The Bitcoin To Freedom Podcast

I’m really happy to introduce the newest guest on the Bitcoin To Freedom podcast – Rodolfo Novak, a Toronto-based entrepreneur and a very early bitcoin adopter whose passion for creating bitcoin solutions is well-documented.

Rodolfo is the co-founder of CoinKite, a company that has been developing bitcoin solutions since 2012. That’s pretty much what Rodolfo does from the early days of bitcoin, focusing on the hardware side of it. Talking with him, you really get the sense he strongly believes in what he does, and that there’s no obstacle a well-thought-out idea cannot overcome.

I was fascinated by the idea of creating a physical bitcoin solution that was actually trustless.

Rodolfo Novak

The fellow Canadian is a busy man, currently attached to a number of projects. However, he’s currently most involved with Opendime and Coldcard, a couple of subjects we cover extensively during our talk. Rodolfo shares how such a small thing like a memory card can improve a hard wallet, and the implications of a well-timed backup.

In particular, Rodolfo is really vocal about bitcoin’s mass acceptance. His views on bitcoin going mainstream make a lot of sense when you consider the global reach of it, and the underlying economic effect. My guest also has a couple of personal rules when it comes to entrepreneurship (which totally make sense in the grand scale), as well as interesting views on bitcoin privacy and how it can move forward.

Rodolfo is an avid believer in online freedom of expression (hence his Mastodon engagement), and a frequent reader in terms of differing views, knowledge, and everything else (hence tons of recommendations).

In short, that would be Rodolfo Novak’s guest appearance on today’s episode. Now let’s hear what he has to say!

In this episode you’ll discover:

0:43 – How Opendime came to be.

2:36 – Rodolfo explains why a certain project is worthy of his time.

4:31 – How Opendime functions (a trustless trust, as my guest calls it).

5:44 – Security characteristics that Coldcard has that the competition lacks.

7:11 – What Rodolfo sees as Trezor’s main weakness.

7:54 – How a micro SD card is used for signing in transactions and the importance of cold storage.

8:50 – On how Coldcard is used and the importance of backup.

11:07 – Rodolfo mentions industrial-grade Micro SD cards (the ones that go into race cars, i.e.).

11:52 – What Rodolfo is most excited about in future Opendime developments.

12:34 – What bitcoin needs to overcome to really go mainstream, and how it’s seen different across the globe.

16:09 – What bitcoin improvement will be the most exciting, according to Rodolfo.

17:20 – On how bitcoin privacy will be accomplished (hint: it’s already there).

20:41 – The biggest opportunities for entrepreneurs today.

22:43 – On Mastodon (not the band) and the freedom it brings.

23:57 – What Rodolfo’s Twitter profile image actually means (you have to check it out!).

25:11 – Rodolfo shares his recommendations on books, blogs, and even social media for better bitcoin understanding.

27:18 – Rodolfo shares final words of wisdom.

Key takeaways

I don’t like to be trusted. I want people to trust the code, the cryptography, and themselves.

The reality is, most people don’t lose money by being hacked. Most people lose money by screwing themselves up.

Bitcoin already is mainstream, it’s just not used by the mainstream.

If you do your bitcoining correctly, you already have a lot of privacy.

Don’t make funding the thing that limits you from starting a business.

Today’s guest is one you don’t want to miss if you’re interested in buying bitcoin. It was a pleasure to talk to Jordan Tuwiner, the guy behind Buy Bitcoin Worldwide website. Jordan is an entrepreneur who specialized in bitcoin, affiliate marketing, and SEO (quite a combination!). He also has a soft spot for travel and talks about how his idea to make money with baseball turned into a successful entrepreneurial business, as well as the common bitcoin misconception he constantly witnesses.

Managing his site since 2015, Jordan talks about what bitcoin is really is versus what it’s not, and the underlying economics behind it. Much like in the case of Ray Youssef’s Paxful, Africa is the largest market for Jordan’s website, with the movement from the East becoming a hot thing now.

