov 13, 2020
SLP225 Embassy: Sovereign Personal Computing, Privacy, Bitcoin & Lightning with Matt Hill & Aiden McClelland
3750

You’re probably familiar with Bitcoin node packages, so what’s different here with Embassy and EmbassyOS? Matt Hill & Aiden McClelland of Start9 Labs join me to talk about shifting to a more personally sovereign paradigm, and what kinds of technology and hardware can take us there. We talk about:

  • What EmbassyOS is
  • What’s different vs bitcoin node packages
  • Integrating Lightning into EmbassyOS
  • Private messaging
  • Set up
  • Where we’re going

Links:

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 Nov 09, 2020
SLP224 NVK - What Do Most People Get Wrong About Bitcoin Security? Blockclock Mini & Bitcoin Treasuries
4345

What are some common errors that people make when learning how to self custody? Should you use multi signature? Where does NVK agree / disagree with Michael Flaxman? NVK, CEO of CoinKite rejoins me on the show to discuss this and more.

  • Bitcoin multi signature
  • Bitcoin backups and walletsrecovery.org
  • Bitcoin security
  • Blockclock Mini
  • BitcoinTreasuries.org

Nvk's Links:

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Stephan Livera links:

 Nov 06, 2020
SLP223 Preston Pysh Bitcoin's Final Cycle?
3823

Preston Pysh of We Study Billionaires joins me on the show to talk about what Bitcoin’s final cycle might look like. How would we know if we’re going through the final cycle? How likely is it? Will corporates buying bitcoin be weak hands or strong hands? What about governments trying to shut Bitcoin down?

Preston Pysh‘s Links:

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 Nov 02, 2020
SLP222 Jonas Nick and Tim Ruffing What’s MuSig2? What Does it Mean for Bitcoin Multisig?
4297

Confused about what MuSig2 is? As Bitcoin’s Schnorr Taproot soft fork has now been merged into Bitcoin Core (but not yet activated), it’s worthwhile understanding what some of the new multisignature schemes are for using Taproot. Jonas Nick and Tim Ruffing, cryptographers working at Blockstream join me on the show to talk about their latest, MuSig2.

Jonas Nick‘s Links:

Tim Ruffing‘s Links:

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 Oct 27, 2020
SLP221 Joe Kelly And Dhruv Bansal - Should Your Business Hold Bitcoin? Unchained Business Accounts
3754

What are the considerations for your business in holding bitcoin? Should you self custody with multi signature for improved security and control? Joe Kelly and Dhruv Bansal, CEO and CSO of Unchained Capital join me to chat.

We talk:

  • What business owners have to consider
  • How to custody bitcoin
  • Unchained Capital’s solution
  • Coldcard
  • Financialisation of computer networks
  • Challenges of being a bitcoin company founder

Joe and Dhruv Links:

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 Oct 21, 2020
SLP220 Is Bitcoin Democratic, And Is Democracy Good? With Saifedean and Alex Gladstein
3950

Is Bitcoin a democracy? Or is it more like a natural order? What about democracy in general, does that protect human rights and enable human flourishing? Saifedean and Alex Gladstein debate the question of whether democracy promotes human flourishing. This was moderated by Stephan Livera, initially on Saifedean’s online seminar.

Saifedean's Links:

Alex Gladstein's Links:

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 Oct 18, 2020
SLP219 Nadav Kohen - What You Should Know About Bitcoin DLCs
4100

What are Discreet Log Contracts? Are they just for degenerate gamblers or is there a business use here? Nadav Kohen of Suredbits joins me to talk about what they are, why they’re useful and how they work.

  • Why Use DLCs over multisig?
  • Trust and Privacy
  • Funding and Contract Execution Transactions
  • Oracles and associated problems
  • Lightning DLCs
  • DLC Spec

Nadav‘s Links:

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 Oct 15, 2020
SLP218 Philip Haslam & Russ Lamberti - Debt Culture & When Money Destroys Nations
4809

Philip Haslam and Russ Lamberti join me to talk about their book on Zimbabwe and hyperinflation, When Money Destroys Nations. We chat about:

  • Where hyperinflation has happened before
  • The culture of debt & entitlement
  • Print and spend vs loan and spend
  • The stages or ‘gorge moments’
  • Financial repression
  • Liquidity obfuscation
  • How might future hyperinflation episodes play out

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 Oct 09, 2020
SLP217 Exploring Bitcoin With Godfrey Bloom
5218

Godfrey Bloom, Austrian economist, former politician, and libertarian author joins me to talk. Godfrey is a self proclaimed goldbug, and in this conversation we explore Bitcoin and his recent discussion on it.

We chat about:

  • Bitcoin’s use as reserve asset
  • Some similarities and differences between Bitcoin and Gold
  • Central Banking
  • Welfare Statism

Links:

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Stephan Livera links:

 Oct 07, 2020
SLP216 Gloria Zhao Learning Bitcoin Core Contribution & Hosting PR Review Club
3894

Why is Bitcoin so exciting? How does Silicon Valley culture influence it? Gloria Zhao, bitcoin core contributor joins me to talk:

  • Silicon Valley culture influences
  • Teaching blockchain, then getting more into Bitcoin
  • Being mentored by Bitcoin core developers
  • Bitcoin PR Review club
  • Map of the Bitcoin Network

Gloria 's Links:

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 Oct 02, 2020
SLP215 Michael Flaxman - 10x Your Bitcoin Security With Multisig
9233

After terrifying everyone with his prior SLP appearance re: hardware wallet security, Michael Flaxman rejoins me on the show to talk about his new multisig guide to help users secure their coins without any single point of failure.

We cover:

  • What’s improved in the space since last year
  • Why you need to eliminate SPOFs (Single Points of Failure)
  • Comparison of current hardware wallets
  • Multi sig services vs DIY
  • Using Specter
  • Using Coldcard & Cobo
  • Seedpicker
  • Tips on maintaining the setup

Michael links:

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 Sep 28, 2020
SLP214 Pierre Rochard & Fabian Jahr - Where Are All The Bitcoins?
3677

Why does auditing Bitcoin matter? Why won’t the supply ever actually reach 21 million? Pierre Rochard of Kraken and Fabian Jahr (Bitcoin Core contributor) join me on the show to talk.

  • Bitcoin supply
  • Auditing
  • Gettxoutset
  • Bitcoin Core coin stats index
  • More in depth bitcoin accounting

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 Sep 25, 2020
SLP213 Michael Saylor - Bitcoin Dematerializes Money
3600

Why did MicroStrategy buy $425 million of Bitcoin and adopt it as Primary Treasury Reserve Asset? How did the team learn about Bitcoin? What is driving people to learn about Bitcoin in this high inflation environment? Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy joins me to discuss.

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 Sep 21, 2020
SLP212 Alex Daskalov Can Bitcoin In Custody Be Insured?
3922

Bitcoin custody insurance has been hotly debated in the industry, with concerns around the volatility, its feasibility, and whether it makes sense. What's Knox doing differently? Alex Daskalov, CEO of Knox Custody joins me to discuss these questions.

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 Sep 20, 2020
SLP211 Steve Lee - Bitcoin Grants, Design & Crypto Patents (COPA)
5619

What grants have Square Crypto given? How can Bitcoin design be improved? How can Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Patents be protected for the community and permissionless innovation to continue apace? Steve Lee of Square Crypto joins me to talk about some of the latest.

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 Sep 15, 2020
SLP210 Sergej Kotliar How To Watch Bitcoin’s Mempool, Lightning Adoption & Privacy
5609

How do you watch Bitcoin’s mempool? What tools should we use? What are the implications longer term for a blockspace market? Sergej Kotliar, CEO of Bitrefill joins me to talk about this and more:

  • Mempool watching and what tools are needed
  • Blockspace market longer term
  • Lightning adoption
  • Bitcoin Privacy and ‘bad actors’
  • COVID and Bitcoiners

Sergej links:

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 Sep 11, 2020
SLP209 Samourai Wallet - Bitcoin Culture & New Privacy Features
5240

Is Bitcoin user culture going the wrong way? Or are these general cultural things? What should be the approach around avoiding KYC? What new features are coming to Samourai Wallet? Samourai Wallet joins me to discuss.

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 Sep 08, 2020
SLP208 Peter Schiff Bitcoin or Gold?
5141

Does money need a non-monetary use? Will the government return to a gold standard? Are we doomed to repeat the same cycle of fiat money? Peter Schiff, CEO Euro Pacific Capital, chairman of Schiff Gold, and host of Schiff Radio joins me to discuss.

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 Sep 04, 2020
SLP207 Roasbeef - Lightning Labs lnd Goes Wumbo
4944

What’s the latest with the Lightning Network? What will it mean when channels go large sized with wumbo? How is the network and ecosystem growing? Laolu (roasbeef) CTO of Lightning Labs joins me to talk.

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 Sep 02, 2020
SLP206 Luke Childs - How To Recover Bitcoins & Umbrel
4099

Have you wondered how to recover bitcoins from a seed? Maybe your friend doesn’t remember which wallet they used? In this episode with Luke Childs, we talk about how to recover them into Electrum with his newly written tool.

We also talk about Umbrel, a new node package promising very easy set up.

We also chat about security, development and bitcoin coding.

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 Aug 31, 2020
SLP205 Specter Desktop Bitcoin Multi Sig with Stepan Snigirev & Ben Kaufman
3881

Are you looking for an easy bitcoin multi signature wallet that doesn’t require an electrum server? Or perhaps one with support for different bitcoin hardware wallets and a different interface? Check out Specter-Desktop! Stepan Snigirev (CTO Crypto Advance) and Ben Kaufman (Specter Desktop contributor) join me to talk about the project.

  • Features
  • UX
  • Multi signature standards
  • HWI and HWW support
  • Design decisions
  • Looking for contributors

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 Aug 28, 2020
SLP204 Robert Breedlove Bitcoin vs Slave Money
3732

What’s the relation between fiat money and slavery? How did easy money and government suppression of honest money lead to this outcome? What’s the story with aggry beads and panos? How does Bitcoin change this? Robert Breedlove (CEO & CIO Parallax Digital) joins me to talk about these questions.

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 Aug 25, 2020
SLP203 Raoul Pal - Bitcoin and Macro Collide
2981

Raoul Pal of Real Vision rejoins me on the show to talk about how Bitcoin and Macro are colliding. We talk about the incredible risk:reward opportunity of bitcoin, DCA long term, Bitcoin as better collateral, and more.

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 Aug 21, 2020
SLP202 Jeff Yew - Bitcoin in Australia
2787

What are some of the stories from Bitcoin’s Brisbane scene in Australia? Jeff Yew joins me to chat about his experiences from the Brisbane scene, and teaching newcoiners about bitcoin. We also chat about the Binance Australia launch.

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 Aug 20, 2020
SLP201 Bitcoin Local Trader Comes to BlueWallet with Nuno & Igor
3337

Want to buy bitcoin w/o KYC and non custodial all in one app? BlueWallet has recently launched this feature. Igor and Nuno from the BlueWallet team join me to talk about their work and the many features available in BlueWallet.

  • Creating BlueWallet
  • Partnering with Hodl Hodl
  • UX
  • Lightning
  • Custodial
  • Watch only wallets and hardware wallet support

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 Aug 17, 2020
SLP200 Christian Decker - ANYPREVOUT, MPP, Mitigating LN Attacks
7133

What’s ANYPREVOUT? How does MPP work in practice and what are the considerations? What about some of these LN attacks, what are the mitigations and do they limit LN’s effectiveness? How is Bitcoin’s Lightning Network likely to grow out in the future?

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 Aug 13, 2020
SLP199 Electrum Wallet 4 with Thomas V & Ghost43
4975

Electrum Wallet is one of the longest standing Bitcoin wallets, and well known for supporting hardware wallets, multi signature - and now lightning! We talk about a range of things:

  • Lightning
  • HWW support
  • Multi sig
  • Electrum Server model
  • Backup seeds

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 Aug 09, 2020
SLP198 Caitlin Long - What Are Austrian Economists Missing About Money And Banking?
4770

Caitlin Long of Avanti Financial Group joins me to talk about Bitcoin, banking, rehypothecation and what Austrian Economists are missing. How much additional money is being created in the shadow banking system? What about ‘moneyness’? We also discuss Caitlin’s IMF working paper, and the recent OCC Interpretive Letter 1170.

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 Aug 05, 2020
SLP197 Stephen Cole How to Run Your Local Bitcoin Meetup
3151

How do we grow Bitcoin’s community of self custodying HODLers? With Bitcoin Meetups! How do you organise and run one? What topics do you present? How do you get a venue? How do you keep people engaged? Stephen Cole of the OC Bitcoin Meetup joins me to discuss.

Stephen Cole links:

Sponsors:

Fund Bitcoin Open Source development: www.bitcoindevlist.com

Stephan Livera links:

 Jul 31, 2020
SLP196 Is Bitcoin Being Captured? With Matt Odell, Alex Gladstein & Rafael Yakobi
3779

Does government regulation of AML (Anti Money Laundering) represent a  new way for governments to capture Bitcoin? FATF (Financial Action Task  Force) is driving stricter regulations, and it now appears that large  Bitcoin businesses are looking for ways to collaborate with the “Travel  Rule”. What are the implications of this for Bitcoin privacy? Will  Bitcoin be captured by governments, or will Bitcoin capture governments?

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 Jul 28, 2020
SLP195 nix-bitcoin: A Security Focused Bitcoin Node
3786

Nix-Bitcoin is a designed to be a more secure Bitcoin node, based on NixOS. Pseudonymous developer, nixbitcoindev joins me to explain more about why and how. What are the benefits of reproducibility? What else can be done from a security perspective to secure your bitcoin node? Will it be easy to use or only for technical people?

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 Jul 26, 2020
SLP194 RaspiBlitz with Rootzoll and Openoms
4010
Wondered how to set up your own bitcoin + lightning node? Raspiblitz  is a project offering a DIY node (or you can buy a premade one), with an  LCD screen. Rootzoll and openoms join me to discuss.

Raspiblitz links:

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 Jul 23, 2020
SLP193 Gary Leland - Bitcoin For Boomers & BitBlockBoom
2562

How do you teach Bitcoin to your Boomer relatives and friends? What are  some of the common sticking points? Should you explain it as Digital  Gold? Gary Leland, Hall of Fame podcaster, entrepreneur, and conference  organizer of Bit Block Boom joins me to discuss!

