Leonhard A. Weese is a young Austrian economist who came to Hong Kong at the beginning of the last decade to study statistics, fell in love with the city’s freewheeling capitalism and never left. During that time Weese became involved with the city’s nascent Bitcoin scene, where he, along with a few other interested parties, started hosting Bitcoin meetups in order to come together and understand this revolutionary new form of money. Within a year of the first meetup, the events grew to attract hundreds of attendees. In order to meet the public demand for more information, Weese co-founded the Bitcoin Association of  Hong Kong, overseeing its evolution from niche club to a more mature organization that today boasts 6000 members, puts out white papers on Bitcoin regulation, and serves as a reliable and accessible resource for the local and international Bitcoin community. For the full interview, visit reorientpodcast.com

 Show Notes 

• 00:02:20 LAW on Austrian economics as a jumping off point to understand Bitcoin  
• 00:06:50 LAW on how universities have had relatively little engagement with Bitcoin 
• 00:08:40 LAW on the purity and energy of the early Bitcoin meetups 
• 00:12:00 LAW on Bitcoin arbitrage between Hong Kong and China in the early days 
• 00:14:50 LAW on the state of Bitcoin regulation in Hong Kong 
• 00:19:30 Prominent HK investor David Webb on Bitcoin 
• 00:21:19 LAW explains the nuts and bolts of Bitcoin 
• 00:26:30 LAW explains the workings of blockchain technology 
• 00:29:55 LAW on the Bitcoin halvening 
• 00:33:10 LAW on how verification works in Bitcoin 
• 00:37:32 LAW on the free rider problem in Bitcoin verification 
• 00:39:37 LAW on Bitcoin’s most famous error 
• 00:42:10 LAW on the cost of maintaining Bitcoin as a form of money 
• 00:43:50 LAW on Bitcoin mining in China 
• 00:48:16 LAW on Chinese government policy towards Bitcoin 
• 00:49:42  LAW on how Chinese investors are using Bitcoin 
• 00:53:03 LAW on how other cryptos like ETH stack up against Bitcoin 
• 00:55:30 LAW answers critics who claim Bitcoin isn’t a real technological breakthrough but a speculative tool 
• 00:58:08 LAW posits that Bitcoin is not a threat to governments 
• 01:00:11 LAW on how it’s almost impossible for governments to enact effective bans on Bitcoin 
• 01:01:41 LAW on how Japan is exceptionally progressive in Bitcoin regulation 
• 01:02:38 LAW on the crypto scene in Southeast Asia 
• 01:04:22 LAW on whether Bitcoin can overcome its innate volatility to become money 
• 01:06:04 LAW on Bitcoin as part of an investment portfolio 
• 01:07:57 LAW on why governments of small countries have incentives to get on the crypto train 
• 01:11:38 LAW on what Bitcoin could offer financial centres like Singapore and Hong Kong in order to compete against digital economy vanguard nations like Estonia 

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