If there’s one thing you can say about Jordan, it’s that he’s a big believer in all things online, especially when it comes to education. Currently trying to master coding, Jordan fully harnesses the power of Google and the Internet to learn about new things and educate himself from top to bottom on topics that interest him. I fully agree with him and this is definitely something people who strive to succeed could pick up on. To reiterate the point, Jordan even mentions his friend who is now a successful affiliate marketer after learning about it from scratch and taking a few pointers from Jordan.

Jordan has a lot to say on the subjects of bitcoin and entrepreneurship so I’ll leave you to take a listen and absorb what he has to say. Enjoy!

In this episode you’ll discover:

0:52 – Jordan talks about his beginning as an entrepreneur and how writing about baseball opened the door to what he does today.

1:57 – Jordan explains the link between baseball and SEO (who knew, right?) and how the SEO element laid the foundation for his success.

3:02 – On which countries bring the most traffic to his website.

4:46 – On how bitcoin holds value to people who have a hard time accessing it

5:37 – The biggest misconception people have when it comes to buying bitcoin and the currency itself.

6:50 – What bitcoin really is in terms of understanding it.

7:54 – Jordan shares what set him on the path to bitcoin (one more reason why you should leverage online resources).

9:52 – One aspect of future bitcoin development Jordan is really excited about (hint: it’s not micropayment apps).

11:09 – The role of exchanges in future transactions.

11:54 – On what’s keeping Jordan busy right now business-wise (future fellow podcaster, maybe?).

13:11 – On learning Javascript and how being your own boss intrigues people.

13:44 – The fastest/best way to for an aspiring entrepreneur to start with, according to Jordan.

14:49 – The power of online resources, the impact they can have, and the strategy that Jordan likes.

16:04 – If Jordan could live anywhere in the world, that would be… (the answer will surprise you, I guarantee).

16:58 – Where the best opportunities lie for entrepreneurs.

18:02 – What Jordan thinks is essential in order to have success in the online world.

Key takeaways

I don’t expect bitcoin overnight to become this worldwide, global thing (even though it kinda already works like that) but slowly, I do think that people are recognizing that it is a good solution for a lot of the problems people are having.

As long as the supply of bitcoin does not get changed, I still fully believe in it.

The technology can be replicated very easily, but it’s really bitcoin, the money, and the network that’s very hard to replicate.

For making money online, all the information you need is online.

Today, I talk with Aaron Lasher, an early bitcoin investor and Chief Strategy Officer at Breadwallet (BRD), one of the most popular crypto wallets today (of which I’m a proud user – highly recommend it, check it out).

In his mission to make bitcoin available to everyone, Aaron takes us on a short history tour and shares his thoughts on what the future holds in store for cryptocurrencies. He calls himself an “immediate devotee” and “a sort-of amateur Angel investor” after getting a taste of bitcoin.

I’ve always just been fascinated with this idea that you can discover things that are true but you have no idea how it’s going to interact with the real world.

Aaron Lasher

From “funny money” (a sort of a code word for national currencies that stuck) to doing everything you can do with your bank right now but in a decentralized, permissionless way with bitcoin, Aaron talks about his current work and predicts future movements within the crypto world, as well as laments on decisions and failures that are part of the journey every successful entrepreneur makes.

The most exciting thing for my today’s guest is more people moving their money and their wealth into bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Aaron believes the current system doesn’t serve the interest of the public, and it’s a point he feels strongly about (just listen to him riffing on student loans).

Now a father of two, it’s safe to say his exciting sailing adventures are over but being a working dad doesn’t stop him from being actively involved with Breadwallet and keeping a close eye on bitcoin development. Let’s hear what Aaron has to say about it!

In this episode you’ll discover:

1:08 – Aaron talks about how Breadwallet started and how his background affected his decisions to get involved with cryptocurrencies.

06:07 On what sets Breadwallet apart from the rest of the wallets: three guiding principles.

6:54 The thing Aaron is most excited about when it comes to future Breadwallet endeavors (there’s some champagne involved).