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 Jul 15, 2020
SLP192 Alyse Killeen – Investing In Bitcoin Companies
3524

If you’re fundamentally bullish on Bitcoin, how do you invest in Bitcoin  companies? What kind of strategies can be employed, what are some  common errors in the space? How do you pick good teams and companies?  Alyse Killeen founding Managing Partner of Stillmark VC, advisor to  Mantis (venture firm) and advisor and sits on the board of well known  Bitcoin companies such as Blockstream and Casa.

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 Jul 14, 2020
SLP191 Jeff Booth - Bitcoin & Our Deflationary Future
2977

The world is undergoing pressures that are inflationary, but also deflationary forces. Which one will win out? What is driving humanity’s  progress forward? Jeff Booth, tech entrepreneur and author joins me to  discuss our deflationary future.

Jeff Booth:

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 Jul 10, 2020
SLP190 Rafael Schultze-Kraft – How Many Bitcoins Are Being HODLed?
2493

How many Bitcoins are being HODLed? Bitcoin’s nature allows some level  of investigation and analysis, and it’s possible to see how many coins  are moving. Rafael Schultze-Kraft, CTO of Glassnode joins me on the show  to discuss some of the insights he’s been sharing.

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 Jul 08, 2020
SLP189 Ragnar Lifthrasir Should You Spend Bitcoin Now?
2327

There’s a lot of heated discussion about Bitcoin HODLing vs Spending,  the circular economy, and what actions build on Bitcoin’s censorship  resistance. Ragnar Lifthrasir of Guns N Bitcoin joins me for a  discussion on this topic.

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 Jul 05, 2020
SLP188 Dan Held – Does Bitcoin Need Marketing?
2704

Does Bitcoin Need Marketing and marketers? Does it need influencers?  What kinds of strategies are appropriate across different channels? Dan  Held, Director of Business Development at Kraken joins me to discuss.

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 Jul 01, 2020
SLP187 John Cantrell - Bruteforcing Bitcoin Seeds
2707

John Cantrell, Bitcoin developer joins me to talk about how he  cracked Alistair Milne’s social media bitcoin challenge. With the first 8  words of the seed, John was able to crack a 12 word seed using a  cluster of GPU’s. John is also the creator of Juggernaut, a lightning  messaging app.

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 Jun 30, 2020
SLP186 Joseph Salerno – Bitcoin and How Money Arises
3599

Dr Joseph Salerno, Academic VP of Mises Institute joins me in this  episode to talk about his views on Bitcoin, monetary velocity, how money  emerges on the market and more.

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 Jun 29, 2020
SLP185 Vijay Boyapati – What Bitcoin Is
3554

Many people are confused about Bitcoin. Is it for transactional  payments, or should we view it as something closer to Digital Gold or  savings? Regular guest Vijay Boyapati rejoins me on the show to talk  about this. We also talk:

  • Common errors in conceiving of Bitcoin
  • Risks with custodial and KYC
  • Updated thoughts on prior article re: Credit Deflation
  • CHAZ

Vijay links:

Prior episodes:

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera:

 Jun 24, 2020
SLP184 Alessandro Cecere – Bitcoin Nodes in Venezuela
4215

Alessandro Cecere (aka el Sultan Bitcoin), CEO of Coinspree joins me to  talk about his experiences growing up in Venezuela, and his passion for  spreading bitcoin.

Alessandro Cecere links:

Relevant prior episodes:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 23, 2020
SLP183 Dennis Wohlfarth & Clinton Donnelly – Bitcoin Tax Strategies
3501

Dennis Wohlfarth of Accointing & Clinton Donnelly of Donnelly Tax  Law join me to talk about Bitcoin tax treatment, and strategies to minimise tax. We chat about:

  • Current tax treatment
  • Capital Gains Tax
  • Record keeping
  • Tax strategies locally
  • Tax strategies for those willing to go overseas
  • International competition

Links:

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 18, 2020
SLP182 Nick Neuman & Jameson Lopp - The Next 100 Million Bitcoin Users
3581

Nick Neuman and Jameson Lopp, CEO and CTO of Casa join me to talk about updates at Casa, the world of multi signature, hardware wallets,  personal security and personal data in the age of increasing statism.

Nick and Jameson links:

Prior episodes:

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 16, 2020
SLP181 Preston Pysh – Bitcoin as Numeraire
4546

Preston Pysh, co founder of The Investor’s Podcast network rejoins me to  talk about Bitcoin, inflation, bonds, and investing in a bitcoinised  world.

Preston Pysh links:

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 12, 2020
SLP180 Eric (iamTheCharacter) Bitcoin as Protest and Macro Solution
2850

Eric eloquently spoke about Bitcoin as a macro solution on a live news broadcast from a protest near LA City Hall. I invited Eric on to discuss his views and his macro solution. We talk about his interest in Bitcoin, his RaspiBlitz node, his excitement for the lightning network, and bitcoin as a social movement.

Eric links:

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 10, 2020
SLP179 Ergo - Unwinding Bitcoin Coinjoins: Tumblers, Wasabi, JoinMarket
4917

Ergo of OXT Research (Samourai Wallet team) joins me to talk about his latest research into the Lazarus group, and also unwinding Bitcoin Coinjoins - whether they are through custodial tumblers, Wasabi or JoinMarket.

Ergo links:

  • Twitter: @ergoBTC
  • OXT Research
    • The North Korean Connection
    • Toxic Recall Attack - Unwinding JoinMarket Case Study

Prior/relevant episodes:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 08, 2020
SLP178 6102 Bitcoin
4560

6102 Bitcoin is a pseudonymous bitcoiner known for his contributions with various Bitcoin resources and how to sites, and infographics. He joins me for a discussion about bitcoin privacy, why he does this under a pseudonym, contributing in the Bitcoin space, Blockstream’s Liquid network and more.

6102 Bitcoin links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 04, 2020
SLP177 Murch – Bitcoin Coin Selection
4550

Murch joins me to talk about his work on Coin Selection, managing large  wallets! We’ll talk about fees, selecting coins, the blockspace market,  how you can think about optimising your wallet.

Murch:

Relevant episodes:

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

 May 28, 2020
SLP176 Parker Lewis & Buck Perley – Caravan Multisig Bitcoin Wallet
5251

Parker Lewis and Buck Perley of Unchained Capital join me on the show  to talk about updates on the Caravan open source project, making multi  sig accessible and easy for the masses. Previously it was single address  only, and now it works as a wallet! We’ll chat:

  • Why use Caravan
  • What the new updates are
  • Hardware wallet testing
  • xPubs and multi sig
  • Bitcoiner Ventures raise

Parker Lewis & Buck Perley links:

Related episode:

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

 May 22, 2020
SLP175 Matt Ahlborg – Bitcoin In the Developing World
3553

Matt Ahlborg of UsefulTulips.org joins me on the show to talk about bitcoin use in South America, and Africa. Matt Ahlborg is a researcher and data scientist looking into the use of Bitcoin around the world.

Matt Ahlborg links:

Related episode:

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

 May 20, 2020
SLP174 Matt Ridley - Bitcoin & How Innovation Works
3382

Matt Ridley is a writer, biologist & Rational Optimist. He joins me to talk about his views on science, economics, innovation and how they apply to Bitcoin.

Matt Ridley Links:

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

 May 18, 2020
SLP173 Bitstein – Nakamoto Institute Bitcoin Literature Review
4933

Bitstein aka Michael Goldstein, President of the Nakamoto Institute and co-host of Noded Bitcoin Podcast rejoins me on the show to talk about some Bitcoin literature.

Bitstein links:

Literature:

Previous episodes:

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

 May 16, 2020
SLP172 Nicolas Dorier & Kukks – P2EP Comes To BTCPay Server
4064

Nicolas Dorier and Mr Kukks rejoin me on the show to talk about updates  with BTCPay Server, such as P2EP (Pay to End point), which will assist  bitcoin accepting merchants to PayJoin with customers, adding to the  privacy on Bitcoin.

Links:

Earlier appearances:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 May 10, 2020
SLP171 PlanB & Saifedean Ammous – Bitcoin S2FX, S2F, and Evolution From Collectible to Financial Asset
5779

PlanB (pseudonymous Bitcoin quant) & Saifedean (Bitcoin economist)  rejoin me to talk about PlanB’s latest work on S2FX, and some of the  debates being had on S2F modelling as well as addressing some of the  criticism. We will also talk about Bitcoin as it goes through phase  transitions, and the implications on the Bitcoin industry, and the rest  of society.

PlanB Links:

Saifedean Links:

Prior episodes:

Relevant episodes:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 May 05, 2020
SLP170 Yuri de Gaia - Bitcoin’s Two Economies & Citadels
3957

Yuri de Gaia, Partner at L2B Global (Reserve Bitcoin OTC, Liquiditi, Moontower) joins me to talk about Bitcoin’s two economies: the regulated compliant world, and the defiant crypto-anarchist world.

  • How they will grow
  • Do they support each other
  • Citadels, Monarchy, and Anarcho-capitalism
  • OTC Trading
  • Liquid
  • Moontower

Yuri Links:

Other relevant episodes:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 May 04, 2020
SLP169 Jeff Deist - Bitcoin & Acting Locally
4401

Jeff Deist, President of the Mises Institute rejoins me to talk about Bitcoin, Central Banking, Corona virus, libertarianism and acting locally:

  • Mises Institute and Bitcoin
  • Hypocritical fund managers
  • UBI and MMT becoming popular
  • Smaller is better
  • Better, not perfect

Jeff Deist links:

Prior appearance: SLP45

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 27, 2020
SLP168 Lisa Neigut - Lightning Network Channel Accounting and Dual Funded Channels
4307

Lisa Neigut of Blockstream joins me to talk about Lightning Network Channels, c-lightning, and Dual Funded Channels. We discuss:

  • How she got into Lightning development
  • How Lightning Channels work
  • How they could be accounted for in c-lightning
  • Dual Funding of Channels
  • PoDLE
  • Hardware wallet funding of lightning channels

Lisa Neigut links:

Related episodes:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 24, 2020
SLP167 Chris Belcher - What’s The Problem With Bitcoin Surveillance?
4614

Chris Belcher rejoins me on the show to talk about Bitcoin Surveillance companies, and what risks they present to Bitcoin. We also talk about JoinMarket fidelity bonds.

  • Chain surveillance techniques
  • Downsides for Bitcoin
  • What to do about it
  • “Just Use Monero” is insufficient
  • PayJoin & P2EP
  • Fidelity Bonds - how they work
  • Benefits and costs

Chris Belcher Links:

Other relevant episodes:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 21, 2020
SLP166 Max Keidun - P2P Bitcoin Trading No KYC, coming to your smartphone powered by Hodl Hodl
3752

Max Keidun, CEO of Hodl Hodl rejoins me on the show to talk about some exciting updates with Hodl Hodl:

  • UX/UI update to Hodl Hodl website interface
  • How the platform protects against scammers
  • Local Trader feature in BlueWallet
  • Stacking Bitcoins p2p, No KYC, directly into your Coldcard
  • Baltic Honeybadger 2020 Update

Max Keidun & Hodl Hodl links:

Previous episode:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 15, 2020
SLP165 Rafael Yakobi - Should Coinjoin users be flagged? Is Privacy Illegal?
4116

Rafael Yakobi, Managing Attorney at The Crypto Lawyers joins me to talk about privacy in Bitcoin and the law. We talk about:

  • Financial surveillance laws
  • Obligations on bitcoin companies
  • How it works in practice
  • Blockchain surveillance companies

Links:

Other links:

Other relevant interviews:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 11, 2020
SLP164 Gleb Naumenko - erlay Bitcoin transaction relay
3515

Gleb Naumenko of Chaincode Labs joins me in this episode to talk about erlay. We talk about:

  • How he got into bitcoin development
  • Transaction relay in Bitcoin
  • Attacks at the network level
  • Erlay
  • Costs and Benefits
  • Bitcoin and lightning development more broadly

Gleb Naumenko:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 07, 2020
SLP163 Cory Klippsten - Bitcoin’s Intransigent Minority, Swan Bitcoin & Bitcoiner Ventures
3589

Cory Klippsten, CEO and Co-founder of Swan Bitcoin, GP of Bitcoiner Ventures joins me on the show to talk about:

  • Taleb’s thought and applying it to Bitcoin
  • The Intransigent Minority
  • Swan Bitcoin
  • Cheapest Auto DCA in the US
  • Bitcoiner Ventures and what it’s about, and how to get involved

Cory Klippsten links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 03, 2020
SLP162 Matt D’Souza - Bitcoin Halving Analysis: Bullish for Competitive Miners
3384

Matt D’Souza CEO of Blockware Solutions joins me to talk about his team’s recent research piece on Bitcoin Halving and analysis from a mining perspective. In this conversation, we chat:

  • Market participant profiles
  • Miner electricity distribution
  • Shut off and breakeven cost
  • Mining Rigs
  • Scenario Analysis
  • Why some miners operate at a loss
  • Difficulty adjustment dynamics
  • Why Efficient miners welcome the halving

Matt D’Souza links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 01, 2020
SLP161 Titus Gebel - Bitcoin Citadels as Free Private Cities
4296

Titus Gebel joins me to talk about Free Private Cities and how they relate to Bitcoin Citadels, a way for Bitcoin people to peacefully set up Bitcoin friendly cities.

We talk:

  • The problem with democracy and standard political activism
  • Legal system
  • Fee for service
  • Benefits of lower cost and more certainty
  • Dealing with poverty and pandemics
  • How to get there

Titus links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 27, 2020
SLP160 BTCxZelko - Protect Your Bitcoin Privacy With Ronin Dojo
4191

BTCxZelko, Samourai Wallet community member co-founded the Ronin Dojo project, an easy to use Raspberry Pi / Odroid install script and UI to run your own Samourai Wallet Dojo. It’s an easy, cost effective way to run your own node backing your Samourai Wallet, which enables you to use Bitcoin over Tor, with coinjoining and best in class privacy features.

