The Bitcoin Game

Hello, welcome to episode 23 of The Bitcoin Game, I'm Rob Mitchell.

I decided to experiment with buying Bitcoin a new way; I bought shares of the Bitcoin Investment Trust. The trust is the first, and I believe the only current way a U.S. citizen can add an investment in Bitcoin to a recognized retirement account. You can buy shares of the Bitcoin Investment Trust with symbol GBTC using a standard brokerage account, just like buying a stock or ETF. You could argue that one doesn't actually own Bitcoin with these shares, since a third party holds the private keys, and there are inherent risks — just ask Patrick Byrne. But the fund, and this episode, are likely skewed slightly towards people interested in investing in Bitcoin for the long term, using an investing platform they are already familiar with, while shielding themselves from the learning curve still required to hold Bitcoin securely.

In today's episode I speak with Michael Sonnenshein, director of Sales & Business Development for Grayscale, one of several companies founded by Barry Silbert. Based on Grayscale's first quarter financials, the total number of Bitcoin Investment Trust shares sold was approximately 1.41 million, which has a value of over $37 million dollars (at the current rate of $265/Bitcoin).

Potential fund buyers need to make sure they understand the risks associated with Bitcoin, investing in Bitcoin using a fund, as well as the fees and premiums that are associated with buying this fund.

Would you ever buy shares of the Bitcoin Investment Trust, or recommend it? Please let me know your thoughts by commenting below!

7/19/16 Update: For anyone who bought GBTC (Bitcoin Investment Trust) back when this episode aired, the gains have substantially surpassed a 100% investment in Bitcoin. I will go on a limb and say this is because the demand for GBTC has been a lot greater than the supply (probably due to mainstream and retirement investors wanting Bitcoin exposure). So the market price of GBTC is way above the net asset value of the Bitcoin that the trust holds. With two new Bitcoin ETFs expected in coming months/years, it's possible that new Bitcoin investment vehicles will cool off the demand for GBTC, so I'm not sure if buying GBTC on the open market is wise at current values. However, if you're a "qualified investor" who is up for a large initial investment and year waiting period, you can buy GBTC at par with the current price of Bitcoin, so that may be a smarter investment (if you believe in Bitcoin, and don't think we'll have a financial/societal "reset" before then). Of course, anything could happen to Bitcoin and/or GBTC. And be very aware, I'm definitely not an investment advisor, this is just my amateur read of the situation.

Listen for the magic word, and submit it to your LetsTalkBitcoin.com account to claim a share of this week's distribution of LTBcoin. Listeners now have a full week from the release date to claim a magic word. The magic word for this episode must be submitted by 1:00 pm Pacific Time on August 21, 2015.

Keynote 2015 http://www.keynote2015.com

Patrick Byrne on "owning" stock, via Reason http://reason.com/archives/2015/04/09/patrick-byrne/4

Bitcoin Investment Trust http://grayscale.co/bitcoin-investment-trust

Michael Sonnenshein's Twitter https://twitter.com/sonnenshein

Barry Silbert's Twitter https://twitter.com/barrysilbert

DCG (Digital Currency Group) http://dcg.co

Genesis (Over The Counter Bitcoin Trading) http://genesistrading.com

Grayscale http://grayscale.co

Xapo https://xapo.com

Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) Price Chart http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/gbtc/stock-chart

What's an Accredited Investor? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accredited_investor

Bitcoin Keychains by Bkeychain You've seen these keychains on dozens and dozens of websites, it's about time you had one of your own! These substantial metal keychains make great conversation starters, and they also make great gifts to or from Bitcoiners. You can find a list of online retailers at Bkeychain.com, and several support Bitcoin so much, they don't even accept fiat currency. So what are you waiting for? http://Bkeychain.com

All music in this episode was created by me, or with friends and family. Ganesh Painting Company is the name of one of the jam bands I feature live recordings of regularly. Some of the musicians you're hearing are Mike Coleman, Rick Marshal, Steve Lunn and Mark Denham. Some music loops you hear were created using Animoog (by Moog Music) and Figure (by Propellerhead). Please contact me if you want more info about any music you hear on the podcast.

https://Twitter.com/TheBTCGame http://TheBitcoinGame.com Email me at Rob at TheBitcoinGame.com

Thanks for listening!

