Episodes
If you are going to start a business in cryptocurrency, you must deal with a high level of regulatory and legal uncertainty. Navigating the world of KYC, lawyer fees, and vague directives from government agencies, ShapeShift has evolved over the last 5 years. Recently, they launched commission-free trading with the FOX token. Erik walks through this decision, the critics of their move to implement KYC/AML, and views on money and state.
Published 12/17/19
Published 12/17/19
Even though Anthony Pompliano's Morgan Creek Digital holds BCH as it's 3rd largest asset, he'll rarely, if ever, talk about it in public. I'm not picking on Pomp, this is par for the course among the crypto fund community. Justin Bons is not your typical fund manager. He proudly engages with the Bitcoin Cash community and is excited about the future. Justin shares his views on fundamentals, governance and why you should care about cryptocurrency in the first place.
Published 12/10/19
In 2017, the bitcoin community was outraged by the extreme negligence of Equifax in one of the largest data breaches ever. We have a short memory: Equifax stock is up roughly 43% this year! Two years later, Reuben and his company, Class Action Inc are still fighting for the people. They recently filed an objection to a laughable settlement offer: less than $5 per person to less than 10% of those affected. We discuss data freedom, digitizing law, and decentralizing power.
Published 12/03/19
The inflation rate in Argentina is currently at 55% per year. It's not a surprise that bitcoin has a strong following and usage there. Santiago is the founder of Democracy Earth. He's someone that gets a ring from political activists in Chile and Mexico asking him for advice on how to organize digitally. He declined to work with the political party in Mexico due to ethical reasons. He also started a political party, the Net Party, in 2012 in Argentina. Listen to the episode
Published 11/25/19
This is the first of a two part special on the Ethereum ecosystem. Lawson Baker has a weapon is his toolkit that is quite useful in the crypto world: a law degree. With a background in finance, Lawson understands the power of cryptoassets and the regulatory guidelines that have to be met. We talk about narratives in crypto, stablecoins, privacy, and a token standard he has helped push along: the ERC-1404.
Published 11/19/19
For a long time (in crypto terms) Bitcoin Cash has been largely ignored by institutional investors. Dave Shin is working to change that. Dave is a banker by day and bitcoiner by night. His double life is starting to pay dividends. In addition to running the Bitcoin.com exchange, he is raising awareness of the viability of Bitcoin Cash as an asset to the international banking crowd.
Published 11/12/19
An engineer running for Congress in San Fran, Agatha offers a unique skillset and ideas not found in the current House of Representatives. She is an advocate for blockchain tech, cryptocurrency, and prison reform. What I really appreciate about Agatha is her willingness to discuss any topic. She gave smart and candid answers to questions that 99% of politicians would have deflected. We talk about the way money works today, the benefits of a public ledger for the government, and much more.
Published 11/05/19
An inside look at Wachsman - The public relations arm for top crypto companies like Bitmex, Kraken, and Coindesk. A behind the scenes juggernaut with a team of 100 employees with offices in 3 countries. Going into the interview, I was curious how David was able to scale his PR expertise into a global team. How do they handle those emergency situations?  What about their relationships with press contacts? How do they manage clients who may be directly or indirectly competing with each other?
Published 10/22/19
Filmmaker, researcher, and cryptocurrency advocate Peter Ryan talks about growth marketing for Bitcoin Cash. He started at NYU and then went to THE media establishment of the industry: CoinDesk. Now, Peter has rolled the dice and joined media upstart CoinSpice. What excites him about CoinSpice? How can Bitcoin Cash become a "winning culture"?
Published 10/15/19
Andreas shares his thoughts on global politics and finance and ties it back to bitcoin. Learn why his current project, Sideshift.ai, a cutting edge, non-custodial exchange is a reflection of these world views. If I had to describe him in one sentence: A Norwegian libertarian wearing a gold shitcoin.com chain, Andreas combine his under-the-hood tinkering with cryptos and experience at exchanges since 2013 and now his own exchange Sideshift.ai.
Published 10/08/19
Back for part 2 with Sean. We conclude this conversation with Sean's thoughts on Bitcoin as a compliment to the current financial system. Sean is the CEO of HyperBlock, which has a large mining center in Missoula, Montana. Note: Apologies for not having the best sound quality on Sean's side. We did our best to clean it up. But this episode will make you think differently about bitcoin and what it means to be a contrarian thinker.
Published 10/01/19
Running a publicly traded mining company, Sean has to defend bitcoin to the public. He defines what bitcoin is, plus his personal Big Short story from the 2008 housing bubble.