Zelko and I talk:

  • How he learned command line
  • How he got into Bitcoin privacy techniques
  • Recommended hardware for Ronin Dojo
  • How to install it for yourself

Zelko links:

Relevant prior episodes:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 25, 2020
SLP159 Phil Bonello - Bitcoin Sovereign Individual Investment Thesis
3022

Phil Bonello joins me to talk about the book, The Sovereign Individual, and how it relates to a Bitcoin investment thesis. We talk:

  • The Sovereign Individual book
  • Black Magic of Compound Interest and Jurisdiction shopping
  • What the book got wrong

Investment theses around the book relating to:

  • Media
  • Education
  • Remote Work
  • Bitcoin businesses
  • Censorship and Privacy

Phil Bonello links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 20, 2020
SLP158 John Lee Quigley - How Does a Bitcoin Price Crash Impact Bitcoin Miners?
3350

John Lee Quigley of MinerUpdate and Adaptive Analysis joins me in this episode to talk about the impacts of bitcoin price drop on Bitcoin mining. We talk about:

  • What the key costs are for miners
  • Who are the key players in bitcoin mining
  • Miner trends
  • Geographic dispersion
  • Vertical integration
  • Energy use

John Lee Quigley Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 18, 2020
SLP157 Andy Edstrom - Bad Options For the Fiat Debt Problem & Why Buy Bitcoin
4232

Andy Edstrom, CFA CFP and author of “Why Buy Bitcoin” joins me to talk about:

  • Learning about austrian economics after getting into Bitcoin
  • Investor mindset
  • Fiat Money Debt Problem and Bad Options for how we get out of it
  • Why Buy Bitcoin book

Andy Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 13, 2020
SLP156 Carlos Roldan - Satoshi's Games and Lightnite
2916

Carlos Roldan, CEO & Co founder of Satoshi’s Games, joins me to talk about why he’s excited about Lightning powered gaming.

We talk:

  • Why he got into Lightning
  • Bitcoin enabled gaming
  • Making it multi platform and beautiful
  • Lessons learned with Satoshi’s Place
  • Schedule going forward with Lightnite
  • Where you can get Lightnite

Carlos Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 10, 2020
SLP155 Clark Moody - Bitcoin Dashboard & the 1000 Year Bull Run
3910

Clark Moody, Bitcoin OG and entrepreneur joins me to talk about his dashboard, which is a fantastic resource for learning about bitcoin and monitoring bitcoin statistics. This is a great episode to learn about useful concepts in Bitcoin and Lightning. We talk about:

  • Clark’s history in bitcoin
  • Why he started the dashboard
  • Blockchain stats
  • Node stats
  • Mining economics
  • S2F
  • Output types
  • Future directions

Clark Moody links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 06, 2020
SLP154 Nick @BTConometrics - Quantitative Bitcoin Analysis & S2F Cointegration Strengthens
3006

Nick joins me to talk about how he tried to disprove PlanB’s Stock to flow model, but ended up finding out that it holds up. We also talk about cointegration, what that means, and some of Nick’s statistical work. We talk about:

  • Professional background
  • Background to S2F
  • Cointegration and what it means
  • Engle-Granger test
  • Mean Reversion indicator
  • Shitcoins riding Bitcoin’s coat tails

Nick links:

Related episodes:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 03, 2020
SLP153 Philipp Bagus - What Most People Get Wrong About Deflation
3699

Philipp Bagus, Professor Department of Applied Economics, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos - joins me to talk about why deflation is not what you typically hear in the mainstream financial press. In this conversation we talk about:

  • The real causes of deflation
  • Why deflation is not necessarily what causes recessions
  • Distinctions between growth deflation, and bank credit deflation
  • Contrasting life under a fiat money standard with a hard money standard
  • Real world examples

Philipp Bagus links:

Other episodes you may like:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Feb 28, 2020
SLP152 NVK - CK-BUNKER and Bitcoin Backups
5557

NVK (Coinkite) joins me to talk about a new project, CK-BUNKER, a DIY co-signer. We talk about what this is, how it could be used by bitcoin businesses or service providers. Separately, we also talk about backing up your bitcoins and making sure they’re safe for the years to come. We talk:

  • CK-BUNKER
  • How to use it
  • Coldcard and secure elements
  • Opendime
  • Bitcoin Backups
  • Stablecoins

NVK links:

NVK prior appearances:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Feb 25, 2020
SLP151 Obi - Coinfloor Going Bitcoin Only & Bitcoin Audits (aka Proof of Reserves)
3817

Obi Nwosu, CEO and Co-founder of Coinfloor joins me in this episode to talk about his approach to the space. We talk about:

  • Going Bitcoin Only and when an exchange should delist cryptocurrencies
  • Proof of Reserves & Proof of Solvency
  • Educating users of the exchange about Bitcoin
  • Supporting grass roots bitcoin meet ups, conferences, organisations
  • Advancing Bitcoin

Obi links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Feb 21, 2020
SLP150 Samourai Wallet - Make Every Bitcoin Spend a CoinJoin
6836

The co-founder of Samourai Wallet, rejoins me in this episode to talk about the current state of bitcoin privacy techniques, and some exciting updates coming soon to Samourai Wallet. We talk:

  • Creeping KYC and has bitcoin social culture regressed?
  • Does taint exist?
  • Coin selection algorithms. STONEWALL, and Solomon
  • Stowaway / PayJoin
  • Wallet fingerprinting and whether it’s an issue
  • Mobile mixing
  • Dojo and Ronin Dojo
  • Thoughts on Lightning and Liquid

Samourai Wallet links:

Relevant Prior interviews:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Feb 18, 2020
SLP149 Waxwing - Is Consumerism at Odds With Privacy in Bitcoin? JoinMarket, PayJoin, SNICKER
7908

Adam Gibson (aka Waxwing), Bitcoin privacy advocate, and contributor to JoinMarket joins me to discuss his thoughts on the state of privacy in Bitcoin. We talk about:

  • Why consumerism mentality may stop people from using privacy techniques
  • Why blockchain analysis companies are probably over rated
  • Schnorr Taproot and cross input signature aggregation
  • CoinJoinXT
  • SNICKER
  • JoinMarket
  • PayJoin

Adam Gibson links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Feb 15, 2020
SLP148 Petek @RadarRayne - Bridging Art and Bitcoin with Stock to Flow
3379

Petek (@RadarRayne) joins me to talk about coming into Bitcoin as an artist, and creating Bitcoin art. We also chat about her experience working with PlanB on stock to flow inspired art pieces, her thoughts on women in bitcoin, and how some ideas were just ripe for being created!

Petek Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Feb 10, 2020
SLP147 Pierre Rochard & Saifedean Ammous - Bitcoin as Savings Technology & Number Go Up
3197

Pierre Rochard (Kraken, Noded Podcast, Nakamoto Institute) and Saifedean Ammous (Bitcoin economist and author of The Bitcoin Standard) join me to talk about Bitcoin as Savings Technology and Number Go Up technology. This point is often misunderstood, so listen in for discussion on:

  • Cash balance
  • Savings technology
  • Number Go Up
  • Stock to flow
  • Lightning and Bitcoin developments

Pierre Rochard Links:

Saifedean Ammous Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Feb 07, 2020
SLP146 Will Cole - Bitcoin Native Financial Services
3852

Will Cole, CPO of Unchained Capital joins me to talk about:

  • Learning about bitcoin and austrian economics
  • Bitcoin meet ups and the shifts over time
  • Getting ready for a bull run
  • Bitcoin and allodial title
  • Wyoming Blockchain taskforce
  • Unchained Capital vaults and loans
  • Bitcoin as collateral

Will Cole links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Feb 03, 2020
SLP145 Rahim Taghizadegan - The Zero Interest Rate Trap and social consequences of fiat
3786

Rahim Taghizadegan, Austrian economist and author, joins me in this episode to talk about the problems with central banking, and social consequences of fiat money. If you enjoyed earlier episodes on Austrian economics, you’ll really enjoy this one! We talk:

  • Why central banking is a problem
  • What governments are enabled to do
  • Capital structure of production
  • Social consequences of fiat money
  • How to escape the Zero Interest Rate Trap

Rahim Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jan 31, 2020
SLP144 Steve Lee - Square Crypto and Supporting Bitcoin Development
3700

Steve Lee joins me in the first official Square Crypto podcast appearance! We talk about how he got into Bitcoin, and Square Crypto’s focus on supporting Bitcoin and Lightning open source development. We talk about:

  • The Square Crypto team and their focus
  • Lightning Development Kit
  • BTCPayServer
  • Zman
  • Supporting bitcoin development
  • UI and UX issues with bitcoin today

Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jan 26, 2020
SLP143 Eduardo Gomez - Bitcoin as a source of truth in Venezuela
5088

Eduardo Gomez, head of customer support at Purse.io joins me to talk about some interesting developments in Venezuela and bitcoin being used to transfer value across borders. We talk about:

  • Eduardo’s background
  • Bitcoin as source of truth
  • Petro
  • Stablecoins
  • What’s needed in terms of tooling and education
  • Bitcoin in Argentina

Eduardo links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jan 21, 2020
SLP142 Pierre-Marie Padiou - ACINQ & Phoenix Wallet: easiest non-custodial lightning wallet yet?
5146

Pierre-Marie Padiou is CEO and co-founder of ACINQ, building on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. We talk about how ACINQ got founded and their very impressive new Lightning wallet, Phoenix. Phoenix represents a step forward in non-custodial Lightning wallet user experience and we talk about the tradeoffs that go into making this a reality. This episode is a must listen so you know how to best demonstrate Lightning for Bitcoin Lightning newbies or family/friends.

ACINQ links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jan 18, 2020
SLP141 American HODL - HODLer stories and Bitcoin Citadels
4436

American HODL of Bitcoin Twitter joins me to tell us his stories of Bitcoin HODLing, how he built up his conviction in Bitcoin HODLing, and where we’re going with this:

  • Modern society and the impact of fiat money
  • HODLer stories
  • Spend and replace vs HODL
  • Bitcoin Baby steps
  • Bitcoin Citadels - will they be real?

Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jan 14, 2020
SLP140 Gigi - Bitcoin’s Gravity and 21 Lessons
3703

Gigi, Bitcoin author and curator of bitcoin-resources.com joins me to talk about some of his recent articles and the recent launch of his 21 Lessons book. We talk about:

  • The gravitational pull of bitcoin
  • Key resources from bitcoin-resources.com
  • 21 Lessons learned along the way

Gigi links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jan 10, 2020
SLP139 Andreas M. Antonopoulos - Mastering Lightning & Using BTCPayServer
4030

Andreas M. Antonopoulos, world renowned bitcoin speaker & author rejoins me on the show today to talk about some of his latest projects and efforts in Bitcoin. We talk about:

  • Mastering Lightning - new book coming
  • Process on learning Lightning Network
  • Challenges in LN today
  • Using BTCPayServer to be a merchant
  • Using RTL
  • myNode

Andreas links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jan 06, 2020
SLP138 Matt Odell - Should Bitcoiners Coinjoin?
3784

Matt Odell, co-host of TFTC/RHR joins me in this episode to talk about coinjoin techniques and bitcoin privacy. We discuss:

  • What sparked off the recent discussion on coinjoin
  • Binance SG flagging a customer for using coinjoin
  • What’s at stake
  • Is there a tension between ‘white market KYC compliant’ bitcoin and ‘grey market agorism’ bitcoin?
  • Action steps to take

Matt Odell links:

Ronin Dojo:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jan 01, 2020
SLP137 AJ Towns - Schnorr Taproot Tapscript BIPs
5523

AJ Towns, bitcoin core contributor @ Xapo joins me to talk about his recent work advancing the Schnorr, Taproot, and Tapscript BIPs. We talk about:

  • What are Schnorr signatures? What is MuSig?
  • What is Taproot, and what is Tapscript?
  • Script changes
  • Schnorr Review Club
  • Benefits for Bitcoin and Lightning
  • Upgrade path
  • Activation

AJ Towns links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Dec 27, 2019
SLP136 Alex Leishman - Bitcoin Socratic Seminars & River Financial
3714

Alex Leishman, organizer of SF Bitcoin Devs and CEO of River, joins me in this episode to talk about his journey in Bitcoin and Austrian Economics, as well as talk about how to moderate and run a successful Bitcoin Socratic Seminar meet up. Listen in and get some tips on how you can run or participate in Bitcoin meet ups in your city! We talk:

  • Ground rules
  • What discussion takes place at a Bitcoin Socratic Seminar
  • How the rest of the world can copy this model
  • River FInancial

Alex Leishman links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Dec 23, 2019
SLP135 Suheb - Manage Your Lightning Node with RTL
3618

Suheb, co-founder of RTL joins me in this episode to talk about tips on managing your Lightning Node with RTL. We talk:

  • How Suheb got into Lightning
  • His experience with the Lightning Torch
  • Different personas for RTL - Node Operator, Merchant
  • Channel Management
  • Interface
  • What’s coming next with RTL

Suheb and RTL links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Dec 20, 2019
SLP134 Rusty Russell - Lightning Multi Part Payments
3796

Rusty Russell from Blockstream rejoins me in this episode to talk about a very exciting development in Bitcoin’s Lightning Network: Multi Part Payments. This is a new feature that will be implemented into the Lightning Network specification, and will be included in the new c-lightning 0.8.0 release. We talk about:

  • Development work ongoing
  • Multi Part Payments and how they change Lightning Network
  • Payment Secrets
  • Privacy on Lightning Network
  • Outlook for Lightning Network in 2020

Rusty Russell links

Prior episodes with Rusty:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Dec 16, 2019
SLP133 Trace Mayer - Proof of Keys, and Bitcoin’s Battle on Two Fronts
3797

Trace Mayer, world renowned Bitcoin investor, writer and speaker rejoins me on the podcast to talk about Proof of Keys, an annual event for Bitcoiners to withdraw bitcoins from any third parties to keys they hold. In this episode we talk about:

  • Proof of Keys
  • Tools and best practices
  • The battle for scarcity, and the battle for privacy
  • Mises’ book, Bureaucracy

Trace Mayer links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Dec 13, 2019
SLP132 Christian Moss (Mandelduck) - Bitcoin Lightning gaming with Zebedee
3885

Christian joins me in this episode to talk about his experiences building on lightning network, and his venture along Andre Neves and Simon Cowell with Zebedee, lightning powered games. We talk:

  • How Chris got into Bitcoin app development
  • Does Lightning belong in games?
  • Zebedee approach to lightning game development
  • Thoughts on Lightning Network more generally, and LNURL

Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Dec 11, 2019
SLP131 Parker Lewis - Bitcoin is Intuitive
4636

Parker Lewis, Head of Business Development at Unchained Capital joins me in this episode to talk about a range of things:

  • How he went from global macro hedge fund to bitcoiner
  • What the Fed gets wrong
  • A Hayekian appreciation for bitcoin
  • His blog series, Gradually, Then Suddenly
  • Bitcoin becoming intuitive
  • Unchained Capital Caravan - open source & free multi sig

Links:

Other relevant episodes:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Dec 09, 2019
SLP130 ErgoBTC - Tracking PlusToken Scammers with White Hat Bitcoin Chain Analysis
5003

ErgoBTC, a pseudonymous bitcoin ‘white hat’ privacy analyst joins me in this episode to talk about his journey tracking PlusToken scammers in their attempts to mix and dump 200k BTC. This is a must listen episode for bitcoiners to understand how your privacy can be impinged, and we also talk about tools and techniques for assessing and defending your own bitcoin privacy.