Bitcoin tip address: 1G8HDg5EsPQpamKYS2bDya9Riv9xv1nVo5

The Bitcoin Game box artwork created from an illustration by Rock Barcellos.

Hello, welcome to episode 22 of The Bitcoin Game, I'm Rob Mitchell.

In today's podcast you'll hear the Blockchain Tech panel from the State Of Digital Money conference, which took place earlier this year in Los Angeles. I thought it was a very fun panel that was filled with many insights. You might say the panel was stacked a bit on the side of blockchain tech over Bitcoin, and Bitcoin maximalists (amongst others) may not agree with some of the points made. But hopefully everyone can still appreciate hearing ideas and discussion from very bright people in the field.

Some interesting tidbits: It's Jeff Garzik you'll hear yell "not true" from his seat in the audience, and Connie Gallippi also speaks from the crowd. I was surprised to learn the source of inspiration for Medici (the blockchain-based stock exchange being pioneered by Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne).

On the panel, you'll hear (in order of appearance):

Moderator: Alex Rozman Senior Manager in the Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP @rozman7

Craig Sellars Co-Founder and CTO for Tether @Tether_to

Eric Benz VP of Payments at BitReserve @EricBenz84

Judd Bagley Director of Communications at Overstock.com @WriterJudd

Alyse Killeen Associate Venture Capital Investor at March Capital Partners @AlyseKilleen

Listen for the magic word, and submit it to your LetsTalkBitcoin.com account to claim a share of this week's distribution of LTBcoin. Listeners now have a full week from the release date to claim a magic word. The magic word for this episode must be submitted by 8:45pm Pacific Time on August 6, 2015.

State Of Digital Money http://www.cureativ.com/sodm#digitalmoney

Deloitte http://deloitte.com

Tether https://tether.to

BitReserve https://bitreserve.org

Overstock.com http://www.overstock.com

March Capital Partners http://www.marchcp.com

Patrick Byrne's Reddit AMA https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/24kbc0/im_patrick_byrne_a_profreedom_supporter_of

CounterParty http://counterparty.io

Perkins Coie https://www.perkinscoie.com

BitGive Foundation http://bitgivefoundation.org

Bitcoin Keychains by Bkeychain You've seen these keychains on dozens and dozens of websites, it's about time you had one of your own! These substantial metal keychains make great conversation starters, and they also make great gifts to or from Bitcoiners. You can find a list of online retailers at Bkeychain.com, and several support Bitcoin so much, they don't even accept fiat currency. So what are you waiting for? http://Bkeychain.com

Here's a link to the YouTube video of the panel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9sZu-HIFys

The videographer who recorded videos from this conference works relentlessly on the front lines, recording cryptocurrency and P2P content from all over the country. Check out all his videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxfh-2aOR5hZUjxJLQ2CIHw/feed?activity_view=3.

All music in this episode was created by me, or with friends and family. Ganesh Painting Company is the name of one of the jam bands I feature live recordings of regularly. Some of the musicians you're hearing are Mike Coleman and Steve Lunn. Feel free to contact me if you want more info about any music you hear on the podcast.

https://Twitter.com/TheBTCGame http://TheBitcoinGame.com Email me at Rob at TheBitcoinGame.com

Thanks for listening!

Bitcoin tip address: 1G8HDg5EsPQpamKYS2bDya9Riv9xv1nVo5

The Bitcoin Game box artwork created from an illustration by Rock Barcellos.

Hello, welcome to episode 21 of The Bitcoin Game, I'm Rob Mitchell. This podcast is my opportunity to learn from all types of people involved in cryptocurrency.

For today's episode I spoke to Marco Cuesta of Alt-Options. This company is aiming to bring a high-end option trading platform to Bitcoin. Alt-Options earned 2nd place at the startup pitch competition at Inside Bitcoins in Chicago shortly after this interview took place, and the company is planning to go live with Bitcoin option trading by the end of summer. In the meantime, you can sign up for a beta account and test your option leveraging skills on paper.

We also talk a bit about the College Crypto Network and the Crypto Castle in San Francisco.

