Stephan Livera Podcast

Recent attacks exposed how even large, educated Bitcoin holders remained exposed through single-vendor setups. The core lesson is that self-custody alone does not remove single points of failure; deliberate design is required.

Dhruv Bansal, co-founder and CISO of Unchained, joins to examine these incidents and the practical barriers that keep most hardware wallet users on single sig despite years of warnings.

The conversation covers the gap between theoretical multisig knowledge and actual adoption, the trade-offs between anonymity and regulated inheritance paths, why newer layers attract attacks first, and the need for human review of AI-generated code at Bitcoin firms.

Bansal argues that cryptographic hardware will become ordinary infrastructure for everyone in an AI-driven internet, not a niche Bitcoin tool, and that mature risk systems rely on fractal networks rather than centralized controls.

Timestamps:

01:42 — No Single Points of Failure Allowed

05:34 — Even Large Holders Skip Multisig?

09:14 — You Could Be Your Own Failure Point

13:35 — Anonymity vs KYC

16:27 — Don't Half-Ass Your Bitcoin Security

21:23 — One Wallet, True Multi-Vendor Security

24:24 — Single Sig Can Still Lose Everything

30:26 — Why Everyone Will Need Hardware Wallets

32:06 — Why Attackers Hit Bitcoin L2s First

36:32 — Bitcoin Firms Must Human-Review AI Code

40:05 — Bitcoin as Humanity's AI Defense System

42:59 — Remove Single Points of Failure Forever

45:25 — Hardware Wallets at Every Gas Station

47:34 — Bitcoiners and Key Entropy

Links: 

• https://x.com/dhruvbansal

• https://x.com/unchained

• https://www.unchained.com/

Stephan Livera links:

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00:00 - Interview with Gabriele Vernetti of Stratum V2 @gitgab19

15:38 - Interview with Jimmy Kostro @jimmykostro

29:30 - Interview with James Check of checkonchain

Links: https://x.com/gitgab19

https://x.com/jimmykostro

https://x.com/_checkonchain

https://x.com/_checkmatey_

https://x.com/stratumv2

Bitcoinchiangmai.org

Interviews at Bitcoin Asia 2026 Day 2

00:00 - Piriya Sambandaraksa

05:14 - Alexander Mann

11:04 - Shone Anstey of LQWD

17:03 -Liam Eagen from Ideal Group

Links: 

• https://x.com/piriya

• https://x.com/idealgroup

• https://x.com/liameagen

• https://x.com/LQWDTech

• https://x.com/shoneanstey

• https://x.com/alex_singh_mann

Stephan Livera links:

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In this episode, I interviewed several people at Bitcoin Asia 2026.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Interview with Adam Poulton

06:28 Interview with Giovanni Santostasi

15:18 Interview Jeff Walton of Strive

34:11 Interview with Alex B from ArkLabs

Links: 

• http://x.com/Giovann35084111

• http://x.com/adampoulton

• http://x.com/bergealex4

• http://x.com/arklabshq

• http://x.com/punterjeff

• http://x.com/strive

Stephan Livera links:

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In this episode, Piers Macrae demonstrates Wallet Playground and explains why hardware wallets are signing devices, not wallets.

Timestamps:

01:10 — Teach Me vs Do It For Me

03:23 — Test Any Wallet Free in Browser

09:09 — Coldcard Drama Forced Early Release

14:03 — Generate Seeds Using Your Webcam

17:52 — Hardware Wallets Aren't Real Wallets

21:52 — Only 1% Use Multisig for Life Savings

25:33 — Self-Custody Like Firearms Drilling?

27:30 — Only Tiny Percentage Will Self-Custody

Links: 

• X: @mineracks — https://x.com/mineracks

• Wallet Playground: https://walletplayground.com/

• mineracks: https://www.mineracks.com/

Stephan Livera links:

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In this episode, Keith Mukai of SeedSigner joins to explain why 1.4 percent variance in cheap dice still delivers full 128-bit entropy and how to verify rolls across devices.

Timestamps:

03:10 — Cheap Dice Only 1.4% Unfair?

06:29 — Shake Multiple Dice in a Box

08:26 — Verify Dice Rolls Across Devices

11:02 — Verify Dice Seeds With Fake Rolls

13:50 — Multiple Test Rounds Foil Attackers

16:36 — 90% Users Choose Easy RNG Mode

19:08 — Jade's D&D Dice Method?

21:53 — Build Your Own: Avoid Mailing List Leak

24:48 — Stateless Device: Evil Maid Gets Nothing

26:45 — Hand-Drawn SeedQR: Skip Typing 24 Words

29:02 — SeedSigner: Built for Long-Term Cold Storage

31:30 — Evil Maid SD Card Swap Destroys Security

35:27 — Why Multisig Beats Single-Sig + Passphrase

37:14 — Scan Sparrow PDF QR to Load Multisig

42:16 — No One-Size-Fits-All Security

46:41 — Understand Dice Rolls Yourself

49:13 — Take Baby Steps to Multisig

Links: 

• https://seedsigner.com/

• https://x.com/keithmukai

• https://x.com/SeedSigner

Stephan Livera links:

• Follow me on X: @stephanlivera

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In this episode, Rich from the team at Blockstream explains Jade, offline dice entropy, blind oracle protection, multisig descriptor recovery and the new Blockstream Swaps beta.

