“A lot of us when we talk about Bitcoin we’d say look it’s schmuck insurance, or it’s a digital gold analogue or replacement. But because it can also be used as money, yes it’s very volatile, but it also has upward volatility, not a persistent depreciation of value over time like you have with some of these other currencies you’re going to hold your assets in.”
— Ryan Selkis

Location: New York
Date: Tuesday 6th December
Company: Messari
Role: Founder & CEO

Bitcoin’s architecture uses decentralisation to achieve censorship-resistance and permissionless access to a revolutionary monetary protocol. And despite thousands of altcoins that claimed to be better or faster over the years, Bitcoin reigns as the non-sovereign store of value in the digital world.

However, what is not yet clear is if the wider world of ‘crypto’ can achieve similarly permissionless innovation outside of money, or if they are instead ‘decentralised in name only’.

Can these protocols resist influence by powerful actors? What is ‘enough’ decentralisation? Will the fundraising-via-token model survive the SEC? Will they adapt to increasing pressure? Is there real innovation, or is it all just a house of cards of venture capital and marketing? Many questions remain.

As Bitcoiners it is important to engage those with broader outlooks, even if we have seemingly incompatible ideologies.  The battle of ideas involves free, open, and respectful discussion.

In this interview, I talk to the founder and CEO of the research and data firm Messari, Ryan Selkis. We discuss Messari’s industry-leading opus on the state of the ecosystem, Bitcoin and gold, regulation, both sides of the Web3 debate and the differentiation of Bitcoin and ‘crypto’.

This episode’s sponsors:
Gemini - Buy Bitcoin instantly
BlockFi - The future of Bitcoin financial services
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Casa - The leading provider of Bitcoin multisig key security.
Ledger - State of the art Bitcoin hardware wallet
Compass Mining - Bitcoin mining & hosting
LVL - Bank on Bitcoin
BCB Group - Global digital financial Services

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WBD450 - Show Notes

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