We talk:

  • How he got into bitcoin privacy analysis
  • PlusToken scammers - what is the scale of it, and what did they do wrong
  • In depth discussion on bitcoin mixers and bitcoin privacy
  • Key takeaways for listeners, mixing products, exchanges on privacy
  • Future of chain analysis

ErgoBTC Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Dec 04, 2019
SLP129 Pascal Gauthier - Ledger, Bitcoin Security, and what to expect for 2020
3356

Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Ledger joins me in this episode to talk about Ledger Hardware Wallet devices. We talk:

  • Pascal’s background in bitcoin
  • Ledger device overview
  • Privacy while using Ledger
  • Multi signature
  • Bitcoin-only devices?
  • Future directions with Ledger devices

Pascal and Ledger links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Dec 02, 2019
SLP128 Jan Čapek - Stratum v2 Bitcoin Mining Protocol
4113

Jan Čapek, co-CEO of Braiins and working at Slush Pool joins me to talk about this an upgrade to a Bitcoin Mining protocol, Stratum. Stratum V2 is the next generation protocol for pooled mining. It focuses on making data transfers more efficient, reducing physical infrastructure requirements for mining operations, and increasing security. In this conversation we get into some detail about:

  • How Jan got into Bitcoin and Bitcoin Mining
  • How the original Stratum protocol came about
  • What is new about Stratum v2
  • Benefits of Stratum v2
  • Relation with BetterHash
  • Bitcoin Pools generally

Jan Čapek and Stratum Protocol Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Nov 27, 2019
SLP127 Ben Perrin (BTCSessions) - Bitcoin beginner onboarding strategies
3957

Ben Perrin, host of BTCSessions YouTube channel joins me to talk about his experiences educating new Bitcoiners. Listen to this episode to get some tips on how you can spread bitcoin knowledge in a thoughtful way. We talk:

  • How Ben got into Bitcoin and doing a YouTube channel
  • Taking insights from his prior career as a teacher
  • Helping beginners avoid common errors
  • Bitcoin tools and wallets
  • Running a bitcoin node and comparing node products
  • Update from Bull Bitcoin and 21x

Ben Perrin links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Nov 25, 2019
SLP126 Ben Askren
3018

Ben Askren, a recently retired pro Mixed Martial Artist and former Olympic Wrestler joins me to talk about how he got into Bitcoin and is now spreading the word about Bitcoin to his following! We talk:

  • How he got into Bitcoin
  • Common misconceptions
  • Why we run full nodes in Bitcoin
  • What’s next for him with Bitcoin

Ben Askren Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Nov 19, 2019
SLP125 Thomas Voegtlin - Electrum Wallet: Bitcoin seeds, PSBT, Multi sig, Lightning
4470

Thomas Voegtlin, Founder of Electrum Wallet joins me to talk about how and why he started Electrum Wallet, one of the longest standing Bitcoin wallets (2011). In this interview we discuss a range of topics around the Electrum Server model, Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions, Bitcoin seed formats (BIP39), Multi signature, Hardware wallets and the recent announcement of Lightning in Electrum.

Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Nov 16, 2019
SLP124 Jon Atack - Bitcoin Core Contribution
3706

Jon Atack joins me to talk about his experience with open source software development, and to talk about the process of Bitcoin Core development and code review. We talk:

  • Becoming a Bitcoin Core contributor
  • How to best contribute
  • Communication channels for development
  • Priorities in Bitcoin development
  • Funding for development

Jon Atack Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Nov 12, 2019
SLP123 Allen Piscitello - Sidechains & Blockstream Liquid
3372

Allen Piscitello, VP Product of Blockstream joins me to talk about Blockstream Liquid as a new model for inter exchange settlement, and the possibility of building out new financial infrastructure in a way different from the legacy financial system. We talk:

  • Tradeoffs and differences between approaches of Lightning, Statechains, and Liquid
  • How pegging Bitcoin in and out of Liquid works
  • Features that Liquid’s blockchain has e.g. Confidential Transactions and Confidential Assets
  • How Liquid can enable much faster inter exchange settlement with different tradeoffs
  • How to get started developing on it
  • What the future of bitcoin market structure could look like with Liquid adoption

Allen and Blockstream Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Nov 08, 2019
SLP122 PlanB - Responses to the S2F model
3592

PlanB (Pseudonymous Bitcoin Quant) rejoins me in this episode to talk about the response to his seminal work, Modeling Bitcoin’s Value with Scarcity. There have been some responses to his Stock to Flow (S2F) modelling work, so we talk:

  • The response to his articles and translations
  • What cointegration is and why it matters
  • Responses to PlanB’s modelling work
  • Cash and carry trade
  • Where to from here

PlanB Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Nov 04, 2019
SLP121 Yan Pritzker - Intro to Bitcoin Mining (Beginner episode)
3509

Yan Pritzker, Bitcoin Author and previously CTO of Reverb joins me in this episode to talk about Bitcoin Mining, his book Inventing Bitcoin and give Bitcoin beginners an intro to Bitcoin Mining.

We talk about:

  • Whether a beginner should do Bitcoin Mining or use cloud mining
  • How bitcoin mining works
  • How the network stops cheaters
  • Bitcoin mining attacks
  • Common errors in thinking about Bitcoin

Yan Pritzker Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Oct 31, 2019
SLP120 Jack Mallers - Lightning & Identity, Olympus and Zap
3901

Jack Mallers of Zap joins me to talk about the recent exploration of Lightning Network and Identity, as well as talking about his new service, Olympus, and Zap wallet development. This interview was recorded one day before the Lightning Conference in Berlin, Germany October 2019.

Topics:

  • Use of Lightning Node pub key as identity
  • Complications with above
  • The exposure that any Lightning business has to chain fees
  • Future directions in Zap wallet development

Jack Mallers;

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Oct 28, 2019
SLP119 Alex Bosworth - Submarine Swaps, Loop, Hyperloop
3808

Alex Bosworth, Lightning Infrastructure Lead at Lightning Labs joins me to talk about what he’s working on: Submarine swaps, Lightning Loop and Hyperloop. We chat about the possibilities being enabled for Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.

We talk:

  • Submarine swaps and Loop
  • Practical applications for Merchants, Exchanges, Users
  • Routing on the lightning network
  • Fees on the Lightning Network
  • What people should be doing with Lightning Network

Alex Bosworth Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Oct 24, 2019
SLP118 Mike Belshe - BitGo Bitcoin Custody
3601

Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo joins me to talk about his journey with Bitcoin and the challenges BitGo faces in being the world’s largest Bitcoin custodian. We talk about:

  • Coming into Bitcoin
  • How secure storage evolved in Bitcoin over time
  • Technological and Procedural techniques used today to enhance security
  • Insurance
  • Contentious forks
  • The risk of government
  • Future of Bitcoin Custody

Mike Belshe links:

SLP Bitcoin Custody Series:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Oct 18, 2019
SLP117 Pura Vida - Learning about Bitcoin Privacy
4100

Pura Vida of the Lightning Hood team joins me to share his perspectives and journey in learning about bitcoin privacy and putting it into practice with tools such as Samourai Wallet and Nodl. We talk about:

  • His journey of learning Bitcoin Privacy
  • How to manage your Bitcoin UTXO set
  • Coinjoining
  • Why Post Mix is underrated
  • Other privacy tips

Pura Vida links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Oct 13, 2019
SLP116 Taylor Helsper - Easy Bitcoin Nodes with myNode
3451

Taylor joins me to talk about his project myNode which may be one of the easiest, cheapest and feature rich methods to run your own full node and connect to your own hardware wallet. We talk through the process, and some of the challenges that newbies face today, in setting up their own bitcoin full node.

Taylor Helsper myNode Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Oct 11, 2019
SLP115 Trace Mayer - Bitcoin as Ultimate Collateral
3914

Trace Mayer, renowned Bitcoin investor, writer and speaker joins me in this episode to talk about a range of topics on jurisdictional competition in relation to Bitcoin, how best to learn, shifting perceptions on Bitcoin, whether there are any threats to Bitcoin, and this concept of Bitcoin as the ultimate collateral.

Trace Mayer links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Oct 09, 2019
SLP114 Gene Epstein - Moderating Bitcoin Debates
4728

Gene Epstein, Director of the Soho forum joins me to talk about his experiences in moderating debates in Bitcoin and Austrian Economics. We talk about some of the key points that Bitcoiners should consider from Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard, and we also talk about the debate between Erik Voorhees and Peter Schiff, and the debate between George Selgin and Saifedean Ammous.

Links:

Sponsor links:

Ministry of Nodes Self Sovereignty Webinar:

Stephan Livera links:

 Oct 07, 2019
SLP113 Dhruv Bansal - Bitcoin Multisig & Hermit with Unchained Capital
4522

Dhruv Bansal, Co-Founder and CSO of Unchained Capital rejoins me in this episode to talk about some bitcoin open source contributions Unchained Capital are making, as well as Unchained Capital products and services. Learn more about multi signature, Shamir’s secret sharing, and how Unchained are applying Bitcoin to financial services.

We talk:

  • Multisig Vaults
  • Open sourced multisig software
  • Hermit - Shamir’s Secret Sharing

Links:

SLP Bitcoin Custody Series:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Oct 04, 2019
SLP112 - Wiz and m52go - Bisq: Decentralised Bitcoin Trading
3771

Wiz and m52go join me in this episode to talk about Bisq, a decentralised open source project that serves to enable zero KYC decentralised Bitcoin exchange around the world. We talk:

  • How Bisq is decentralised
  • Structure of Bisq
  • How Bisq is developed
  • Localising it for Japan and how this can be done for other countries
  • BSQ token

Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Oct 01, 2019
SLP111 Bitstein - Satoshi Nakamoto Institute Bitcoin Crash Course
3966

My friend Bitstein aka Michael Goldstein rejoins me in this episode to talk about why he founded the Nakamoto Institute. We also talk through some of the highlights from the SNI Crash Course, which is a must read series of articles to improve your Bitcoin knowledge and understanding. Michael shares some incredible insight on Austrian economics, the cargo cultism of altcoins, and more.

Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Sep 29, 2019
SLP110 Neil Woodfine - Cerberus Protocol for Business Bitcoin Storage
3085

Neil Woodfine of Clavestone rejoins me in this episode to talk about the Cerberus Protocol. Cerberus is a protocol designed to be simple for businesses to use Bitcoin multi signature and self custody their bitcoins. We talk about:

  • Why Cerberus Protocol
  • Risks that bitcoin businesses face with bitcoin storage
  • Balancing security with ease of use
  • Walkthrough of the key steps in Cerberus Protocol
  • Plan for future development
  • Clavestone

Links:

SLP Bitcoin Custody Series:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Sep 26, 2019
SLP109 Preston Pysh - How To Think About Bitcoin as an Investor
3678

Preston Pysh, co-host of The Investor’s Podcast (a globally ranked Investment podcast), joins me to talk about his thoughts on investing in Bitcoin. We talk about the category errors and pitfalls that an investor must be wary of when conceiving of the Bitcoin investment thesis.

We discuss:

  • Category errors
  • 80 years of conditioning
  • Investment career risk
  • Psychology and emotions, and how you can manage yours
  • Trace Mayer and the Mayer Multiple

Preston Pysh Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Sep 24, 2019
SLP108 Bryan Bishop - Bitcoin Vaults & Custody
5195

Bryan Bishop (Bitcoin developer & consultant) joins me in this episode to talk about his experiences with Bitcoin Custody from working at LedgerX and in other settings. We talk about:

  • Bitcoin Custody & Vaults
  • Shamir’s Secret Sharing
  • Bitcoin Hardware
  • Smart Custody
  • Transcripts of Bitcoin Conferences/Podcasts
  • The Bitcoin alert key saga
  • Transhumanism

Bryan links:

Other links mentioned:

SLP Bitcoin Custody Series:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Sep 22, 2019
SLP107 Jeremy Welch & Jameson Lopp - Casa Wealth Security Protocol
3861

Jeremy Welch (CEO Casa) and Jameson Lopp (CTO Casa) re join me in this episode to talk about Casa Wealth Security Protocol and Casa Keymaster. We talk about various points related to securing your Bitcoin:

  • Design Principles and Decisions
  • Key risks
  • Casa Keymaster and Basic Multi Sig set up
  • Multi sig, multi location, multi device
  • Going seedless
  • Privacy
  • Roadmap

Casa, Jeremy and Jameson links:

SLP Bitcoin Custody Series:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Sep 18, 2019
SLP106 Diogo Monica - Glacier Protocol and Anchorage
3095

Glacier Protocol is widely regarded as one of the best ways for an individual to secure their bitcoins. Who better to join me than the Project Lead and Maintainer of Glacier Protocol? Diogo Monica, Co Founder and President of Anchorage, and Project Lead of Glacier Protocol joins me in this episode to talk about:

  • Diogo’s background on computer security
  • Glacier Protocol design decisions
  • Glacier Protocol overview and step through
  • Key features
  • Taking security to the next level with Anchorage for institutional clients

Diogo Monica, Glacier Protocol and Anchorage Links:

SLP Bitcoin Custody Series:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Sep 09, 2019
SLP105 Justin Moon & Stepan Snigirev - DIY Bitcoin Hardware Wallet and Multi Signature
3965

Justin Moon (BUIDL Bootcamp) and Stepan Snigirev (CTO Crypto Advance) rejoin me in this episode to talk about creating your own Bitcoin Hardware Wallet, and setting up Multi Signature with it. Justin and Stepan have been working on their respective projects relating to DIY Hardware Wallets, and multi signature. We talk about:

  • Why you would make your own HW Wallet
  • How much skill it takes and what the cost is
  • The security of such a set up
  • Compatibility with Bitcoin Core and standards
  • How to build trust in the software
  • How you can learn more and get involved

DIY bitcoin hardware website: https://diybitcoinhardware.com

Justin Moon links:

Stepan Snigirev links:

SLP Hardware Wallet Interview Series:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Sep 03, 2019
SLP104 Douglas Bakkum and Jonas Schnelli - BitBox02 by Shift Cryptosecurity
4277

Jonas Schnelli (Bitcoin Core Developer and Maintainer and Co Founder Shift Crypto) and Douglas Bakkum (CEO, Shift Cryptosecurity) join me in this episode to talk about the BitBox02 hardware wallet product from Shift Cryptosecurity based in Switzerland. We talk about:

  • Why Shift Crypto was started
  • Prior product, BitBox01
  • BitBox02 and how it works
  • PSBT and Air gapping
  • Privacy
  • Multi Sig
  • Bitcoin-only

Shift Cryptosecurity Links:

SLP Hardware Wallet Interview Series:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Aug 30, 2019
SLP103 Charles Guillemet - Hardware Wallet Security and Hacking at Donjon Ledger
3483

Charles Guillemet, Chief Security Officer of Ledger, and also leading Ledger Donjon, joins me to talk about Bitcoin hardware wallet hacking. We talk about the attacks possible, the cost of these attacks, and defence against these attacks. You won’t want to miss this episode!