8:35 On the three main revenue streams from where the money comes from and the processes behind them.

10:51 What Aaron sees as the biggest misconception people have about Breadwallet

13:22 Lookin back on the choice Breadwallet made after the great bitcoin divorce in 2017

14:57 One Breadwallet feature people should be really excited in the future (there’ll be a couple of surprises, too).

17:37 Why Aaron thinks security tokens are the next big thing in the crypto space and what excites him the most.

21:29 How bitcoin will help economically; the example of student loans.

25:45 The advantage of online education compared to going to college.

27:05 What infrastructure bitcoin needs to fully go mainstream.

28:34 Aaron talks about what excites him the most when it comes to bitcoin development

30:46 If Breadwallet is planning on implementing the Lightning Network

32:02 What other country could Aaron live in?

33:12 The biggest opportunities today for entrepreneurs

34:39 Aaron provides a most unusual example of entrepreneurship done right

Key takeaways

(On Breadwallet) The core mission is to financially liberate the individual.

We’re making a big bet that security tokens could be a thing. I think there’s a lot of evidence pointing in that direction.

Most people don’t know how money works.

(On necessary bitcoin infrastructure) I think it’s simply people waking up and saying: “I need to have 1% of my net worth in bitcoin.”

If you find governments in sync, just turning on the oppression machine, then bitcoin probably needs to go underground, so to speak.

(On bitcoin development) The #1 pressing need is to address scaling.

In this truly insightful episode, I’m chatting with Ray Youssef, the founder and CEO of Paxful, one of the largest peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin marketplaces in the world.

Ray has been an entrepreneur since 2001 and has founded 12 startups along the way. That way was far from smooth, though. Ray literally went from rags to riches and learned many lessons. In a nutshell, he is a New York City native that loves building awesome things that make life better.

That’s where Paxful comes in, currently mainly serving and making difference in developing countries by using Bitcoin to help the ‘unbanked’ people. As many before him, Ray wasn’t a believer in bitcoin at first, but he gave it a shot by selling it for gift cards. And – it worked.

“Me and my co-founder Artur, we were like: ”We got to scale this up.” And we did and all of a sudden: BOOM! I wasn’t homeless anymore.”

Ray Youssef

Now, Africa is Paxful’s biggest market (with the US aiming to take over) – this developing world where people turn to Paxful and P2P financing the most. And the difference is tremendous. Ray shares a somewhat incredible example of people being unable to buy new iPhones in Nigeria because their banks don’t allow that much spending (that’s just the tip of the iceberg, trust me).

There’s also plenty of room for charity in Ray’s heart, as he is being involved in building a second school in Africa, all thanks to bitcoin. He also shares the challenges of building a school in Africa, his musing on the Lightning Network, what the future holds for Paxful, and invites anyone who is able to sell bitcoin in Venezuela and Turkey, to reach out to him personally to help you get set up.

That would be enough of introduction, I feel – let’s hear what my today’s guest says about his experience with bitcoin and how he sees it changing the world.

00:38 – The bitcoin connection; how Paxful came into being.

04:24 – What ‘universal translator for money’ means.

07:18 – If Ray sees bitcoin used as a form of a bank account.

11:08 – On the day-to-day use of bitcoin in developing countries; the six reasons why it works so well and makes a difference (with examples!).

17:19 – Bitcoin is bringing financial empowerment, not just inclusion.

17:57 – Where the idea for building a school in Rwanda came from.

20:51 – The building blocks for empowerment – it’s all the same in the developing countries.

21:51 – The biggest challenges Ray encountered when building the school.

23:58 – On Lightning Network and if he sees it being integrated into Paxful at some point.

26:33 – On Paxful’s plans for the future.

30:30 – One country he would like to relocate for a short period of time if he had to.

33:33 – Biggest opportunities for entrepreneurs today.

Both Artur and I got into bitcoin because we really believe that it could make for a more peaceful world: a currency that could not be wildly inflated at will; bankers could not start wars and drag us into them at will.