Listen for the magic word, and submit it to your LetsTalkBitcoin.com account to claim a share of this week's distribution of LTBcoin. Listeners now have a full week from the release date to claim a magic word. The magic word for this episode must be submitted by 8:00am Pacific Time on July 24, 2015.

Alt-Options http://alt-options.com

The Crypto Castle https://www.facebook.com/thecryptocastle

College Cryptocurrency Network http://collegecrypto.org

Augur http://www.augur.net

BitGive Foundation http://bitgivefoundation.org

BitGive's 2nd Anniversary Auction (ends July 22, 2015) https://bitgive.betterworldcollective.com/auction

BitGive Auction for an ad on The Bitcoin Game https://bitgive.betterworldcollective.com/item/ad-bitcoin-game-let-talk-bitcoin

Bitcoin Keychains by Bkeychain You've seen these keychains on dozens and dozens of websites, it's about time you had one of your own! These substantial metal keychains make great conversation starters, and they also make great gifts to or from Bitcoiners. You can find a list of online retailers at Bkeychain.com, and several support Bitcoin so much, they don't even accept fiat currency. So what are you waiting for? http://Bkeychain.com

BitGive Auction for Bitcoin "Blockchain" Necklace (20 Bitcoin Keychains) https://bitgive.betterworldcollective.com/item/chain-bitcoin-keychains

All music in this episode was created by me, or with friends and family. Ganesh Painting Company is the name of one of the jam bands I feature live recordings of regularly. Some of the musicians you're hearing are Mike Coleman and Steve Lunn. Feel free to contact me if you want more info about any music you hear on the podcast.

Thanks for listening!

https://Twitter.com/TheBTCGame http://TheBitcoinGame.com Email me at Rob at TheBitcoinGame.com

Found an error or typo on this page? Is the magic word not working for you? Be the first to let me know privately (such as sending me an email or private message), and I'll send you some LTBcoin.

The Bitcoin Game box artwork created from an illustration by Rock Barcellos.

Hello, welcome to episode 20 of The Bitcoin Game, I'm Rob Mitchell.

On April 18th, 2015, Los Angeles Bitcoiners were treated to our city's first Bitcoin conference, called The State Of Digital Money 2015 (or SODM15). I recorded a lot of great content at this conference, and in today's episode, I bring you the first of these recordings.

by Steve Beauregard, CEO & Founder at GoCoin @GoCoinCEO | @GoCoin https://www.gocoin.com

Moderated by Steve Beauregard

with

Justin Newton, CEO of Netki @NetkiCorp https://www.netki.com

Paul Puey, CEO and Co-Founder of Airbitz @paullinator | @Airbitz https://airbitz.co

Nick Sullivan, Founder and CEO of ChangeTip @gorillamania | @ChangeTip https://www.changetip.com

Andrew Lee, CEO of Purse @2drewlee | @PurseIO https://purse.io

Connie Chung, Senior Payments Product Manager at Expedia @Expedia http://www.expedia.com

Below are YouTube videos of both the presentation and the panel.

The videographer who recorded these videos works relentlessly on the front lines, recording cryptocurrency and P2P content from all over the country. Check out all his videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxfh-2aOR5hZUjxJLQ2CIHw/feed?activity_view=3.

Listen for the magic word, and submit it to your LetsTalkBitcoin.com account to claim a share of this week's distribution of LTBcoin. Listeners now have a full week from the release date to claim a magic word. The magic word for this episode must be submitted by 8:00am Pacific Time on July 9, 2015.

State Of Digital Money http://www.cureativ.com/sodm/#digitalmoney

500 Startups http://500.co

Plug And Play Tech Center http://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com

Bitcoin Syndicates https://angel.co/bitcoin/syndicates

Amazon Mechanical Turk https://www.mturk.com

UnoCoin https://www.unocoin.com

Zero To One by Peter Thiel http://zerotoonebook.com

Primer on the Greek financial crisis http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/anil.kashyap/research/papers/A-Primer-on-the-Greek-Crisis_june29.pdf

Bitcoin Keychains by Bkeychain You've seen these keychains on dozens and dozens of websites, it's about time you had one of your own! These substantial metal keychains make great conversation starters, and they also make great gifts to or from Bitcoiners. You can find a list of online retailers at Bkeychain.com, and several support Bitcoin so much, they don't even accept fiat currency. So what are you waiting for? http://Bkeychain.com

All music in this episode was created by me, or with friends and family. Ganesh Painting Company is the name of one of the jam bands I feature live recordings of regularly. Some of the musicians you're hearing are Mike Coleman and Steve Lunn. Feel free to contact me if you want more info about any music you hear on the podcast.