Charles and Donjon Ledger links:

SLP Hardware Wallet Interview Series:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Aug 28, 2019
SLP102 Jimmy Song & Alex Gladstein - The Little Bitcoin Book
3778

Jimmy Song (Bitcoin educator, entrepreneur and developer) and Alex Gladstein (CSO of Human Rights Foundation) join me in this episode to talk about their fantastic new book, The Little Bitcoin Book. This is the perfect short book to give your precoiner friends! It has succinct explanations on why bitcoin is important. Listen to this episode to learn more about how this book came together, what the authors are hoping to achieve, and if you like it - then make sure you buy copies of the book to give to your friends and family.

Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Aug 26, 2019
SLP101 Rodolfo Novak - Coldcard by Coinkite
3676

Rodolfo Novak (CEO CoinKite) rejoins me in this episode to talk about the Coldcard from Coinkite. We talk about:

  • Why he made the Coldcard
  • Basic features of the Coldcard
  • Bitcoiner support for the Coldcard
  • Multi signature with Coldcard
  • WalletsRecovery.org

Rodolfo Novak and Coldcard links:

SLP Hardware Wallet Interview Series:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Aug 24, 2019
SLP100 Pavol Rusnak (Stick) - Trezor One and Model T by SatoshiLabs
4011

Pavol Rusnak aka Stick, CTO of SatoshiLabs (the company behind Trezor) joins me in this episode to talk about his journey creating the world’s first bitcoin hardware wallet. We talk about:

  • Making the world’s first bitcoin hardware wallet
  • SLIP39 and Shamir’s secret sharing
  • Multi signature support
  • Airgapping
  • Privacy
  • Bitcoin-only firmware
  • FIDO2 authentication

Pavol Rusnak and Trezor links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Aug 19, 2019
SLP99 Andrew Chow - Hardware Wallets and Bitcoin Core with HWI and PSBT
4631

Andrew Chow, Bitcoin Core developer at Blockstream joins me in this episode to talk about his work on HWI - Hardware Wallet Interface and PSBT - Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions. We discuss the benefits of PSBT and Hardware Wallet Interface in making Bitcoin’s user interface better for users who want to do multi sig or interact with hardware wallets using Bitcoin Core. 

We talk:

  • Andrew’s background
  • Why PSBT (Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions) is needed
  • HWI - Hardware Wallet Interface
  • Output descriptors
  • Derivation paths
  • Use of PSBT for CoinJoining and Multi-Sig
  • Where HWI is going from here

Andrew Chow Links and other links discussed in episode:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Aug 15, 2019
SLP98 Rusty Russell and Joe Netti - Can Lightning Network Scale to a Million Channels?
4021

So Bitcoin’s Lightning Network exists and works today. Can it scale up to a million channels? Rusty Russell (Blockstream Elements Project, working on c-lightning and the Lightning Spec) and Joe Netti (recently interned at Blockstream) join me to talk about their work on the Million Channels Project. We talk about:

  • Why the Project was started
  • Set up 
  • Regtest and Gossip
  • Routing
  • Optimisations needed
  • An update on c-lightning

Links:

Rusty links:

Joe Netti links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Aug 12, 2019
SLP97 Michael Flaxman - Every Bitcoin Hardware Wallet Sucks
6789

Michael Flaxman, Bitcoin Educator and Developer joins me in this episode (part of the SLP Hardware Wallet Interview series) to talk about the current state of Bitcoin Hardware Wallets. This episode is a must listen to learn the differences between some of the current popular Hardware Wallets, and give you a framework on how to think about Hardware Wallet security. This will help you think more clearly about how to secure your own bitcoins. 

We talk:

  • The current state of hardware wallets
  • Multi signature is additive
  • Why you should use Testnet
  • Secure elements
  • PSBT
  • Backups
  • Shamir’s secret sharing

Michael Flaxman links:

SLP Hardware Wallet Series link: https://stephanlivera.com/slp-hardware-wallet-interview-series/ 

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Aug 08, 2019
SLP96 Max Hillebrand - Bitcoin Hardware Wallets for Newbies
3719

Max Hillebrand, Bitcoin educator and World Crypto Net broadcaster joins me in this newbie episode to target about good practices with Hardware wallets and what we should think about. We talk:

  • Why you should not leave your bitcoins on an exchange
  • How to think about Hardware Wallets
  • Recommended practices with Hardware wallets and self custody
  • Next steps for learning

Max Hillebrand links

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Aug 06, 2019
SLP95 Aleks Svetski - Clashing Visions
3196

Aleks Svetski (CEO and co-founder Amber) rejoins me in this episode to talk about the clash of visions:

  • Trading or HODLing 
  • Buying with a lump sum or DCA - Dollar Cost Averaging
  • Mindsets around DCA
  • Libra vs USD vs Bitcoin
  • Belief systems

Aleks and Amber links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Aug 04, 2019
SLP94 Roy Sheinfeld - Lightning Network Services for the Masses
3770

Roy Sheinfeld, CEO of Breez Technology joins me to talk about his view of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. We touch on a number of topics:

  • Roy’s background in Bitcoin
  • Why he’s excited about Lightning Network and what problems it can solve
  • How the Lightning Network will evolve with Lightning Service Providers
  • What he’s doing with Breez Tech and the Breez app
  • Neutrino filtering

Roy Sheinfeld links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jul 31, 2019
SLP93 Raoul Pal - Global Macro Risks and Bitcoin
3546

Raoul Pal (CEO RealVision and Global Macro Investor) joins me in this episode to discuss the Global Macro risks that he sees, and his perspective on Bitcoin. We talk about the stage of the business cycle that we are in, problems faced by individuals and corporates, and Raoul’s views on Bitcoin. 

Raoul Pal and Realvision links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jul 29, 2019
SLP92 Britt Kelly - BTCPayServer documentation, translation & Newbie tips
3204

Britt Kelly joins me for the fourth and final episode in the BTCPayServer interview series. 

Britt and I chat about:

  • Getting into Bitcoin and BTCPayServer
  • What you can learn by contributing
  • Documentation of BTCPay
  • Translation of BTCPay
  • Tips for newbies
  • Reflections on being a female in Bitcoin and open source

Britt Kelly links:

SLP BTCPayServer series link:

https://stephanlivera.com/slp-btcpayserver-interview-series/

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jul 25, 2019
SLP91 Kukks - BTCPayServer architecture and BTC transmuter
2741

Episode 3 in the BTCPayServer series! Kukks, BTCPayServer developer and contributor joins me in this episode to talk about his work. We talk about the way BTCPayServer is structured, and also about the BTC Transmuter (aka fiat bridge), enabling merchants to take Bitcoin payment via BTCPayServer, but receive fiat through an interface with a Bitcoin exchange. 

We talk:

  • BTCPayServer Architecture
  • BTC Transmuter (taking BTC and converting into fiat for the merchant)
  • Contributing to BTCPayServer

Kukks links:

SLP BTCPayServer series link:

https://stephanlivera.com/slp-btcpayserver-interview-series/

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jul 21, 2019
SLP90 Pavlenex - BTCPayServer for Merchants
3665

Episode 2 of the SLP BTCPayServer series! Pavlenex (BTCPayServer contributor and Operator of BitcoinShirt.co) joins me to talk about his journey in becoming a bitcoiner, and becoming a BTCPayServer contributor. We talk:

  • How BTCPayServer helps a merchant accept Bitcoin
  • Creating BTCPayServer Guides
  • Cost of running BTCPayServer
  • BTCPayServer misconceptions
  • BTCPayServer with Lightning Network
  • BTCPayServer Merchant Directory

See the other interviews in the series: https://stephanlivera.com/slp-btcpayserver-interview-series/  

Pavlenex links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jul 18, 2019
SLP89 Rockstar Dev - BTCPayServer, Tor crowdfunding, and Rockstarism
3238

Rockstar Developer joins me to talk about his experiences in open source development, working on BTCPayServer, Tor crowdfunding, and his philosophy of Rockstarism. 

We talk: 

  • Open source vs closed source development
  • BTCPayServer and the community
  • BTCPayServer benefits
  • Tor crowdfunding
  • Rockstarism philosophy
  • Experiences with hyperinflation

Rockstar and BTCPayServer links:

SLP BTCPayServer series link:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jul 15, 2019
SLP88 Conner Brown - Bitcoin is Money, not Payments
3465

Conner Brown joins me in this episode to talk about his journey of learning about Bitcoin and why Bitcoin should be thought of as money, not payments. We talk about:

  • How he came to learn about Bitcoin
  • His journey coming from the Bcash world view to the Bitcoiner view 
  • Common pitfalls in learning or reasoning about Bitcoin
  • Dealing with Ripplecoin shills

Conner Brown links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

Ministry of Nodes:

 Jul 14, 2019
SLP87 Per Bylund - The Problem of Production
3258

Assistant Professor and Records-Johnston Professor of Free Enterprise at Oklahoma State University, at the OSU School of Entrepreneurship, and Fellow at the Mises Institute - Per Bylund joins me in this episode to talk about his book on the theory of the firm:

  • What was wrong with the theory of the firm before
  • Firms as islands of productivity
  • Capital Theory
  • What happens to firms over time

Per Bylund links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

Ministry of Nodes:

 Jul 10, 2019
SLP86 PlanB - Frontrunning the Bitcoin Halvening?
4885

SLP86 PlanB - Frontrunning the Bitcoin Halvening? 

PlanB rejoins me in this anticipated follow up episode discussing his stock to flow data modelling of Bitcoin’s valuation. The first episode was hotly downloaded and discussed online, so this time we talk about whether the recent bullish price action is a reflection of speculators front running the May 2020 Bitcoin block subsidy halving. Don’t miss this episode!

  • Response to the first episode
  • Stock to flow multiple
  • Front running the halving
  • The 1% BTC, 99% Cash portfolio
  • Bitcoin and commodities
  • Future pathways for institutional investment

PlanB links:

Sponsor links:

Ministry of Nodes:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jul 05, 2019
SLP85 Sergej Kotliar - Building Bitcoin’s Circular Economy
3849

Sergej Kotliar (CEO Bitrefill) rejoins me in this episode recorded at Bitcoin2019 Conference in San Francisco to talk about his views on the ‘store of value first’ narrative in Bitcoin. Is there a need to build a Bitcoin circular economy now? Sergej also offers some reflections on the situation with the bitcoin fee market, and provides an update on what’s happening at Bitrefill. 

Topics:

  • “SoV first” vs building the bitcoin circular economy 
  • Bitcoin Twitter is not representative of Bitcoin
  • Dealing with taxes and capital gains on bitcoin
  • Being the best ‘bitcoin guy’ for your family and friends
  • The fee market in bitcoin and how it may evolve over time
  • Bitrefill services, particularly Lightning Network related

Sergej Kotliar links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jul 02, 2019
SLP84 Stepan Snigirev - Quantum Computing Threat to Bitcoin and Next Generation Bitcoin Hardware Wallets
3789

Stepan Snigirev, Quantum Physicist and CTO of CryptoAdvance joins me in this episode to talk about the Quantum threat to Bitcoin, and we also talk about Bitcoin Hardware Wallets. This interview was recorded in person in San Francisco just prior to the Bitcoin2019 conference. 

Topics covered:

  • What Bitcoin’s security relies on
  • Why the Quantum Computing threat against Bitcoin is overblown
  • How long until it might be a realistic consideration
  • Challenges faced by Bitcoin Hardware wallets today
  • What could be done better in future
  • CoinJoining and Lightning on a Hardware wallet
  • CryptoAdvance

Stepan links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 30, 2019
SLP83 Conner Fromknecht - Bitcoin Lightning Watchtowers in depth
3617

 Conner Fromknecht Head of Cryptographic Engineering at Lightning Labs, joins me to go in depth on Bitcoin Lightning Watchtowers. Understand how Bitcoin’s Lightning Network keeps channel participants honest and how Watchtowers can help:

  • How Lightning Network’s punishment model works without watchtowers
  • Where watchtowers come in and how they work
  • Why watchtowers can’t steal your bitcoins
  • Scalability of watchtowers
  • Privacy
  • Funding and operation model
  • LND v0.7 features

Conner Fromknecht links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 24, 2019
SLP82 Alena Vranova - Data privacy in a digital age
3346

Alena Vranova, Head of Strategy at Casa joins me in this episode to talk about the challenges we’re all facing with keeping our data secure, as well as what Casa are doing. 

We talk: 

  • Privacy horrors around the world
  • #MyDataMyLife campaign
  • What individuals can do to protect their privacy
  • How businesses can change their practices
  • Casa and their approach to customer data

Alena Vranova links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 21, 2019
SLP81 Dan Held - Why Bitcoin’s Security is Fine
3485

Dan Held, Co-Founder of Interchange rejoins me in this episode to talk about the long term security of Bitcoin as it transitions to transaction fee (away from block subsidy). We discuss whether this will be a problem, or whether Bitcoin will be OK. 