Timestamps:

00:45 — AI Scans & Audits Secure Jade

03:21 — Jade Core $99, Plus Up to $169

05:51 — Roll Dice for Offline Seed Entropy

08:23 — Blind Oracle: Remote Secure Element Explained

11:15 — Seed QR: Hand-Draw Your Recovery Phrase

15:24 — Jade Sends Back Lost Multisig Descriptor

19:40 — People Choosing Multisig Over ETFs

25:03 — Blockstream Swaps Beta: Lightning to Liquid

Links: 

• blockstream.com/jade 

• https://x.com/blockstream

• https://x.com/blockstreamjade

Stephan Livera links:

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Lightning Labs built Wavelength to deliver self-custodial Lightning payments without forcing users to run nodes, manage channels, or handle liquidity.

Olaoluwa Osuntokun, CTO and co-founder of Lightning Labs, and Michael Levin, VP of Product, join me to detail the design choices behind their Ark implementation.

They explain why Ark was selected, how hop hints let every payment use ordinary Lightning invoices, and why the four-endpoint SDK targets AI agents and vibe coders. The conversation covers sub-dust vouchers, unilateral exits, offline payment delivery, and one-basis-point alpha pricing.

Wavelength shows that self-custodial Lightning can match the integration ease of custodial services while preserving Bitcoin sovereignty.

Timestamps

01:28 — Why Wavelength: Lightning Without Node Pain

03:00 — Why Ark? 

05:28 — No New Addresses: Just Lightning Invoices

08:40 — Targeting Vibe Coders & AI Agents

13:06 — Lightning Beats Credit for LLM APIs

17:51 — Receive Sub-1k Sat Vouchers Seamlessly

19:32 — Normal User Spins Up Ark Wallet Fast

23:02 — Build Wallets with Just 4 Endpoints

24:46 — Telegram Self-Custodial Wallets Already Live

26:21 — Offline Payments Still Arrive Automatically

29:17 — Drop-In SDK for iOS and Android

31:26 — Can Servers Steal Your Funds?

33:36 — Wavelength Alpha: Just 1 Bip Fees

37:57 — AI Attacks Targeting Bitcoin Services?

44:05 — Bug Bounties Shift to Token Spending

48:36 — Self-Custody as Easy as Custodial

Links: 

• https://x.com/roasbee

• https://x.com/MichaelLevin

• Wavelength Announcement: https://x.com/lightning/status/2079620936567779707

Stephan Livera links:

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Old self-custody approaches collapse once Bitcoin reaches six figures, physical threats rise, and AI tools proliferate. Single hardware wallets and mattress myths no longer match the scale or risks that large holders now face.

Michael Tanguma, CEO and co-founder of Onramp, returns to examine how custody must adapt to family obligations, mortality, and market structure that turns concentrated holdings into targets.

The discussion covers why repeated exchange failures keep Bitcoin looking speculative to outsiders, how multi-institution setups reduce scam ROI, and the limits of adding more dice or vendors in an AI era. It also addresses custody pricing models and the practical question of whether any current setup survives a tenfold price increase.

Game theory now requires diversified institutional layers rather than pure self-reliance for serious stacks.

Timestamp:

03:43 — Bitcoin Custody Won't Work Like 2012

05:49 — Self-Custody Rules Changed With Your Life

07:19 — Why Bitcoiners Must Stop the Mattress Myth

09:01 — Bitcoin's Asset Layer Makes It Unstoppable

11:22 — Private Keys Are Like Firearms

15:40 — Custody Losses Keep Bitcoin Speculative

18:56 — AI Just Changed Self-Custody Forever

21:41 — Why Bitcoin Robberies Are Skyrocketing

25:41 — Multi-Institution Custody Kills Pig Butchering

27:57 — Bitcoin at $650K: Security Nightmare?

29:30 — Game Theory Demands Multi-Custody Bitcoin

32:03 — Centralized Custody: The Honeypot Risk

37:56 — Why Custody Fees Should Be Zero

39:51 — Full Bitcoin Custody for $100/Month

42:51 — Would Your Setup Survive 10x Bitcoin?

Links:

• https://x.com/mtanguma

• https://x.com/OnrampBitcoin

Stephan Livera links:

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#Bitcoin #SelfCustody #Custody #OnrampBitcoin #StephanLivera #StephanLiveraPodcast #BitcoinSecurity #MultiSig

Roy Sheinfeld of Breez returns to walk through Glow, the team's new reference wallet built using Spark. It’s designed so non-custodial Bitcoin feels simple: send, receive, and go.

Glow uses passkey onboarding (no seed phrase to write down), automatic backup via the passkey provider, and a single-balance UX so users can pay Lightning, on-chain, and stablecoin destinations without wrestling settings.

They also cover client-side swaps (Flashnet, multi-vendor architecture after Boltz), AI-driven attacks on swap providers, where Lightning volume actually comes from, Spark unilateral exits, and how AI plus the Breez SDK lets non-developers ship Bitcoin apps from a prompt.

Timestamps

04:21 — Bitcoin Wallet Onboard with One Passkey

08:05 — Stables on Lightning: Overhyped?

09:59 — Swaps Needed Even With Lightning Stables

11:48 — AI Attacks: Cheaper to Attack Than Defend

15:07 — Why Small Teams Get Hacked First

17:15 — Swaps Going Private to Survive?

19:17 — Backends Drive Most Lightning Volume

21:32 — 80/20 Rule: B2B Drives Lightning Volume

25:13 — Making Unilateral Exit Economically Viable

29:48 — Spark Public Mode

31:38 — One Prompt Builds a Bitcoin App

33:13 — Non-Technical Users Now Ship Bitcoin Apps

Links: 

• https://x.com/roy_breez

• https://x.com/breez_tech

• https://breez.technology/glow/

Stephan Livera links:

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