Thanks for listening!

https://Twitter.com/TheBTCGame http://TheBitcoinGame.com Email me at Rob at TheBitcoinGame.com

Found an error or typo on this page? Is the magic word not working for you? Be the first to let me know privately (such as sending me an email or private message), and I'll send you some LTBcoin.

The Bitcoin Game box artwork created from an illustration by Rock Barcellos.

Welcome to The Bitcoin Game #19, the Mega Interview Episode! I'm Rob Mitchell, and in today's episode you'll hear 17, yes 17, never-before heard interviews from the Texas Bitcoin conference.

In order of appearance:

Nick Spanos – New York Bitcoin Center Elisabeth Grothe-Møller – CommonCollection Troy Fearnow – CryptoArt Kimberly Morgan – Texas Coinitiative Robert P. Murphy, Ph.D. – Economic Consultant Catherine Bleish – The Bit Mom Andy Gonzalez – San Antonio Crypto Network Bradley Rotter – Infinity Algorithms Matthew Carson – Oregon Mines Reeve Collins – Tether John Bush – SovereignBTC Nathan Ho – Miner Edge Jeff Lee – HOPE Gold Coin Charitable Trust AC – BitMugs Dmitri "Rassah" Murashchik – Mycelium Erik Voorhees – ShapeShift John Ferguson – Maidsafe Make sure you catch my longer interviews and talks from the Texas Bitcoin Conference that were released on previous episodes of The Bitcoin Game. And believe it or not, I still have a few longer interviews from the conference that have not been released yet.

Special thanks to John Barrett (Bitcoins and Gravy), Christian Burns (Blockparty.XYZ), Micah Winkelspecht (Gem), Michael Terpin (BitAngeles) and Martin Stein (Transform.PR) for your help and support related to the Texas Bitcoin Conference. Thanks to David Johnson, Paul & Linda Snow, Peter Kirby, and everyone else at the Texas Bitcoin Conference for the hospitality, and for putting on a great event.

MAGIC WORD Listen for the magic word, and submit it to your LetsTalkBitcoin.com account to claim a share of this week's distribution of LTBcoin. Listeners now have a full week from the release date to submit a magic word. The magic word for this episode must be submitted by 6:00pm Pacific Time on June 19, 2015.

SHOW LINKS New York Bitcoin Center bitcoincenternyc.com

Blockchain Tech Corp blockchaintechcorp.com

CommonCollection commoncollection.com

CryptoArt cryptoart.com

Texas Coinitiative texascoinitiative.com

Kimberly Morgan's Twitter twitter.com/kymmer7691

Robert P. Murphy, Ph.D. consultingbyrpm.com

Understanding Bitcoin understandingbitcoin.us

Brave New Books bravenewbooks.myshopify.com

Uncoinventional Tour uncoinventional.com

B Libre (Andy Gonzales' new Bitcoin podcast) @b-libre

Infinity Algorithms www.infinityalgorithms.com

Oregon Mines www.oregonmines.com

Tether tether.to

Omni www.omnilayer.org

Factom factom.org

Bitfinex www.bitfinex.com

Poloniex poloniex.com

GoCoin gocoin.com

9/11 The Road to Tyranny - A Film by Alex Jones youtu.be/OVMyH8eOHKs

Murray Rothbard Wiki en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Rothbard

John Bush's podcast on Freedom Cells letstalkbitcoin.com/blog/post/uncoi…ual-aid-society

Miner Edge mineredge.com

HOPE Gold Coin www.hopegoldcoin.org

Comstock Mining's press release on HOPE Gold Coin comstockmining.com/news/press-rele…january-15-2015

BitMugs bitmugs.com

Mycelium mycelium.com

ShapeShift shapeshift.io

Erik Voorhees moneyandstate.com

Texas Bitcoin Conference texasbitcoinconference.com

MaidSafe maidsafe.net

MUSIC All music in this episode was created by me, or with friends and family. Ganesh Painting Company is the name of one of the jam bands I feature live recordings of regularly. Some of the musicians you're hearing are Mike Coleman, Rick Marshal, Steve Lunn, Michael Goldstein, and Mark Denham. Love it? Hate it? Let me know how you feel about any music you hear on the podcast.