We didn’t figure anything out ourselves. All we did was listen to our customer and watch what they were doing and they taught us so much.

You can trade anything in the world for anything else and bitcoin is just a medium.

Financial empowerment – this is the key. Inclusion is not good enough.

I really believe that sometime in the next two years, we are going to create the world’s first closed-loop crypto economy and it might be Venezuela. But when that happens, everyone is really going to understand the power of P2P finance and then the banks are gonna start shaking.

The new season is finally here (it took some time, I know), and I am kicking it off with Adam Draper, the founder and managing director of Boost VC, one of the premier accelerators in the world for crypto and VR startups.

Adam’s portfolio is impressive: his credentials include funding over 250 startups through Boost VC, with 90+ of them operating in the cryptocurrency space and more than 70 of the VR variety. With deep VC family ties, Adam continues in the footsteps of his family’s previous generation of venture capitalists.

Being a seed investor in CoinBase, arguably one of the biggest crypto exchanges today, Adam came full circle and made all sorts of mistakes along the way (he’s human, after all). For Adam, those mistakes made him what he is today and he sees a lot of the same errors in today’s businesses (pick up the phone, people!).

His take on VR and blockchain, apart from the mainstream use, is interesting and it all revolves around one thing in particular: solving the problems people routinely face:

“The reason to start a business is not for money. The reason to start a business is because something about the world frustrates you and you need it to change in an obsessive way.”

Adam Draper

My today’s guest strongly believes that businesses don’t think it through. Some businesses are venture backable, some aren’t. VC companies aren’t going to back you unless you show there’s a tangible way you can return the investment.

With Boost VC, Adam is investing in pre-seed startups that aim to make sci-fi a reality. The aspect of time is important to Adam, with the unavoidable link to everything online (the freedom of geography, as Adam calls it) and undervalued meaning of being global.

Enough of my ramblings, let’s dive into today’s episode and learn how Adam sees Bitcoin, VR, and entrepreneurship, as well as share his advice and experiences.

1:00 – How Adam started investing.

4:44 – About his investing in Coinbase, founding and leaving Expert Financial and then buying it back.

6:09 On meeting Bryan Armstrong (founder of Coinbase) before cryptocurrencies made it big.

7:45 What mistakes Adam made, what it takes to make it when things aren’t going as planned.

13:52 Dialling for dollars: the importance of picking up the phone and calling instead of relying on email to do the bidding.

15:28 The highest high: when all the sacrifices were finally worth it, those moments that make it all worthwhile.

18:56 Adam shares his view on one of the main VR use cases (besides entertainment), gaining traction in the coming years.

22:35 Talking blockchain: non-bitcoin cryptocurrency Adam is most excited about and main applications (other than money) that the blockchain could be used in the future.

26:10 How people undervalue what global means in crypto.

27:03 What type of business is uniformly best for good and bad times?

29:06 The types of businesses that were successful over and over.

32:24 How Adam spends his time and his routine.

35:00 The aspect of time: how to build a business to save people time.

36:51 Which area offers the most opportunities for online entrepreneurs?

38:46 Everything is connected and there are still opportunities: what’s the problem you can solve for someone else?

39:59 One piece of advice struggling entrepreneurs

41:45 Make noise, just talk

“Bryan Armstrong said to me: “At some point, the world is gonna be on one financial infrastructure.” That phrase has, in a positive way, haunted my entire career. We at BoostVC picked bitcoin technology as our first focus ever.”

“Maintaining focus and listening to the customer are the two ways that I’ve seen over and over again how people succeed.”

“The best entrepreneurs are the most empathetic to their customer.”

“You should be obsessed with what you’re doing, not obsessed with the money you’re raising.”

“From a time perspective, all technology does is save you time.”

“If you believe that you are truly solving a problem for someone and you truly are, then you should be able to figure out who your customer is.”

The views and outlook of how the next generation views the world has changed dramatically: No one really believes in a 9-5 anymore. Those days are destined to be replaced by work that shouldn’t particularly have to feel like work at all.