  • Basic statement of the concern
  • The modelling behind why Dan believes Bitcoin’s security is fine
  • The increasing ‘weight’ of a bitcoin transaction
  • How bitcoin usage will evolve in the future
  • Value of Bitcoin conference reflections e.g. is Proof of Work wasteful or environmentally destructive

Dan Held Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 20, 2019
SLP80 Richard Myers - Bitcoin Incentivised Mesh Networking with Lot49
3434

Richard Myers of Gotenna and Global Mesh Labs joins me to talk about a new way to improve mesh networking with the use of bitcoin payments to provide incentive for message and packet routing. We talk:

  • What the problem is with the current set up of the internet and current mesh networking
  • What the Lot49 proposal is
  • How it works
  • Risks and challenges to be faced
  • What happens next

Richard Myers Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 17, 2019
SLP79 Misir Mahmudov - Bitcoin, Inequality & Morals
3498

Misir Mahmudov (Bitcoin writer and working Operations at Adaptive Capital) joins me in this episode to talk:

  • How he learned about Bitcoin and Austrian Economics
  • Recommendations for listeners who want to learn more
  • His thesis on the closure of the gold window and impacts on inequality
  • Bitcoin and Morals
  • The role of Satoshi

Misir links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 15, 2019
SLP78 Samourai Wallet - Welcome to the Dojo
3658

A co-founder of the Bitcoin privacy focused wallet, Samourai Wallet, rejoins the show in this fantastic episode to talk about the many updates since last time on the show (SLP29):

  • Getting funding from Cypherpunk Holdings
  • Release of Dojo software - open sourcing Samourai Wallet server backend
  • Collaboration with the nodl team for official Dojo Hardware
  • Whirlpool (Coinjoin) mixing
  • Other features and what to look out for - Stonewallx2, Stowaway, Ricochet

Samourai Wallet Links:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 10, 2019
SLP77 Kalle Rosenbaum - Grokking Bitcoin: it’s not just for developers
2861

Kalle Rosenbaum (author, developer and bitcoin consultant) joins me in this episode to discuss his new book, Grokking Bitcoin. We talk:

  • The process of writing this book
  • David Harding’s foreword
  • Some cryptography basics
  • Different Bitcoin transaction types
  • How nodes communicate
  • Bitcoin upgrades, and bitcoin forks

Kalle Rosenbaum links:

Sponsor link:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 07, 2019
SLP76 Vijay Boyapati - Bitcoin is not Paypal 2.0
3299

Vijay Boyapati, Bitcoin economic commentator, joins me to talk about:

  • Monetary stages of evolution
  • Merchant adoption of Bitcoin to receive payment - is it 2013 all over again? 
  • Facebook Crypto
  • Horizontal “Crypto” vs Vertical Bitcoin businesses
  • Why Bitcoin is not Paypal 2.0

Vijay links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jun 03, 2019
SLP75 Giacomo Zucco - There is only one Bitcoin (Newbie episode)
4113

Giacomo joins me again in this episode to explain for newbies why there is only one Bitcoin. We cover common points of confusion that newbies and outsiders to Bitcoin may not grasp:

  • Forks of Bitcoin
  • Semantics and word games
  • Traps to avoid

Giacomo link:

Stephan Livera links:

 May 31, 2019
SLP74 Wiz - Bitcoiners vs Shitcoiners
3618

Wiz, Bitcoin OG from Tokyo (and creator of the “Bitcoiner or Shitcoiner” browser extension) joins me in this episode to discuss his career, how to build your own ISP, and also, a new way to help mitigate social attacks on Bitcoin.

We talk: 

  • Importance of self sovereignty for Bitcoiners
  • How to set up your own ISP
  • VPNs
  • Bitcoiner or Shitcoiner browser extension
  • Wiz’s work with Hive.one and setting up his projects, “Bitcoin Wizards”, and “Bitcoiner or Shitcoiner”
  • How this can help mitigate social attacks

Wiz links:

Stephan Livera links:

 May 28, 2019
SLP73 Tamas Blummer - Rust-Bitcoin, Threats to Bitcoin & Bitcoin Data Science
3480

Tamas Blummer, Bitcoin developer and entrepreneur with a long and respected background in Bitcoin joins me in this must-listen, wide ranging episode to talk about: 

  • Rust-Bitcoin projects
  • Threats to bitcoin:
  • Soft fork threats and protocol ossification
  • Incentivised re-orgs of Bitcoin’s blockchain
  • Central Bank Digital Currencies and Negative Interest rates
  • Bitcoin data science
  • Liveliness measure
  • Work with Adamant Capital

Tamas Blummer links:

Stephan Livera links:

 May 23, 2019
SLP72 Eric Voskuil - Fractional or Full Reserve Banking? and Jurisdictional Arbitrage
4035

Eric Voskuil (lead developer of libbitcoin and Cryptoeconomics author) joins me to talk about his views on Austrian economics, Murray Rothbard, Fractional vs Full Reserve Banking. We also chat about “Jurisdictional Arbitrage” from his Cryptoeconomics github pages. 

Eric Voskuil links:

Stephan Livera links:

 May 20, 2019
SLP71 Stephan Livera - Intro to Bitcoin Austrian thought
3481

On listener request, I fly solo for this episode to give Bitcoin newbies and Bitcoin intermediate listeners an overview on 'Bitcoin Austrian' thought. Learn why students of the Austrian school of economics are well placed to understand Bitcoin:

  • How money arises on the market as most saleable good
  • Why Bitcoin isn't a scam
  • 'Intrinsic value'
  • Blockchains and social scalability
  • Bitcoin and Austrian thinkers worth listening to and reading

Make sure you share this episode with your friends who are struggling to understand Bitcoin! 

Links: 

Stephan Livera links:

 May 15, 2019
SLP70 Matt Odell - Putting Bitcoin into practice for noobs
3793

Matt Odell, Bitcoin podcast co-host of the Rabbit Hole Recap joins me in this fun episode to talk about ways Bitcoiners can put theory into practice. Along the way we chat: 

  • Challenges in educating noobs
  • Common pitfalls and scams
  • Approaches to take going forward
  • How to avoid scams to come in the future

Matt Odell links: 

Stephan Livera links:

 May 06, 2019
SLP69 Saifedean Ammous - How governments could kill Bitcoin and Bitcoin scenarios
3707

Saifedean Ammous, Bitcoin economist and author of seminal book, The Bitcoin Standard, joins me in this episode. We talk about some of his recent research:

  • How governments could try to kill Bitcoin 
  • Why fiat money hyperinflation is not that likely
  • Why we can’t simply disregard gold
  • Thoughts on stock to flow modelling
  • Research Bulletins going forward

Saifedean links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 29, 2019
SLP68 Joost Jager - Lightning Loop Out/In, and Lightning Network Criticisms
3184

Joost Jager, Lightning Network Infrastructure Engineer at Lightning Labs, joins me in this episode to talk about Lightning Loop Out and In. We also discuss some of the recent criticisms of the Lightning Network by Peter Rizun. We talk: 

  • How Lightning Loop helps you manage inbound liquidity, or pay with BTC on chain to get outgoing capacity on a lightning channel
  • Practical uses of Lightning Loop technology
  • Some of the technicals behind how Lightning Loop e.g. hodlinvoice
  • Thoughts and responses to Peter Rizun's criticisms of the Lightning Network

Joost Jager links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 20, 2019
SLP67 Plan B (@100trillionUSD) - Modelling Bitcoin’s digital scarcity through stock-to-flow techniques
3717

Plan B (@100trillionUSD), operator of a well known pseudonymous twitter account joins me for discussion on modelling the incredible value of Bitcoin. Don’t miss this discussion on data modelling, finance and investing in Bitcoin! 

We talk:

  • Influences in terms of Bitcoin
  • Modelling Bitcoin’s digital scarcity
  • Impact of the halving
  • Challenges and problems with modelling Bitcoin
  • Finance and Investing theory and practice applied to Bitcoin

Plan B / @100trillionUSD Links: 

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 15, 2019
SLP66 James O’Beirne - The truth about ‘power’ in Bitcoin
3465

James O’Beirne, Bitcoin Core Engineer at Chaincode Labs joins me in this episode to talk about the real nature of ‘power’ and control within Bitcoin. It’s not as simple as it might first seem! We talk about: 

  • Differing conceptions of ‘power’ in Bitcoin
  • Peer to peer network governance
  • Bitcoin Core development
  • Assume utxo

James O’Beirne links:

Discussed in episode: 

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 10, 2019
SLP65 Nik Bhatia: Bitcoin Lightning Reference Rate and Node Accrual Rate
3410

Nik Bhatia CFA charter holder and Bitcoin-native financial theorist joins me for discussion on the Lightning Network Interest Rate (LNRR) - a concept on how Bitcoin Lightning Network participants can earn an interest through routing fees earned on the Lightning Network. We talk:

  • Background on Lightning Network and LNRR
  • Node Accrual Rate (NAR)
  • How LNRR and NAR will change with coming Lightning technology
  • Challenges to the concept as is
  • How it will evolve over time

Nik Bhatia links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Apr 04, 2019
SLP64 Tuur Demeester - What is Bitcoin Worth? A Bitcoin Valuation Framework
3578

Tuur Demeester, Bitcoin/Macro Investor and Writer, and Founding Partner of Adamant Capital joins us in a very important macro-economic and investment discussion on how to assess Bitcoin’s value through its past and into the future.

  • Bitcoin Outlook and Phases
  • Historical Bitcoin Valuation ideas
  • New Bitcoin Valuation ideas 
  • Bitcoin Full Reserve Banking

Tuur and Adamant Capital Links: 

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 30, 2019
SLP63 LightningK0ala - Bitcoin and Lightning enabled online gaming
3071

LightningK0ala joins us to talk about his new Bitcoin Lightning powered online gaming venture, Koala Studio. We talk: 

  • How he got into Lightning development
  • Experiences with Satoshi’s Place
  • What he’s doing with Koala Studio
  • Future opportunities with Bitcoin Lightning gaming
  • Wishlist for Bitcoin Lightning development

Lightning K0ala and Koala Studio links: 

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 28, 2019
SLP62 Rodolfo Novak - Keeping Bitcoin Cypherpunk
3541

Rodolfo Novak, Founder of Coinkite joins me to discuss ways to keep Bitcoin in line with its true cypherpunk values: 

  • Decentralizing Bitcoin’s communication networks
  • Alternative methods of sending, receiving, verifying Bitcoin transactions
  • Radio transmissions
  • Coinkite and physical bitcoin products

Rodolfo Novak links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 27, 2019
SLP61 David Bailey - Refocusing on Bitcoin
3481

David Bailey, CEO of BTC Media (yBitcoin, Bitcoin Magazine, Let’s Talk Bitcoin Network) joins me in this wide ranging conversation about Bitcoin over the years, and Bitcoin media: 

  • Journey over the years
  • Getting into Bitcoin media
  • Problems with ‘enterprise blockchain’
  • The ‘path back to Bitcoin’ for some people/companies
  • Bitcoin Magazine and the switch to Bitcoin focus
  • Bitcoin 2019 Conference - San Francisco June 2019

David Bailey links:

Sponsor link:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 23, 2019
SLP60 Askuwheteau & Ketominer of nodl - Plug and Play Bitcoin Lightning Nodes
3697

Askuwheteau and Ketominer of the nodl.it team join me to talk about the ‘plug and play’ Bitcoin Lightning full node hardware they are creating. We discuss: 

  • Bitcoin full node philosophy
  • Why they started a company
  • How to set up a Nodl device
  • Comparison with other plug and play node products
  • Future features coming

Askuwheteau, Ketominer & nodl links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 19, 2019
SLP59 Christian Decker - Bitcoin Lightning Channel Factories
3723

Dr Christian Decker of Blockstream, one of the world’s leading experts on Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, joins Stephan to talk in-depth about Bitcoin Lightning Channel Factories and Multi Party Channels. We talk about:

  • Why Channel Factories might be desirable in the future
  • Basic Overview
  • Technical breakdown
  • Risks
  • Interaction with other Bitcoin/Lightning technology
  • Technical Requirements
  • Future Outlook on Lightning Network

Christian Decker Links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 14, 2019
SLP58 Chris Belcher - Defending Bitcoin Privacy
3493

Chris Belcher, Bitcoin Privacy OG (JoinMarket, Electrum Personal Server) joins me in this must listen episode on Bitcoin Privacy fundamentals. Chris talks about multiple ways you can be deanonymised, as well as countermeasures available. We then talk more broadly about Bitcoin Privacy techniques. 

  • How your Bitcoin privacy can be broken
  • Different mechanisms and tools to defend your privacy in 2019
  • Chain analysis and what it relies on
  • JoinMarket
  • Electrum Personal Server

Chris Belcher links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 11, 2019
SLP57 Alex Adelman, Founder of Lolli - How Newbies Can Earn Bitcoin
3334

Alex Adelman, CEO and Founder of Lolli joins me to talk about How Newbies Can Earn Bitcoin. We'll be discussing: 

  • Psychology around bitcoin today 
  • Earning vs buying 
  • Privacy & security in a custodial world 
  • Merchant & consumer adoption 
  • Self sovereign, personal banking 

Alex Adelman and Lolli Links: 

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 09, 2019
Max Keidun & Roman Snitko of Hodl Hodl Bitcoin Exchange & Baltic Honeybadger
3407

Max Keidun and Roman Snitko (CEO and CTO of Hodl Hodl) join me to talk:

  • Why they started Hodl Hodl, a P2P exchange
  • How Hodl Hodl is different from the typical Bitcoin exchange
  • Education of users
  • Volume trends
  • Prediction market announcement
  • Baltic Honeybadger conference 2019

Max, Roman, Hodl Hodl & Baltic Honeybadger Links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Mar 02, 2019
SLP55 Shinobi (Brian_Trollz)
3434

Shinobi (aka Bitcoin Twitter character @Brian_Trollz) joins me in this episode to discuss a range of topics: 

  • Problems with using Litecoin for paying with things
  • Confidential Transactions and the different approaches
  • The push for smaller blocks
  • Different approaches to scaling
  • Problems with sidechains and drivechains

Shinobi / Brian Trollz links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Feb 25, 2019
SLP54 Justin Camarena of Bitrefill - Bitcoin Lightning & Channel Management
2980

Justin Camarena of Bitrefill joins me to talk about his journey with Bitcoin Lightning development and pioneering Bitcoin Lightning payments at Bitrefill. We discuss:

  • Learning Lightning development
  • Pioneering Lightning payment at Bitrefill in the #reckless early days
  • Bitrefill Thor service
  • Lightning Channel Management
  • Thoughts on Lightning custodial wallets
  • What Lightning Network can enable

Justin Camarena Links:

Other links mentioned:

Stephan Livera links:

 Feb 21, 2019
SLP53 Andreas M. Antonopoulos - On Bitcoin Maximalism
3884

Andreas M. Antonopoulos (best-selling author, speaker and bitcoin  educator) joins me in this episode to talk about his views on Bitcoin  Maximalism as contrasted with a multicoin view. Andreas and I disagree  and present clashing visions. We also discuss other points such as  whether Bitcoin challenges central banking more specifically, or banking  generally.