Thanks for listening!

STAY IN TOUCH Twitter.com/TheBTCGame TheBitcoinGame.com Email me at Rob at TheBitcoinGame.com

Hello, welcome to episode 18 of The Bitcoin Game, I'm Rob Mitchell.

In today's show we start with a presentation by Jeremy Gardner, who co-founded the College Cryptocurrency Network and is Director of Operations at Augur. In his talk, Creating a Sustainable Blockchain Ecosystem, Jeremy gives his views on blockchains now and into the future.

Then we turn to experienced market trader and economist Adam Hayes, who presents What Factors Give Cryptocurrencies Their Value: An Empirical Analysis.

Note that some audience questions aren't audible.

Listen for the magic word, and submit it to your LetsTalkBitcoin.com account to claim a share of this week's distribution of LTBcoin. Listeners now have a full week from the release date to claim a magic word. The magic word for this episode must be submitted by 1:00pm Pacific Time on June 5, 2015.

College Crypto Network http://collegecrypto.org

Augur http://www.augur.net

Adam Hayes' Cryptocurrency Papers http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=2372041

Texas Bitcoin Conference http://texasbitcoinconference.com

Send Small Donations to Red Cross for Nepal Earthquake Recovery https://blog.changetip.com/donations-red-cross-nepal-earthquake

Bitcoin Keychains by Bkeychain You've seen these keychains on dozens and dozens of websites, it's about time you had one of your own! These substantial metal keychains make great conversation starters, and they also make great gifts to or from Bitcoiners. You can find a list of online retailers at Bkeychain.com, and several support Bitcoin so much, they don't even accept fiat currency. So what are you waiting for? http://Bkeychain.com

All music in this episode was created by me, or with friends and family. Ganesh Painting Company is the name of one of the jam bands I feature live recordings of regularly. Some of the musicians you're hearing are Mike Coleman, Rick Marshal, and Mark Denham. Feel free to contact me if you want more info about any music you hear on the podcast.

Thanks for listening!

https://Twitter.com/TheBTCGame http://TheBitcoinGame.com Email me at Rob at TheBitcoinGame.com

Found an error or typo on this page? Is the magic word not working for you? Be the first to let me know privately (such as sending me an email or private message), and I'll send you some LTBcoin.

The Bitcoin Game box artwork created from an illustration by Rock Barcellos.

Hello, welcome to episode 17 of The Bitcoin Game, I'm Rob Mitchell.

In this episode I speak with Yoshi Goto of BitMain (maker of the AntMiner), outspoken cryptographer Nicolas Courtois, and Storj creator Shawn Wilkinson. These interviews took place at the 2015 Texas Bitcoin conference. Nicholas Courtois and Shawn Wilkinson were both speakers at this conference, while Yoshi Goto has presented at other Bitcoin events.

Listen for the magic word, and submit it to your LetsTalkBitcoin.com account to claim a share of this week's distribution of LTBcoin. Listeners now have a full week from the release date to claim a magic word. The magic word for this episode must be submitted by 4:00am Pacific Time on May 21, 2015.