In the words of entrepreneur and CEO of digital magazine Foundr, Nathan Chan firmly believes that “For the first time, the age of traditional work is OVER”. The new age entrepreneur aspires to build a life and a living around doing what they love. That means the challenge for the 21st century is how to cultivate the ultimate work-life lifestyle. Luckily, Foundr mag is here to solve that problem!

As a magazine dedicated to helping young entrepreneurs build and grow a successful business, Foundr’s success lies on it’s ability to capture the real essence of what it means to be an entrepreneur in the 21st century. With the continual growth and innovation in the tech and creative industries combined with the incredible development crowd-funding platforms like KICKSTARTER, there has never been a better time to break free from the 9-5 mould.

What essentially started as nothing more than a laptop startup fueled by some extra savings from his day job, Foundr mag has been on an unprecedented journey of growth. In this podcast we talk with Nathan about the future of business and entrepreneurship, what sort of challenges exist on the way to success as well as some great insights from Nathan’s journey as he has built his magazine from the ground up.

If you have always thought about building your own business, then Foundr mag is a surefire way to get your dose of motivation, inspiration and education. Nathan has interviewed some incredible business superstars like Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss, Richard Branson… just to name a few! Be sure to check this episode out and head on over to out Foundr mag once you’re done.

00:50  – What industries are set for the most growth potential in the future.

02:20 – What inspired Nathan want to start Foundr magazine and the challenges he had to overcome on the road to success.

5:07 – Why podcasting is such a powerful and valuable method of communication and interaction.

07:35 – How Nathan manages working on a global scale in a variety of different time zones.

08:54: What Nathan has in stall for Foundr mag in the short to long term future.

10:24: Some key insights and wisdom Nathan has picked up talking to some of the biggest and most powerful entrepreneurs in the world.

12:03 – How Nathan has changed and grown since beginning his journey into entrepreneurship.

Foundr represents a handful of a growing group of young people who are fed up with relying on outdated systems of employment, and are instead rallying to the entrepreneurial space.

Ship fast and see how the market reacts, be prepared that things might not work out, and whatever you do: don’t attach yourself to an outcome!

Build, measure, learn, repeat – Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup

In this episode I interviewed Zooko Wilcox, the CEO and founder of Zcash, a new cryptocurrency set to make waves internationally this coming October. What makes Zcash so unique is that it plans to take the excellent functionality of bitcoin and extend it even further to allow users to make completely private and secure transactions without a trace through their encrypted network.

Zooko believes strongly that with  Zcash businesses will be given a proper chance to thrive as commerce can be done without any roadblocks and society can move forward a much more rapid pace. And that’s all because of one little thing called privacy.

“Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. Privacy is not secrecy. A private matter is something one doesn’t want the whole world to know, but a secret matter is something one doesn’t want anybody to know. Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world.”

Eric Hughes, A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto

Zooko believes that in an open and programmable financial system, privacy is the only way we will be able to ensure money is treated equal and all exchanges are fair. We explore this further as Zooko explains this key concept known as fungibility and why it is so important to the modernization of commerce and improvement of our society. 

Zcash is set to launch on the 28th of October 2016 and while this may not be the next bitcoin overnight, Zooko sure does have a grand vision for the long term future. A future so bright that we might just see the replacement of commodities like gold and silver with cryptocurrencies like Zcash!

Be sure to listen in and get your notebook handy because this episode is jam packed with amazing content.

In this episode you’ll discover:

0:40 – How Zcash provides a neutral playing field for all businesses and a look into some of the biggest and best use cases for Zcash.

3:35 – The long term future goals of Zcash: is it here to replace bitcoin?

05:00 – How Zcash plans to deal with the block size debate?

06:30 – How Zcash will handle large capacity transactions and manage issues with scalability

11:30 – The shared values, beliefs and technology goals of Zcash and bitcoin

13:10 – Whether Zcash could potentially be integrated into bitcoin in the future

15:08 – What makes Zcash more anonymous and potentially better than Monero?