Andreas M. Antonopoulos links:

Episode Sponsor BUIDL Bootcamp:

Stephan Livera links:

 Feb 18, 2019
SLP52 Jack Dorsey & Elizabeth Stark - Bitcoin: Native Currency of the Internet
3128

Jack Dorsey (CEO of Twitter & Square) & Elizabeth Stark (CEO of Lightning Labs) join me to talk about the vision of Bitcoin as native currency of the internet. Bitcoin's principles, resilience, and being 'of the internet' are what make it special. In this special episode we discuss:

  • How Jack came to understand Bitcoin and view it as potentially the native currency of the internet
  • Why everyone is so excited about the Lightning Network
  • Lightning Torch
  • Square and the Cash App
  • Twitter & Bitcoin
  • Future internet business models possible with Lightning Network
  • Bitcoin as foundational to the internet and society

Jack Dorsey Links:

Elizabeth Stark Links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Feb 11, 2019
SLP51 Dr Guido Hülsmann - Austrian Monetary Economics & Bitcoin
3287

Dr Guido Hülsmann, Senior Fellow of the Mises Institute, and Economics Professor at the University of Anger, France, joins me in this very special episode. We talk about government monetary intervention compared with a free market in money. We discuss many topics:

  • The process of government monetary intervention and deterioration in quality of money
  • Which kind of monetary intervention is worst?
  • Interaction of reserve requirements with capital requirements
  • How businesses and banking differ in a free market economy versus our fiat money economy
  • The tendency towards one most saleable good or money, even within the cryptocurrency world
  • Comments on 'stock to flow' ratio and hard money
  • Dr Hülsmann's economics book recommendations for listeners

Dr Guido Hülsmann links: 

Stephan Livera Links: 

 Feb 05, 2019
SLP50 Rui Gomes & João Almeida of OpenNode - Helping merchants take Bitcoin Lightning Payments
2947

Rui Gomes & João Almeida (CTO, co-founder) of OpenNode join me in this episode to discuss why they turned down Roger Ver's $1.25M, as well as the vision of OpenNode in enabling Bitcoin & Lightning payments. Topics include: 

  • Background on OpenNode
  • Service structure and fees
  • Rejecting Roger Ver's $1.25M offer and why
  • Why OpenNode is Bitcoin-only
  • Comparison of OpenNode with self-hosted BTCPayServer approach
  • How users can set up
  • Getting tech support
  • Plans over the next year or so
  • Growth markets for Bitcoin Lightning payment

OpenNode Links:

Stephan Links: 

 Feb 02, 2019
SLP49 Marty Bent - Bitcoin content creation and curation, and 'mainstream' Economics
2914

Marty Bent, host of the Tales From the Crypt podcast, and editor in chief of Marty's Bent joins me in this episode. We talk about Bitcoin content creation and curation, and also touch on the shifts in thinking from 'mainstream' economics required to understand Bitcoin. 

Marty Bent links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jan 24, 2019
SLP48 Nicolas Dorier and BTCPayServer - self hosted Bitcoin and Lightning payments
3056

Nicolas Dorier, a Bitcoin developer, joins me in this episode to talk about the open source project he started, BTCPayServer. BTCPayServer allows you to start accepting Bitcoin payments with 0% fees & no third-party. It is built with security, privacy and censorship-resistance at its core. 

We cover:

  • Why Nicolas started BTCPayServer
  • What BitPay did to drive Nicolas to start his own open source version
  • Cost and ease of setting up BTCPayServer
  • Hardware node products that can be configured with BTCPayServer built in
  • Upcoming BTCPayServer features such as fiat exchange
  • How you can get involved

Nicolas Dorier & BTCPayServer links:

Stephan Livera links:

 Jan 20, 2019
SLP47 Giacomo Zucco - Custodial LN, Altcoins, Financialisation, Attacks on Bitcoin
4510

Giacomo Zucco, well known Bitcoin advocate, Supremo of BHB Network, and bitcoin consultant/teacher joins me in this episode. We talk:

  • His Bitcoin 'rage quit'!
  • The recent trend of Lightning Network custodial wallets, and whether this is on net a good or bad thing
  • Thoughts on altcoins - are some of them honest, good faith efforts? Might they be technologically interesting, but still not monetarily relevant?
  • Bitcoin financialisation - Does Bitcoin need financialisation or does finance need Bitcoin?
  • Attacks on Bitcoin that may come

Giacomo links:

Stephan links: 

 Jan 15, 2019
SLP46 Sjors Provoost - Bitcoin Core Dev, Hardware Wallet Support, Fungibility
3815

Sjors Provoost (Bitcoin Core developer) joins me to discuss a range of topics: 

  • Bitcoin Core Development and Review 
  • Working towards hardware wallet support in Bitcoin Core
  • Sjors' article, "A Crime on Testnet" - with privacy & fungibility implications

Sjors Links: 

Episode Ad/Sponsor: BUIDL Bootcamp with Justin Moon

 Jan 08, 2019
SLP45 Jeff Deist, President of the Mises Institute
2608

Jeff Deist joins me to discuss Bitcoin and the application of Austrian economics in understanding Bitcoin. Topics: 

  • Market selection of money
  • The potential for a hard money standard to restrict govt spending
  • Why Austrian Economists are split on Bitcoin
  • Why credit would be much tighter under a hard money standard
  • The deflation and 'hoarding' argument - dispelled
  • The educational strategy pursued by the Mises Institute
  • Jeff's recommended Austrian economics books for Bitcoiners

Jeff Deist and Mises Institute links:

 Jan 04, 2019
SLP44 Aleks Svetski, CEO of Amber - Blind Excesses, Crypto, Bitcoin
3749

Aleks Svetski (CEO, co-founder of Amber) joins me in this fiery episode  to talk about the blind excesses of 'Crypto' over the last few years and  more:

- Crazy excesses that we saw over the last few years
- STO's - Security Token Offerings
- "Crypto Traders"
- "Crypto Hedge Fund Managers"
- Bitcoin as asymmetric bet
- Dollar Cost Averaging
- Amber and the service offering


Aleks and Amber links: 

- Amber website: https://getamber.io/
- Aleks Twitter: https://twitter.com/AleksSvetski
- Article "A world full of Blind Excess": https://hackernoon.com/a-world-full-of-blind-excess-b7fb42357d43 


Stephan links:

- Website: http://stephanlivera.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanlivera 
- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/StephanLivera
- Tallycoin (BTC/Lightning donations): https://tallyco.in/stephanlivera/

 Jan 03, 2019
SLP43 Jameson Lopp, Cypherpunk and CTO of Casa
3232

Jameson Lopp, Cypherpunk & CTO of Casa, joins me in this episode to discuss a range of topics:

  • What he's working on right now @ Casa
  • "Who controls Bitcoin Core?", the article by Jameson
  • 2018 Year in Review, thematically and by statistics
  • Bitcoin storage and multi signature solutions
  • Bitcoin helping enable individual sovereignty
  • Grin & Beam 
  • Maintaining privacy with a Bitcoin transaction

Jameson Lopp links:

Stephan Livera links: 

