Duality Check

#14 – Bitcoin

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HODL TO THE MOON! Today’s episode covers the groundbreaking and still misunderstood king of cryptos, Bitcoin! We start the show off talking about an article New York Times put out about the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis. All in all it seems to take the idea seriously, which is great! We introduce the topic of Bitcoin with a high level overview. We discuss the white paper and it’s conception. But what good is Bitcoin? To answer that, we talk about the history of money and pros and cons of gold and paper fiat as money. We cover the Byzantine Generals Problem and how Bitcoin represents the first true solution to the problem in history. We follow along the steps of a Bitcoin transaction in order to explain how it works in detail and then talk about mining and how it works. The only known weakness to bitcoin is the 51% attack and we talk about how it could work and why it can probably never happen. Is Bitcoin bad for the environment? How can you buy bitcoin and keep it safe? What is a Bitcoin wallet? What is a Bitcoin halving event? We answer these questions and end the show talking about how gangster Satoshi Nakamoto is as well as how important Bitcoin is for the future of the world.

Links:

Here’s the CosmicTuck.com post with George Howard talking about the article and here’s the article itself.

Bitcoin Links:
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Timestamps:

Learning:

  • Bitcoin.org is a wonderful resource for information about bitcoin. It can explain the basics and teach you the important information about setting up your first wallet. 
  • Andreas Antonopoulos was one of the people I learned about bitcoin from. He has a deep understanding of the technology and a great understanding of it’s possibilities. He has multiple books, podcasts and videos on the topic. This video might be my favorite.
  • This video shows Peter Van Valkenburgh addressing a Senate Committee. It’s a great explanation for what bitcoin is and what it can do for the world.
  • Here’s a Tuttle Twins cartoon explaining bitcoin.
  • 3Blue1Brown did a great detailed breakdown of how bitcoin works on a technical level.
  • You can find the bitcoin white paper here. It was written by Satoshi Nakamoto.
  • Bitcoin: Sovereignty Through Mathematics by Knut Svanholm. Its a short and powerful read about bitcoin, why we need it and what it can do for us. He also has a libertarian, Austrian economics perspective on bitcoin and his analysis is filtered through that.
  • The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking 1st Edition
    • by Saifedean Ammous. This book is incredible. If you want a deep dive on the theory of money and how bitcoin fits into the economy, this is your book. It’s detailed and well written from an austrian economics perspective.

    Buying Bitcoin:

    • You cash buy bitcoin simply with bitcoin ATMs located in many places. You can use the Cash app to buy bitcoin.
    • You can also use exchanges like Kraken, Coinbase or Blockchain.com but be careful to withdraw your bitcoin for long term storage to a private wallet you control.
    • For more advanced users looking for more privacy you can use Bisq
    • You can also acquire bitcoin through person to person exchanges with friends and family. If you know someone who has a decent amount of bitcoin try asking them to sell you some. It’s also good practice for teaching you how to use your wallet. I would often offer to repay my friends for buying lunch with bitcoin.

      • Wallets: 

      • Check out the wallets on bitcoin.org and this post on reddit. I like the Exodus Wallet myself.
        • Other Links:
        • satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org
        • China outlaws bitcoin mining.
        • Martti Malmi one of the first bitcoin developers found the first known purchase of bitcoin
        • An article about different people who were thought to possibly be Satoshi
          • Leave a tip! (only if you want)
          BTC Address: bc1qvaphvfx636t3f3mc4x4636wzy4zu83hrp27ssz
          • 0:00:00 – Intro
          • 0:02:31 – Younger Dryas Impact Article 
          • 0:06:05 – Bitcoin at a High Level
          • 0:15:33 – The White Paper
          • 0:19:51 – Historical Money and Gold’s Strength
          • 0:26:35 – Gold Has It’s Own Problems
          • 0:32:51 – Paper Money
          • 0:43:35 – Music Break
          • 0:45:40 – Bitcoin’s Strengths
          • 0:53:13 – The Weaknesses
          • 0:57:26 – The Byzantine Generals Problem
          • 1:02:30 – The Details of a Bitcoin Transaction
          • 1:14:35 – Mining Rigs
          • 1:20:57 – The Blockchain and 51% Attacks
          • 1:25:32 – Bitcoin’s Energy Use
          • 1:32:19 – Music Break
          • 1:35:12 – Self Custody & Deflation
          • 1:44:47 – Halving Events, The Bitcoin Vision
          • 1:51:56 – Wallet Types & Security 
          • 1:58:12 – Bitcoin is Maturing and Changing Lives
          • 2:07:04 – Satoshi is Gangster!
          • 2:13:32 – Interesting Tidbits
          • 2:20:04 – Outro

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