20:30 – How Zcash generates their public/private key parameters

24:00 – Zooko’s journey into the world of cryptocurrency

25:00 – The skills and experience Zooko took from working at digiCash

27:46 – Zooko’s thoughts and predictions on who he thinks the primary user of Zcash will be

30: 34 – The benefits that Zooko obtains from eating a ketogenic diet.

Key Takeaways

“Zcash isn’t the ‘opposite’ of Bitcoin. zCash has selective transparency.”

“The invention of bitcoin showed us a whole new continent of possibility that previously we thought there was an ocean of impossibility.”

“Zcash is not set up as an opensource community but as a Company. This is the first major difference to Bitcoin and other crypto currencies such as ethereum.”

Meet Maidsafe CEO David Irvine. Maidsafe is a revolutionary new web application with a bold mission to provide privacy, security and freedom to everyone on the planet. MaidSafe runs without a dedicated server on the decentralized Safe Network and aims to bring a faster, better and safer web experience without any boundaries, anywhere in the world.

In this episode of the podcast I was lucky enough to interview David Irvine, the CEO and software engineer behind the MaidSafe project. From as early as 2002, Irvine understood that the internet had the utmost potential to be as much of a runaway success as a catastrophe. In his eyes, it only made sense to liberate the world from the private, centralized networks, services and corporations that rule the internet. Today his decade-and-a-half long vision has now become a reality.

David’s plan is to shift the world towards a server-less, decentralized and completely ad free network where users have the freedom to surf the web without anyone manipulating your data, your experience and your right to information. The SAFE Network  distributes and stores users files all over the world, on different devices. This constant movement of data (called churn) is a key part of the security that the SAFE Network offers because there is no central point for hackers to target as the data locations keep changing.

Sounds pretty exciting right? This man is literally taking on the world and showing the naysayers that anything is possible. His passion and drive are catching, and it’s people like this who really do to make the world a better place. I am a firm believe that  David is going to revolutionize the way we surf the net.

So get yourself comfortable and press play now!

0:55 – The advantages of using the Safe Network over today’s version of the ‘internet‘.

6:30 – How the MaidSafe network operates without a ‘middleman’ stealing your personal information.

09:40 – How you can and always will be able to safely store all your data on the MaidSafe network.

17:58 – How David plans to launch the Alpha release and the amazing reward system to pay developers for building app’s and contributing to the network.

21:30 – How the app’s will be integrated into the system (ie) app stores.

24:10 – David’s take on the bitcoin block size debate.

28:50 – The backstory, history, the how and why MaidSafe was started.

“With MaidSafe you can’t attack it, you can’t punch it, it’s like punching holes into the sea.”

“Internet service providers store our personal information and data in centralized servers, out of necessity. Companies like Facebook and Google snatch up data and use it for advertising.”

“With Opportunistic Caching popular websites and other data feeds will actually speed up as they get more visitors, rather than slow down and crash as they do on today’s web.”

“People are almost apathetic, they say “oh, of course, I got hacked… Of course, I lost my emails…Not with MaidSafe.”

“Find the stuff that people say can’t be done… And just do it”

What if you could gamify your life? You would earn status points simply for doing your job, taking your friends out, walking the dog or picking up the groceries. It’s a new way to think about work, life and even reality and it’s coming to a city near you on September 1st 2016. Arcade City is a new p2p ridesharing app that allows you to fully customize your experience both as a rider and a driver.

In this episode I speak with Christopher David, CEO and founder of Arcade City. We talk about why Arcade City has the potential to outperform other ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft. It will leverage the Ethereum network to provide a decentralized service, effectively cutting out the middle man. This is a trend we are starting to see everywhere where more and more businesses are offering customer orientated services that remove the power corporate control.

While competing against Uber might sound a bit crazy, this idea absolutely does have an opportunity to prosper where other apps do not or cannot. Unlike Uber, which is effectively pushing and  intimidating (not to mention, refinancing) its way into cities around the world, Arcade City is taking a far more organic and crowd focused approach to building its network. Think Craigslist meets Uber meets Tinder meets…. the local arcade downtown! It’s fun, it’s completely up to you and it’s driven by the people for the people.