 Dec 29, 2018
SLP42 Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream - Blockstream Satellite, Tim May, Bitcoin Privacy
3853
Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, Cypherpunk & Cryptographer, and inventor of hashcash (cited in Bitcoin's whitepaper) joins me in this episode. We talk about the new update to Blockstream satellite, Tim May and Bitcoin Privacy. Topics: - Blockstream satellite background - How Blockstream satellite works - Making Lightning payments to deliver encrypted messages via satellite - The need for censorship resistance - Tips on setting up Blockstream satellite - Thoughts on Tim May's recent passing - Pay 2 End Point - Confidential Transactions and associated tradeoffs - Quantum Computing and Quantum Resistant Crypto - Other privacy improvements coming to Bitcoin - Technical Fundamentals of Bitcoin Adam Back & Blockstream Links: Blockstream satellite page: https://blockstream.com/satellite/ Elements Project page: https://elementsproject.org/ Adam’s website: http://adam3.us/ Adam’s twitter: https://twitter.com/@adam3us Stephan links: website: https://stephanlivera.com/ twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanlivera
Dec 17, 2018
SLP41 Dhruv Bansal of Unchained Capital - Bitcoin Dust in the Machine, and Bitcoin Financial Service
3944
Dhruv Bansal, Chief Science Officer of Unchained Capital joins me to talk about some of his data science analytical work on Bitcoin's blockchain, and also how Unchained Capital are thinking about Bitcoin financial services. We discuss how Bitcoin enables entirely different delivery of financial products and services. One example of this is the new feature, Collaborative Custody. Topics: - Blockchain as heat engine - How much 'dust' there is and how much it costs to move - Bitcoin Financial Services - How Unchained Capital differentiates itself from other crypto lending businesses - Collaborative custody - Bear market blues - Future vision of Bitcoin financial services Dhruv & Unchained Capital Links: Bitcoin Data Science Part 3: Dust in the Engine: https://blog.unchained-capital.com/bitcoin-data-science-pt-3-dust-in-the-engine-615dd51f49 Dhruv’s twitter: https://twitter.com/dhruvbansal Unchained Capital site: https://www.unchained-capital.com/ Stephan Links: Website: https://stephanlivera.com/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/@stephanlivera
Dec 17, 2018
SLP40 Vijay Boyapati - Why Credit Deflation is More Likely Than Mass Inflation
2951
Vijay Boyapati (Software Developer, Austrian Economist) joins me to discuss his 2010 article, "Why Credit Deflation Is More Likely Than Mass Inflation". Find out where economics commentators were getting it wrong immediately post the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and ways to think about Bitcoin in the coming years. Vijay Links: Article discussed: http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2010/lp-2-43.pdf Vijay's Twitter: https://twitter.com/@real_vijay Stephan Links: Website: www.stephanlivera.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/@stephanlivera Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/StephanLivera
Dec 16, 2018
SLP39 Olaoluwa Osuntokun (Roasbeef), CTO of Lightning Labs
3405
Laolu aka roasbeef, CTO of Lightning Labs joins me in this episode to talk about some of the latest developments with Bitcoin's Lightning Network: - Lightning Summit (Adelaide, Australia Nov 2018) - AMP - Splicing - Probing - Wumbology (large channels) - Neutrino - Wishlist for changes in Bitcoin Core - What products/services should be built on Lightning - What's coming up for Lightning Labs - Outlook for Lightning Network over the next year - How you can get involved Laolu links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/roasbeef Github: https://github.com/roasbeef Lightning Labs: https://lightning.engineering/ LND Developer site: https://dev.lightning.community/ Stephan links: Website: https://stephanlivera.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanlivera
Dec 11, 2018
SLP38 Per Bylund - The size of firms
3039
Per Bylund (Assistant Professor at OSU and Fellow of Mises Institute) joins me to discuss how some firms today are larger than what they would be under a free market. The impact of regulation and ways to assess competition in a market are discussed. We also touch on the confusion about scarcity and 'post scarcity'. Per Bylund Links: Per’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerBylund Per’s website: http://perbylund.com/ Per’s Books: https://www.amazon.com/Per-L.-Bylund/e/B00LMNLBCU Entrepreneur articles: https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/per-bylund Stephan Livera: Website: https://stephanlivera.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanlivera
Dec 08, 2018
SLP37 Rene Pickhardt - Bitcoin Lightning Education & Lightning Summit
3454
Rene Pickhardt, a Bitcoin/Lightning educator, and rising star in the world of Lightning joins me to talk about the Lightning Network. We discuss: - How he got into Lightning - Involvement in the Pirate party - The recent Lightning Summit in Australia - Upcoming Lightning tech - Routing Rene Pickhardt Links: Rene’s Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/renepickhardt Rene’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/renepickhardt Rene’s Github: https://github.com/renepickhardt
Dec 04, 2018
SLP36 Justin Moon - Teaching Bitcoin HODLers to code @ BUIDL Bootcamp
3576
Justin Moon (Founder/Instructor, BUIDL Bootcamp), joins me in this episode to discuss how he came into Bitcoin recently and started doing presentations, Bitcoin application coding and now teaching Bitcoin development to students. We talk about non traditional paths to careers such as software development, and also talk through the structure of BUIDL Bootcamp. Justin links: BUIDL Bootcamp: https://buidlbootcamp.com/ Justin Moon Twitter: https://twitter.com/_JustinMoon_ Justin Moon Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLp4OswuHySZZ3zrVBIoDjg/videos Stephan: Website - https://stephanlivera.com/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/stephanlivera Patreon - http://patreon.com/stephanlivera
Nov 29, 2018
SLP35 Pierre Rochard - Lightning Power Excel Plugin, Lightning Residency
3972
Pierre Rochard (Noded Podcast, Nakamoto Institute, Bitcoin Advisory) joins me in this episode to talk about his new Bitcoin Lightning "Power" Excel Plugin, which allows you to tinker with Lightning right inside MS Excel! We also talk about his recent experience at the Chaincode Lightning Residency, and various other topics on what kind of work is needed in Bitcoin & Lightning. Pierre Links: Pierre’s Lightning Power Users: https://www.lightningpowerusers.com/ Pierre Rochard Lightning Residency write ups: https://medium.com/@pierre_rochard/day-1-of-the-chaincode-labs-lightning-residency-ab4c29ce2077 Noded Podcast: https://noded.org/ Nakamoto Institute: https://nakamotoinstitute.org/ Stephan Livera podcast links: Website: https://stephanlivera.com/episode/35 Subscribe on Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/stephan-livera-podcast/id1415720320 Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/StephanLivera Follow/Message me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephanlivera
Nov 24, 2018
SLP34 Dan Held - Bitcoin Heroes, Villains, Survival, and Capitulation
3046
Dan Held (Co-Founder Picks & Shovels) has been writing influential articles and joins me in this episode to share his perspectives on being in Bitcoin for 6 years. We discuss what the real narrative was around Bitcoin in the early days, and how some Bitcoin Heroes turn and become Bitcoin Villains. We also discuss how to survive in Bitcoin, as well as broader investment discussion on what 'capitulation' looks like in a Bitcoin bear market.
Nov 17, 2018
SLP33 Kara Haas - Bitcoin & Crypto Audit and Accounting
3134
Kara Haas, CPA joins me to discuss Bitcoin auditing and accounting. Especially in relation to Tether, there are many people confused about what an audit is, versus an attestation. And with the Bitmain IPO, some confusion on the correct accounting treatment for Bitcoin. As an accountant and auditor in the field, Kara is able to shed some light on this.
Nov 10, 2018
SLP32 Rigel (CoinsureNZ), Relaying Bitcoin transactions with TxTenna for censorship resistance
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Rigel Walshe (aka CoinsureNZ) joins me to talk about his recent viral adventures in sending Bitcoin transactions without internet on the device itself. His recent stories lit up social media and showed real world usage of TxTenna, a collaboration between GoTenna (mesh networking) and Samourai Wallet (Bitcoin wallet project focused on privacy).
Nov 04, 2018
SLP31 Bitcoin & Crypto eating the world, with Patri Friedman
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Patri Friedman, MD of Zarko Investment Group and a leader in the seasteading movement joins me to talk about how Bitcoin & Crypto will enable greatly freer markets around the world. We talk about Bitcoin maximalism, Crypto parallels with the dotcom bubble, jurisdictional competition, seasteading and start up cities, law as technology, and more. We also discuss David Friedman's thoughts on Bitcoin & Crypto, and what Patri's late grandfather, Milton Friedman, would have thought on Bitcoin.
Oct 31, 2018
SLP30 Bitcoin-backed loans and financial services, with Zac Prince of BlockFi
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Zac Prince, Founder and CEO of BlockFi joins me in this episode to talk about the incredible benefits of Bitcoin as collateral for USD loans. We talk about the 'double whammy' of how it can be used to minimise capital gains taxes, and get an interest deduction on the use of funds. Bitcoin also makes it easier to provide global debt financing in countries where it has traditionally been difficult to operate USD lending.
Oct 29, 2018
SLP29 - Samourai Wallet, Bitcoin privacy software that Silicon Valley would never build
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One of the pseudonymous founders of Samourai Wallet joins me in this exciting episode to talk about Bitcoin privacy techniques that are applied within the wallet and upcoming improvements to their Bitcoin wallet app. Anyone interested to learn more about how Samourai Wallet helps protect privacy will truly enjoy this episode.
Oct 25, 2018
SLP28 - Cyphernode Bitcoin API, with Francis Pouliot and Etienne Larrivee of Satoshi Portal
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Francis Pouliot and Etienne Larrivee (CEO Satoshi Portal and Lead Developer Cyphernode), join me to talk about their newly released open source Bitcoin self-hosted API allowing you to more easily build Bitcoin services and applications. This enables businesses and users to reduce their reliance on commercial Bitcoin APIs, while still offering advanced features and utilities.
Oct 22, 2018
SLP27 - Turning Stranded Natural Gas Into Bitcoin Mining Hashes, with Steve Barbour of Upstream Data
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Steve Barbour (Founder, Upstream Data) joins me to discuss how he is turning stranded natural gas into Bitcoin mining hashes. His HashGen product uses low value natural gas to improve the economics for Canadian Oil and Gas facilities, while powering Bitcoin mining ASICs. In this discussion we also talk about the 'bitcoin energy use is wasted' narrative, and how bitcoin mining was centralised in the past, but is now decentralising.
Oct 20, 2018
SLP26 - Building Bitcoin services to last, with Jeremy Welch of Casa
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Jeremy Welch (Founder of Casa) joins me in this episode to talk about crafting a business around the concept of safely storing bitcoin. We talk about the ethos of Casa, designing services for a sovereign individual, securing top tier talent, and Casa products.
Oct 13, 2018
SLP25 - Taking Bitcoin Lightning Payment, and 'earner adoption', with Sergej Kotliar, CEO of Bitrefill
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Sergej Kotliar, CEO of Bitrefill joins me to discuss taking bitcoin and lightning payments as an online merchant. We talked about the challenges and benefits of doing this, particularly in how lightning network simplifies the user experience and reduces errors. In the second part of the episode, we talk about 'earner adoption' - the idea that bitcoin's ecosystem can grow from people earning it.
Oct 02, 2018
SLP24 - Wasabi Bitcoin Wallet & Bitcoin Privacy, with Adam Ficsor (nopara73)
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Adam Ficsor (nopara73), a Bitcoin privacy developer and CTO of zkSNACKs joins me to talk about his new wallet, Wasabi Wallet. We talk about: Privacy being for everyone Comparison with other privacy projects, such as Monero, or other Bitcoin mixing services ZeroLink framework How your Bitcoin Privacy can be broken How chain analysis works What Wasabi Wallet does to break chain analysis heuristics Upcoming Wasabi Wallet launch
Sep 27, 2018
SLP23 - Economic Eras of Bitcoin, and Lightning Development, with Rusty Russell of Blockstream
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Rusty Russell, a well known and respected Bitcoin Lightning developer at Blockstream joins me in this episode. We talk about his article, The Three Economic Eras of Bitcoin, and discuss the Lightning Network for Bitcoin. Lastly, Rusty draws from his prior experience as a Linux kernel developer to contrast Linux development with Bitcoin and Lightning development practices and culture.
Sep 20, 2018
SLP22 - Unnecessary crypto-tokens and Bitcoin/Lightning development, with Udi Wertheimer
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Udi Wertheimer (Bitcoin software developer) joins me to discuss the use of unnecessary crypto-tokens, why some people do it, the use of non-crypto tokens in gaming, unnecessary blockchains, #reckless lightning development, and what he is looking forward to in Bitcoin and Lightning.
Sep 17, 2018
SLP21 - Jimmy Song, Bitcoin Educator, Developer and Entrepreneur
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Jimmy Song (Bitcoin Educator, Developer, and Entrepreneur) joins me in this episode to discuss his recent debate with Roger Ver, and in the second half we also discuss Blockchain skepticism. We separate the signal from the noise on 'enterprise blockchain' technology by discussing the true costs and difficulties involved, and then discuss some alternatives to 'enterprise blockchain'.
Sep 15, 2018
SLP20 - Samson Mow, CSO of Blockstream
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Samson Mow, CSO of Blockstream (leading provider of blockchain technologies) joins me in this episode to discuss a variety of topics: Bitmain IPO, mining centralisation Errors of cryptocurrency 'diversification' When it makes sense to use a blockchain, when it doesn't Why Blockstream builds mostly on bitcoin Blockstream products Cryptocurrency Data feed, and Liquid network Privacy Bitcoin Fee Market Samson's Hat sales and blog
Sep 09, 2018
SLP19 - The Bitcoin Ecosystem, with Vortex (Jeffrey)
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Vortex (Jeffrey), a software developer and well known bitcoin YouTuber joins me in this episode to talk about the Bitcoin ecosystem. This interview is targeted for newbies to bitcoin, to help them understand the key components of the Bitcoin ecosystem. We also discuss: the Cryptocast network, the role of nodes in Bitcoin, Bitcoin development, his course Programming with Bitcoin, Fintech vs FinUI, and his outlook for the future.
Sep 08, 2018
SLP18 - Pioneering Bitcoin/Lightning Payments in Australia, with Daniel Alexiuc (CEO Living Room of Satoshi)
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Daniel Alexiuc (CEO of Living Room of Satoshi) joins me in this episode to discuss how he is pioneering Bitcoin and Lightning Network payments in Australia, both on his website LROS, and also as a partner with Travel By Bit. We discuss: his viral video using LN to buy a coffee in Brisbane airport (May 2018), why blockchains aren't a good payment system, use of both C-Lightning by Blockstream and Lnd by Lightning Labs, crypto payment volumes increasing, use of BTCpay, and outlook for the future.
Sep 03, 2018
SLP17 - Bitmain, Bcash, Facebook Crypto rumours, and reframing scarcity with Vijay Boyapati
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Vijay Boyapati (Software engineer, Austrian economist) and I discuss the coming Bitmain IPO, the economic errors behind BCash, rumours of Facebook entering Crypto, reframing scarcity, hard money in earlier times, and how Bitcoin might fare in a broader market crash.
Sep 01, 2018
SLP16 - Keeping Bitcoin Simple, with Beautyon (Akin Fernandez)
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Akin (Beautyon_) and I discuss what led him to Bitcoin, his Bitcoin business Azteco, stances on Bitcoin and regulation, the importance of keeping Bitcoin simple, Open source software versus closed source software, and Samurai Bitcoin wallet.
Aug 29, 2018
SLP15 - Intellectual Property, Bitcoin, and Internet Censorship, with Stephan Kinsella
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Stephan Kinsella, Intellectual Property lawyer, and libertarian advocate joins me in this episode to discuss: His story with bitcoin Money as Sui Generis Good The imprecise application of Lockean property theory Why you can't own bitcoin, but it probably doesn't make a big difference anyway The harmful effects of patents and copyright 'Internet Censorship' as it relates to property rights and ownership of private social media platforms
Aug 17, 2018
SLP14 - Lightning Hack Day, with Jeff Gallas of Fulmo
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Jeff Gallas is the Founder of Fulmo and lead organizer of #LightningHackDay. We talk about the community of pioneers who are building lightning applications, and related hardware. We also talk about the upcoming Lightning Hack Day on September 1st.
Aug 17, 2018
SLP13 - Bitcoin as Ultimate Asset, with Fernando Ulrich, Austrian Economist
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In this episode, we talk through emerging market currency crises, and his new 5 part article series on Bitcoin as Ultimate Asset. We contrast differing monetary views, why it doesn't make sense to spend bitcoin right now, Medium of Exchange vs Method of Payment, and fallacies of 'Medium of Exchange only' cryptocurrencies.
Aug 16, 2018
SLP12 - Bitcoin Mining and Energy, with Hass McCook
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Hass McCook and I discuss the Bitcoin mining market and his recent research, "The Cost and Sustainability of Bitcoin". We cover key bitcoin mining metrics, bitcoin mining cost price ranges, the Bitcoin Price - Mining Hash Rate relationship, the evolution of bitcoin mining over the past 3 years, and compare Bitcoin mining costs vs Gold mining.
Aug 14, 2018
SLP11 - Bitcoin's Decentralised Governance, with Pierre Rochard
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Pierre Rochard (co-founder Nakamoto Institute, co-host Noded podcast) and I talk through Bitcoin's Decentralised Governance. This is the process by which Bitcoin's rules are decided, implemented, and enforced without having a central authority. Some topics covered: The different parties involved Network Governance Bitcoin has no central authority Process of Research, Proposal, Implementation, Deployment, Enforcement Schelling Points
Aug 12, 2018
SLP10 - Visions of Bitcoin and Transaction Batching with Nic Carter and Hasu
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Nic Carter and Hasu join me to discuss the multitude of changing visions of Bitcoin, and also a Transaction Batching analysis they performed. We discuss how the narratives and attitudes in Bitcoin have changed over time as different constraints surfaced. In the second half, we discuss bitcoin transaction batching, and more appropriate ways to think about the number of bitcoin transactions.
Aug 11, 2018
SLP9 - Lightning UX and Routing, with Bryan Vu
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Bryan Vu, VP of Product at Lightning Labs joins me in this episode to sketch out a vision of what Lightning Network may evolve into. We discuss Lightning User Experience and Routing, and the benefits to users, merchants and exchanges.
Aug 11, 2018
SLP8 - Bitcoin Monetary Evolution, with Murad Mahmudov
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Murad and I explore a range of economic thought about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in a fascinating interview discussing the path to Bitcoin as 'monetary winner'. As a prolific writer and analyst in Bitcoin, Murad is very well read and articulate. We discuss: His articles, how Bitcoin is ushering in an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity, a framework for monetary Store of Value criteria, and more.
Aug 09, 2018
SLP7 - Earning Interest on Bitcoin's Lightning Network, with Nik Bhatia
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In this episode with Nik Bhatia, we talk about the potential for forming capital markets on top of Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, by calculating an interest rate (LNRR - Lightning Network Reference Rate) based on the routing fees earned in staking BTC to Lightning Network payment channels.
Aug 04, 2018
SLP6 - Fiat Money as 'fad diet', with Bitstein
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In this episode with Bitstein, we break down Paul Krugman's errors in his NYT "Transaction Costs and Tethers: Why I’m a Crypto Skeptic" column, as well as other topics: Mischaracterisation of what money's purpose is Krugman's 'nirvana fallacies' in money Why fiat money is an aberration and more akin to a 'fad diet' than bitcoin or gold are Why Everyone Is a Scammer and the Scammer heuristic Bitcoin Maximalism - is it descriptive or prescriptive? UNIX philosophy
Aug 03, 2018
SLP5 - Bitcoin in Beijing and common errors in 'Crypto', with Neil Woodfine
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In this episode with Neil Woodfine, we talk about the changing face of Bitcoin education and common errors in reasoning about Bitcoin and 'token economics'. Some topics we touch on: Bitcoin in Beijing Bitcoin education in the early days vs Bitcoin/Crypto education now Incentives of unnecessary tokens Bitcoin is not 'backed by' stored energy Intolerance of bitcoin versus it merely being a superior money Skin in the game of Bitcoiners versus other projects such as Ethereum
Aug 02, 2018
SLP4 - Why Bitcoin and not the others, with JW Weatherman
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In this collaboration episode with JW Weatherman, we talk about some of the reasons why Bitcoin is best, versus the altcoins. We also discuss some of the security flaws and problems with the design and execution of altcoins such as: Bcash, EOS, Ethereum, Ripple, Monero, Zcash
Jul 29, 2018
SLP3 - Bitcoin Investment Theses with Pierre Rochard
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Pierre Rochard joins us in this incredible episode to discuss the case for investing in Bitcoin. Pierre shares insights and thoughts from his years of being in the Bitcoin space, and offers improved ways of thinking about Bitcoin investment.
Jul 29, 2018
SLP2 - How Bitcoin "mentally captures" people with Vijay Boyapati
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In this episode with Vijay Boyapati, we discuss economics of Bitcoin. Most interesting is the concept that over time, more and more people are being 'mentally captured' by Bitcoin. Some other points discussed: Bitcoin progressing through stages of 'moneyness' Hype cycles of bitcoin HODL'ing as freeriding Confidence in Bitcoin
Jul 28, 2018
SLP1 - Bitcoin as Sound Money with Saifedean Ammous, Austrian Economist
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Stephan interviews Saifedean Ammous, Austrian Economics Professor and author of The Bitcoin Standard. In this podcast episode we take a deep dive into the case for Bitcoin as sound money, and what is potentially the hardest money the world has ever seen.
Jul 23, 2018