Ben Arc is the founder of LNbits and a passionate Bitcoiner. In this episode, he tells us the story of how he discovered the problem he set out to solve, i.e. LNbits. He also talks about how makers, hobbyists, and tinkerers can make use of LNbits and hardware devices to their advantage. We ended the episode with what bitcoin is to him, and why he was at the conference.

Running Bitcoin - runningbitcoin.us

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction

04:17 - Introducing Ben

09:47 - The Lightning World, early Bitcoin days, and the first phone wallet

14:00 - Ben's journey developing hardware and technology for the Lightning network, and LNURL

25:45 - LNbits, and the gap in the market it sought to fill

41:57 - More use cases - like the offline shop extension, and Ben's workshops

54:35 - Ben shouts out some tools he uses, and other projects in the works

1:05:44 - What does Bitcoin mean to Ben?

1:09:15 - Contact Info and Closing Thoughts

Ben's Socials:

Ben Arc on Twitter - https://twitter.com/arcbtc

GitHub Repository - https://github.com/arcbtc

LNBits Lightning Wallet - https://legend.lnbits.com/

Go Full Crypto Social Links

Website: https://GoFullCrypto.com

Keegan Francis' Newsletter - http://keeganfrancis.substack.com/

Keegan Twitter - https://twitter.com/CryptoKeegan

Mrugakshee Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mrugakshee/

Andrew Bergel is an instructor of environmental governance at Dalhousie university in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He joins us for the second part of the interview where we talk about Andrew's experience as an instructor at Dalhousie University. The conversation ventures generally into socialism, capitalism, with an overtone of cryptocurrency and bitcoin.

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Discussing Andrew's educational background

(03:57) - Discussing regulations, and how do traditional finance norms work here?

(12:46) - How regulation and normalization of crypto trading might affect hedge funds

(15:08) - What led Andrew towards crypto

(31:33) - Does increase in price make Bitcoin less risky? And Crypto in the classroom

(37:47) - Portfolio diversity philosophy, 'trying to catch a falling knife', and Sector Rotation

(51:09) - The monetary policy of Bitcoin, and reading patterns as a trader

(58:45) - Dialog about crypto and capitalism in the classroom

(1:14:29) - Tangential talk about philosophy, money systems and sci-fi dystopias

(1:22:10) - Bitcoin, Energy and Sustainability

(1:32:15) - Discussing outlooks towards crypto when it comes to buying/holding

(1:39:53) - Some life advice from Andrew, and closing thoughts

Edited and Mixed by Kaushik Sethunath.

Go Full Crypto Social Links

Website: https://GoFullCrypto.com

Keegan Francis' Newsletter - http://keeganfrancis.substack.com/

Keegan Twitter - https://twitter.com/BitcoinKeegan

Mrugakshee Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mrugakshee/

There is more than meets the eye in terms of what is going on in El Salvador. This is why we spoke with Dorothy. She is a Spanish speaking Canadian who has been in El Salvador for about 2 months. She's been transacting in bitcoin, conversing with the locals, and helping them to understand why and how to use bitcoin. She joins us to share her boots on the ground experience on what bitcoin adoption is like in El Salvador.

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Introduction

(01:51) - Introducing Dorothy, and the onset of Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador

(09:38) - Transparency in volatility of a currency

(15:53) - Issues with Chivo, and the government's lack of advertising/marketing

(25:09) - How the Salvadorans have responded to Bitcoin, and financial literacy

(40:38) - Issues with financial literacy as a whole

(50:40) - Bitcoin adoption and modernization, without losing heritage and culture

(1:04:56) - A few thoughts on Canada trending towards authoritarianism

(1:12:58) - Closing Thoughts

Edited and Mixed by Kaushik Sethunath.

Dorothy's Social Links

DorothySells.com

Go Full Crypto's Social Links

• Keegan Francis Newsletter

When we interviewed Mike Peterson in Ep 16 of our podcast, it was then that we decided we were going to come visit El Zonte. A little over a year after recording that episode, we made it to El Salvador. Our experience here has been nothing short of amazing. In this episode, we recount a couple stories of witnessing how adopting bitcoin has been for the people of El Salvador.

Keegan's letter on Bitcoin City

Keegan's private letter titled "My Week in El Salvador"

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Introduction

(01:34) - El Salvador - First Impression

(05:52) - Experience spending Bitcoin in El Salvador

(10:02) - The Chivo Wallet, and some difficulties faced as a result of it

(15:38) - More Bitcoin experiences

(27:09) - Could restaurants double up as ATMs?

(30:01) - Assorted stories

(35:00) - Wrapping up, and closing thoughts

Edited and Mixed by Kaushik Sethunath.

Go Full Crypto Social Links

Website: https://GoFullCrypto.com

Keegan Francis' Newsletter - http://keeganfrancis.substack.com/

Keegan Twitter - https://twitter.com/CryptoKeegan

Mrugakshee Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mrugakshee/

Goodnight Bitcoin is a children's book and SHAmory is a card game that teaches the players about how bitcoin mining works. We interviewed founders Scott and Malory, to learn about what lead them to create these products for bitcoin, and why bitcoin is important to them. We discovered these games and books are not just for children, but also for the parents and grandparents reading them.