BitMain https://www.bitmaintech.com

AntPool https://antpool.com

Nicolas Courtois http://nicolascourtois.com

Ethereum https://www.ethereum.org

Ralph Merkle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Merkle

Neal Koblitz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Koblitz

RFC 6979 http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6979

Johoe interviewed on The Bitcoin Game https://letstalkbitcoin.com/blog/post/the-bitcoin-game-7-bitcoin-hero-jochen-aka-johoe

Storj http://storj.io

Shawn Wilkinson's Site http://super3.org

Challenge-Response Authentication http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge%E2%80%93response_authentication

Factom http://factom.org

Maidsafe http://maidsafe.net

Texas Bitcoin Conference http://texasbitcoinconference.com

Send Small Donations to Red Cross for Nepal Earthquake Recovery https://blog.changetip.com/donations-red-cross-nepal-earthquake

Bitcoin Keychains by Bkeychain You've seen these keychains on dozens and dozens of websites, it's about time you had one of your own! These substantial metal keychains make great conversation starters, and they also make great gifts to or from Bitcoiners. You can find a list of online retailers at Bkeychain.com, and several support Bitcoin so much, they don't even accept fiat currency. So what are you waiting for? http://Bkeychain.com

All music in this episode was created by me (except the earthquake public service announcement music).

Thanks for listening!

https://Twitter.com/TheBTCGame http://TheBitcoinGame.com Email me at Rob at TheBitcoinGame.com

Found an error or typo on this page? Is the magic word not working for you? Be the first to let me know privately (such as sending me an email or private message), and I'll send you some LTBcoin.

P.S.A. Red Cross and Changetip help Nepal Earthquake Relief

Welcome to episode 16 of The Bitcoin Game, I'm Rob Mitchell.

I was excited to talk to Bruce Fenton at the recent Texas Bitcoin Conference. It was a fun conversation, and I think it gives a good sense of Bruce as a person. He answered my questions about the exclusive Satoshi Roundtable Bitcoin retreat he organized, and filled me in about his impressive background in financial management. Our interview concluded with passionate exposition by Bruce. Note that we spoke before Bruce was elected by the Bitcoin Foundation Board as their new Executive Director.

I also spoke with Scott Rose, who I was familiar with from his popular comedic video series, "Shit Bitcoin Fanatics Say." Scott's background as an actor and a hired speaker for Apple, combined with his passion for Bitcoin, makes him a great cryptocurrency proponent. This is demonstrated in his recent Austin Nerd Night presentation called "Bitcoin 101: What Happens When We Decentralize Money?". I often think Bitcoin needs better P.R., and Scott did his part with this presentation. UPDATE: Scott ended up changing his video titles from "Bitcoin" to "Bitcoin Cash" in 2017.

If you wonder why you hear traffic in the background, most of my interviews from this conference took place in the patio area outside of the Moody Theater. This is where the exhibitor's booths were located, and also where most people congregated when they weren't watching presentations.

Thanks to Christian Burns (https://twitter.com/ChristianBurns) for the photo taken while I was interviewing Bruce Fenton. The photo of Scott Rose and Steve Jobs is courtesy of Scott Rose.

Listen for the magic word, and submit it to your LetsTalkBitcoin.com account to claim a share of this week's distribution of LTBcoin. Listeners now have a full week from the release date to claim a magic word. The magic word for this episode must be submitted by 6:00am Pacific Time on April 29, 2015.

Texas Bitcoin Conference http://texasbitcoinconference.com

Bitcoin Association http://bitcoinassociation.org

Bitcoin Foundation Welcomes Bruce Fenton http://blog.bitcoinfoundation.org/the-bitcoin-foundation-welcomes-bruce-fenton-as-executive-director

Circle https://www.circle.com

ChangeTip https://www.changetip.com

Scott Rose on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/scotty321

Nerd Nite http://nerdnite.com

Scott's Work Site http://scottworld.com

Bitcoin Core (was called Bitcoin-Qt) https://bitcoin.org/en/download

Shawn Wilkinson's Twitter https://twitter.com/super3

Scott's Twitter https://twitter.com/scotty321

Carrie's Twitter https://twitter.com/starcarrie9

Bitcoin Keychains by Bkeychain You've seen these keychains on dozens and dozens of websites, it's about time you had one of your own! These substantial metal keychains make great conversation starters, and they also make great gifts to or from Bitcoiners. You can find a list of online retailers at Bkeychain.com, and several support Bitcoin so much, they don't even accept fiat currency. So what are you waiting for? http://Bkeychain.com

All music in this episode was created by me, or with friends and family. Ganesh Painting Company is the name of one of the jam bands I feature live recordings of regularly. Some of the musicians you're hearing are Mike Coleman, Rick Marshal, and Mark Denham. Feel free to contact me if you want more info about any music you hear on the podcast.