Published 09/24/19
Talking shop with two CEO's in the bitcoin world. We discuss Stefan's rise to CEO, decentralized finance, and helping industries and countries that have unfavorable banking situations.
Published 09/10/19
Emin Gun Sirer is arguably the most prominent professor in the Bitcoin ecosphere. Teaching computer science at Cornell since 2001, Emin was interested in cryptocurrency before bitcoin.  In 2003, with Karma, he invented proof of work. Now, he believes that their is a better solution to consensus: Avalanche. Emin shares his thoughts on the current bitcoin discourse, how CEOs should behave, and, of course, the future of cryptocurrency.
Published 09/03/19
Back in the day (2011), it made the decision to take the non-custodial approach. This was in contrast to Coinbase's custodial approach. Years later, Peter is still grinding it out at the Blockchain.com headquarters in London. Peter takes an unconventional approach to life and business. Entering uncharted territory for the company, they finally decided to launch an exchange of their own, PIT, which is billed to be the fastest crypto exchange on the market!
Published 08/20/19
Sam Feldman is an internet entrepreneur. Like many, he is fascinated by crypto. His recent, comprehensive Cryptoguide on Binance caught the attention of Changpeng Zhao himself. We analyze last week's ep with Binance's CSO, talk about the opportunities and threats to Binance dominance, and get Sam's take on cryptocurrency in general. Plus a recent incident in Sweden that shows some of the new problems caused using cryptocurrency as money.
Published 08/13/19
"The real story, we believe, is that Binance is probably the fastest profitable startup to achieve unicorn status (private company with $1bn+ valuation) in history. Binance is valued at not $1bn+ but closer to $2bn+. And they did it in less than 6 months. Yes, you read it right, 6 months." Binance continues to evolve. Binance Announces Former NBA and Dell Corporate Development Executive as Strategy Officer Listen and get an inside look at CZ, Binance, and more.
Published 08/06/19
Paul Le Roux, subject of the book and future TV series The Mastermind, is a real life bond villain. We talk to the author about the prospect of Le Roux as Satoshi and his thoughts on Bitcoin in general. You can listen to this podcast without having read the book, but make sure to buy and read it after. The recent Craig Wright lawsuit brought up the possibility of Le Roux being Satoshi. We didn't come to a definitive answer but, to me, it's the most compelling case I've ever heard.
Published 07/23/19
One thing that stands out in the crazy world of bitcoin is how little conversation is dedicated to shopping; spending cryptocurrency.  Instead, we see dApps, investing, and user cases taking the limelight from "crypto as cash". Matt and his team have built a travel website that not only accepts 10 cryptocurrencies, but rewards their users with their own cryptocurrency, the AVA token.  Imagine if you had liquidity for your frequent flyer miles. That's exactly what Travala is doing.
Published 07/16/19
Something obvious but not always stated: If we want worldwide adoption Today's youth must be involved with cryptocurrency. There is a misconception that you have to invest, or that you have to code in order to be involved with Bitcoin. While Christian does code, he also runs a YouTube channel and hosts meetups in Southern California.
Published 07/09/19
Another Bitcoin.com team member joins the show. We double down on mining. Following up our interview with Nishant of Bitmain, we talk to Shaun Chong, one of the brightest minds at Bitcoin.com. He moved to Tokyo looking for an adventure and he found one. Running the bitcoin.com mining pool is a fast-paced, exciting life. Shaun is very intelligent but also soft-spoken, so it's a treat to hear his perspective on the world of bitcoin.
Published 07/02/19
Nishant Sharma leads Bitmain's international PR and community relations strategy. Preparing for the interview, I had a lot of questions about the company: What happened with the IPO? Why is there so much FUD and mystery? What is Wu Jihan these days? We covered that but we also had a deep discussion about China. How does money work there? Does anti-Chinese propaganda affect our understanding of bitcoin usage and sentiment in China? Why do some people call Bitcoin Cash the "Chinese Bitcoin"?
Published 06/18/19
Kai is humble and he wouldn't say it, but I will: Kai is one of the top writers in the cryptocurrency world.  A Scottish native, he's never been a fan of gov't control and when he learned about bitcoin years ago, he was hooked. A clever, insightful journalist Kai knows a lot about Darknet markets and has a firm grasp on the bitcoin news circuit.
Published 06/11/19
We tell all types of stories on Humans of Bitcoin. This one is about the transformation of a young man.  Playing college basketball, Adam was on track for a traditional business career. But things changed. A spiritual awakening influenced by time in Belize has sent him down the unconventional life which includes Liberland and, of course, Bitcoin.
Published 06/04/19