SHAmory website

How to Play SHAmory video

Goodnight Bitcoin movie

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Introduction

(02:19) - Introducing Scott, Mallory, and SHAmory

(07:04) - Scott and Mallory's Bitcoin stories, and the concept behind SHAmory 

(18:43) - Discussing Financial Literacy, and Goodnight Bitcoin

(30:48) - Plans to raise awareness for Goodnight Bitcoin, and Bitcoin in Education

(36:20) - Some messages from Scott and Mallory for the public

(39:41) - Contact info, and closing thoughts

Edited and Mixed by Kaushik Sethunath.

Go Full Crypto Social Links

Website: https://GoFullCrypto.com

Keegan Francis' Newsletter - http://keeganfrancis.substack.com/

Keegan Twitter - https://twitter.com/CryptoKeegan

Mrugakshee Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mrugakshee/

Jacinda Brown from CryptoKnight Energy joins us to talk about her experience of developing bitcoin mining farms alongside oil and gas wells. Jacinda brings her decades of experience as a geologist and working with oil companies to the relatively new space of using bitcoin miners to create more efficiencies within the systems of oil and gas extraction.

(00:00) - Introduction

(01:29) - Jacinda's background, and using excess Natural Gas to mine Bitcoin 

(8:00) - Discussing Jacinda's Bitcoin journey

(13:24) - Natural Gas 101, and parallels between Bitcoin, and Oil and Gas

(29:00) - Finances, transactions and profits, when running a company that mines Bitcoin

(34:25) - The ecological and environmental impact of extracting Natural Gas

(43:37) - The energy expenditure required for the mining of Bitcoin

(51:17) - CryptoKnight Energy, Economy, and local jobs

(1:01:59) - Other challenges, and how to get in touch with the CryptoKnight Energy team

(1:09:04) - Closing Thoughts

Jacinda Brown's Social Links

• Jacinda Brown LinkedIn

Go Full Crypto Social Links

• Keegan Francis Newsletter

Edited and Mixed by Kaushik Sethunath.

Sue Ennis is the Vice President of Corporate Development at Hut8 Mining. Hut8 is a mining company that is publicly traded on the NASDAQ and the TSX. Sue joins us to talk about to talk about how the company works and how the future of mining will evolve. The discussion ventures into the environmental impact of bitcoin and the potential of bitcoins growth in the future.

(00:00) - Introduction

(01:35) - Hut 8 Mining as OG HODL'ers 

(6:30) - Sue's background as a Bitcoiner

(10:47) - Operational basics of GPU Mining

(16:23) - Using cold climate and renewable energy for mining

(23:06) - Thoughts on Mining, and Energy Consumption

(31:01) - One thing Sue wishes was asked and discussed more, and the GFC Origin story

(36:54) - Discussing Bitcoin vs Fixed Income

(42:14) - Is it too late to get into Bitcoin?, and Closing Thoughts

Edited and Mixed by Kaushik Sethunath.

Sue Ennis Social Links

• LinkedIn

Hut 8 Mining Social Links

• LinkedIn

Go Full Crypto Social Links

• Keegan Francis Newsletter

Tristan Lamonica is the director of digital strategy for the Parliament of Canada. He got into bitcoin in 2013 and has been researching it ever since. His master thesis was on how bitcoin can be integrated into social media platforms in order to fix some of their prevalent issues. We explore a wide range of topics in this episode ranging from Canadian politics, to the lightning network, to the "good ole days" of bitcoin.

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Introduction

(01:54) - Tristan's early Bitcoin story

(13:49) - Learning about Tristan's background

(26:05) - Discussing the STEEM - HIVE split

(29:58) - The Lightning Network, and the many ways the Digital Generation gets into Bitcoin

(43:30) - How Bitcoin was procured 'back in the day'

(48:33) - Global perception of Bitcoin outside the US and Canada

(1:01:39) - Tristan's Thesis, and how the academic community responded to it

(1:09:18) - Other Cryptocurrencies, and can there be a "next Bitcoin"?

(1:21:56) - The practical experience of Bitcoin as a currency

(1:26:30) - Tristan's experience working in Parliament

(1:32:43) - Wrapping up

Edited and Mixed by Kaushik Sethunath.

Mentions from the Show

• 2020 Masters Thesis - Peer to Peer Decentralized Social Media Platform using 2nd Layer Blockchain Technology

Tristan Lamonica Social Links

• Twitter

Go Full Crypto Social Links

• Keegan Francis Newsletter

Is there more to bitcoin than just the current price? What exactly is driving bitcoin to achieve new all time highs? Mrugakshee and Keegan discuss recent events in the bitcoin space. Bitcoin ETFs, the difference between Spot trading and Futures trading. They discuss the various layers of bitcoin that form the wider ecosystem. The blockchain (settlement), the payments layer (lightning), and the DeFi layer (Sovryn). The show ends with Keegan sharing an idea about the richest person in the world.

Mentions from the Show

• Deep dive into Sovryn Letter

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Introduction

(01:02) - The recent price of Bitcoin, and does Bitcoin's price matter?

(08:19) - The curious case of El Salvador

(18:48) - Discussing Sovryn, and DeFi Lending

(29:41) - Bitcoin ETFs, and The Houston Firefighters Pension Fund

(41:43) - Keegan shares a meme

(44:28) - Wrapping Up, and Closing Thoughts

Edited and Mixed by Kaushik Sethunath.

Go Full Crypto Social Links

• Keegan Francis Newsletter