I’m super excited to bring you this episode. Christopher argues clearly and effectively as to why Arcade City really does have a chance, and the right, to play with the big boys in the p2p ridesharing market. So get ready for this incredible episode with Christopher David.

0:50 – What Arcade City offers that isn’t already available in the current Uber/Lyft marketplace

4:10 – How Arcade City will be able to stop driver pay cuts and other corporate pressure points that Uber face

7:30 – Why Arcade City is allowed to operate in certain cities where Uber cannot

12:47 – How Arcade City is made legal where Uber and Lyft are not

16: 40 – How the book SwarmWise influenced Christopher’s journey towards building Arcade City

18:40 – The things Christopher wished he knew BEFORE he started Arcade City

20:40 – What sparked Christopher’s interest in freedom and liberty

24:11 – Where the biggest and best opportunities for entrepreneurs today exist

“Anywhere that Uber and Lyft pull out of is a huge advantage for us, as we can flow like water around the regulations designed by corporate entities like Uber and Lyft.”

“The goal is for us to get ourselves out of the way and to just provide a set of tools, a set of expectations, a shared culture around how people can connect with each other, peer to peer.”

“Our aim is to build an ecosystem where users build their own entities to do just about anything, Arcade City just provides a gamified experience for the users, we are NOT the entity therefore we do not get caught up in the corporate BS that Uber and Lyft face”.

“Arcade city is trying to be THE network for decentralized service providers”

Today I got an incredible chance to pick the brain of a Martin Köppelmann, the CEO and co-founder of Gnosis. For those of you who haven’t heard, Gnosis is a new piece of software that enables you to make predictions on all kinds of events from around the world. Everyone can vote by buying and selling shares of different outcomes thus creating a platform for crowd-sourced information. With Gnosis, you can literally predict the future based on crowd sourced information.

This is all made possible because of the incredible architecture designed by Martin and his team, who have leveraged the decentralized Ethereum network using Smart Contracts. Potential applications are limitless, ranging from insurance and governance solutions to sports betting and financial instruments.

This means that any kind of organization, be it companies, corporations, or even an entire country will have the ability to test a theory or evaluate a policy by harnessing the power of the crowd. Data may then be intelligently organized and displayed within the Gnosis application and critical decisions can be made. And best of all, you can even profit based on your very own predictions!

After successfully founding the Bitcoin prediction market Fairlay, Martin has been on a mission make his mark in the prediction market universe. This is one man who has played the game long enough to understand the intricacies of the industry. It is now, with the culmination of Ethereum’s advanced blockchain technology and the company’s complete decentralization, that Marin is finally able to bring this beautiful piece of software to the world.

So strap yourself in and get ready for this jam packed episode with Martin Köppelmann, CEO and co-founder of Gnosis.

0:30 – The benefits of building a decentralized prediction application on the blockchain

4:40 – The difference between Gnosis and Augur as well as the fundamental processes behind prediction markets

8:30 – What makes Gnosis superior to other betting market applications

12:45 – Martins insider predictions on the top placed trading markets

14: 30 – Everything you need to know about Gnosis tokens and the upcoming crowd sale

17:40 – The incredibly unique company structure that places the future of Gnosis in the hands of its users

22:01 – Martins thoughts and opinions on the move away from Ethereum Classic

24:54 – Why society would be better off with a Universal Basic Income for everyone.

31:40 – The latest news on the Gnosis release date!

“We envision a future in which markets are used to aggregate knowledge and optimize processes throughout information economies.”

“Decentralized Autonomous Organizations allow us to experiment with an aspect of our social interactions that is so far arguably falling behind our rapid advancements in information and social technology.”

“While Augur uses many oracles to determine the outcome of an event, Gnosis uses a mechanism whereby only one or a few oracles provide the outcome, a feature they say will lead to faster validation.”

“Gnosis enables anyone to forecast the outcome of any decidable event.”