Thanks for listening!

https://Twitter.com/TheBTCGame http://TheBitcoinGame.com Email me at Rob at TheBitcoinGame.com

Found an error or typo on this page? Is the magic word not working for you? Be the first to let me know privately (such as sending me an email or private message), and I'll send you some LTBcoin.

Welcome to episode 15 of The Bitcoin Game, I'm Rob Mitchell.

While I usually try to be extremely professional on my podcast, this episode from the Friday night Kickoff Party for the Texas Bitcoin Conference may expose a slightly different side of me. I went straight from Austin–Bergstrom International Airport to Maria's Taco Express, where the party was held. I arrived to the sound of live music and a large patio area completely packed with Bitcoiners.

I made my way through the crowd and checked in with the very nice Linda Snow. She handed me drink tickets and offered to keep an eye on my bags, which I appreciated. I went to the outdoor bar and ordered a beer and a shot of tequila. Hey, this was a party, and I was ready to have fun! But because only drinks were available at the outdoor register, and I was in a hurry to join the party, I skipped going inside to order food. I didn't think about how long it had been since I had eaten, or how much an empty stomach might intensify the effects of the alcohol I was consuming. Lesson learned! Before I knew it, I had my phone out and I started interviewing every friendly face I bumped into. That ended up being a team from A.I. Coin, Texas-based Sheldon Weisfeld from CoinVault ATM, the Swiss-based team behind ShapeShift, and finally I spoke with Joey Krug from Augur. It was quite a lot of fun!

I hope you'll tune in for upcoming episodes of The Bitcoin Game that will include interviews with Bruce Fenton, Erik Vorhees, Shawn Wilkinson, John Bush, Scott Rose, and many many more. Don't worry, the rest of my interviews were executed in a totally sober state, and with first-rate sound quality. Though I may have felt some intoxication from being around so many impressive Bitcoiners!

Listen for the magic word, and submit it to your LetsTalkBitcoin.com account to claim a share of this week's distribution of LTBcoin. Listeners now have a full week from the release date to claim a magic word. The magic word for this episode must be submitted by 8:00pm Pacific Time on April 22, 2015.

Texas Bitcoin Conference http://texasbitcoinconference.com

Maria's Taco Express http://tacoxpress.com

A.I. Coin (New cryptocurrency based on Artificial Intelligence) http://www.ai-coin.org

PayCoin https://paycoin.com

Coinfire's first piece implicating Josh Garza https://coinfire.cf/2015/01/19/sec-investigation-of-gaw-miners-underway

ShapeShift (Easy way to exchange cryptocurrency) https://shapeshift.io

Epicenter Bitcoin (Podcasters who recently joined the LTBn, early ShapeShift users) http://epicenterbitcoin.com

CoinVault ATM (World's largest bidirectional ATM network) http://www.coinvaultatm.com/

Augur (Decentralized prediction market) http://www.augur.net

The State of Digital Money (The first real Los Angeles Bitcoin Conference!) http://www.cureativ.com/sodm/#digitalmoney https://stateofdigitalmoney.eventbrite.com/?discount=bitcoingame Get 20% off with Discount Code: bitcoingame Note that I'll be on stage MCing this event

All music in this episode was created by me, or with friends and family. Ganesh Painting Company is the name of one of the jam bands I feature live recordings of regularly. Some of the musicians you're hearing are Mike Coleman, Rick Marshal, and Mark Denham. Feel free to contact me if you want more info about any music you hear on the podcast.

Thanks for listening!

https://Twitter.com/TheBTCGame http://TheBitcoinGame.com Email me at Rob at TheBitcoinGame.com

And if you want to try tipping with any altcoin supported by Shapeshift, try pushing the easy-to-implement Shifty Button below (no amount too small -- I'm just considering this a test). And if you try it, please let me know how using the Shifty Button worked for you. Note that your altcoin tip will be converted to Bitcoin and sent to the tipping address associated with this episode (so you can check the blockchain to verify the tip was converted and sent accurately).

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