Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 23rd Feb Company: Block Digest Role: Host

The core fundamental aspect of Bitcoin is its censorship-resistant nature; this is only possible because the network is meaningfully decentralized. 

Decentralization is achieved by bitcoiners worldwide running nodes (a computer connected to the bitcoin network, e.g. Bitcoin Core). 

These nodes maintain the network rules, known as consensus, and ensure all transactions and blocks are valid by keeping a copy of the entire history of the blockchain. 

Aside from supporting the network, running a node helps improve your privacy and allows you to validate your transactions without requiring a 3rd party. If you are not running a full node, you cannot use the bitcoin network in a trustless way. 

It is hard to know the exact number of nodes connected to the bitcoin network. However, Luke Dashjr estimates the number to be somewhere around 80,000.

In this interview, I talk to Shinobi, the host of Block Digest. We discuss what a node is, why running a node is crucial for the network, which hardware & software to use, and the impact on privacy.

“Yield curve controls are like rocket fuel for all of these inflationary assets. If they try to suppress yields while inflation moves up this summer thats rocket fuel for all these scarce assets.”
— Lyn Alden

Location: Remotely
Date: Thursday 25th Feb
Company: lynalden.com
Role: Macroeconomist

Bitcoin is not slowing down after its massive start to 2021, and February has been another incredibly bullish month for bitcoin. 

First, following Tesla's announcement that they bought $1.5bn of bitcoin for their corporate treasury, the price surged above $50,000 for the first time.

A few days later, with the bitcoin price at $53,763, the market capitalisation of bitcoin broke $1 trillion.

Although bitcoin has since dropped back below the $1 trillion market cap, some analysts have suggested that if bitcoin can hold above that level, this de-risks bitcoin as an investment. With this, some institutional investors may begin to see bitcoin as a more feasible option.

In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and investment strategist. We discuss Tesla buying bitcoin, MicroStrategy's billion-dollar raise, hitting a $1 trillion market cap and the sovereign bond market.

This episode’s sponsors:

Kraken - The best place to buy, sell & trade Bitcoin
BlockFi - The future of Bitcoin financial services
Sportsbet.io - Online sportsbook & casino that accepts Bitcoin
Casa - The leading provider of Bitcoin multisig key security.
Exodus - The world's leading Desktop, Mobile and Hardware crypto wallets.
Ledger - State of the art Bitcoin hardware wallet

-----

WBD314 - Show Notes

-----

If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following:

Become a Patron and get access to shows early or help contribute

Make a tip:
Bitcoin: 3FiC6w7eb3dkcaNHMAnj39ANTAkv8Ufi2S
QR Codes: Bitcoin
If you do send a tip then please email me so that I can say thank you

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If you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 25th Feb Company: lynalden.com Role: Macroeconomist

Bitcoin is not slowing down after its massive start to 2021, and February has been another incredibly bullish month for bitcoin. 

• First, following Tesla's announcement that they bought $1.5bn of bitcoin for their corporate treasury, the price surged above $50,000 for the first time.

• A few days later, with the bitcoin price at $53,763, the market capitalisation of bitcoin broke $1 trillion.

Although bitcoin has since dropped back below the $1 trillion market cap, some analysts have suggested that if bitcoin can hold above that level, this de-risks bitcoin as an investment. With this, some institutional investors may begin to see bitcoin as a more feasible option.

In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and investment strategist. We discuss Tesla buying bitcoin, MicroStrategy's billion-dollar raise, hitting a $1 trillion market cap and the sovereign bond market.

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 22nd Feb Company: Hypersheet Role: Co-Founder

Since last month's episode with Willy Woo, bitcoin went from ~$30,000 to a new all-time high of over $58,000. This price action came on the back of a couple of massive announcements:

• Tesla added $1.5bn of bitcoin to its company treasury.

• MicroStrategy announced a raise of $600m in a convertible senior note sale to buy bitcoin before reassessing and increasing the raise to $900m. Upon completion of the raise, the company estimated the proceeds to be close to $1.05bn

• The bitcoin market cap broke through $1 trillion

While corporations are still driving the bitcoin price, Willy Woo believes that we have entered a new phase of the bull market and that retail traders have arrived. As stated in his recent newsletter: "Bitcoin's blockchain is seeing 20,000 new users per day, this is a sudden 3x increase over the normal 5,000-10,000 per day previously. It's a very sure sign that retail investors are now coming in. They typically start ramping up in numbers during the middle phases of bull markets."

In this interview, we discuss the Tesla & MicroStrategy news, the recent drop in price and what retail entering the market will mean for bitcoin.

“Buy the dip is the main thing you want to do, and the only time you really want to consider selling the top is the macro top.”
— Willy Woo

Location: Remotely
Date: Monday 22nd Feb
Company: Hypersheet
Role: Co-Founder

Since last month's episode with Willy Woo, bitcoin went from ~$30,000 to a new all-time high of over $58,000. This price action came on the back of a couple of massive announcements:

Tesla added $1.5bn of bitcoin to its company treasury.

MicroStrategy announced a raise of $600m in a convertible senior note sale to buy bitcoin before reassessing and increasing the raise to $900m. Upon completion of the raise, the company estimated the proceeds to be close to $1.05bn

The bitcoin market cap broke through $1 trillion

While corporations are still driving the bitcoin price, Willy Woo believes that we have entered a new phase of the bull market and that retail traders have arrived. As stated in his recent newsletter: "Bitcoin's blockchain is seeing 20,000 new users per day, this is a sudden 3x increase over the normal 5,000-10,000 per day previously. It's a very sure sign that retail investors are now coming in. They typically start ramping up in numbers during the middle phases of bull markets."

In this interview, we discuss the Tesla & MicroStrategy news, the recent drop in price and what retail entering the market will mean for bitcoin.

This episode’s sponsors:

Kraken - The best place to buy, sell & trade Bitcoin
BlockFi - The future of Bitcoin financial services
Sportsbet.io - Online sportsbook & casino that accepts Bitcoin
Casa - The leading provider of Bitcoin multisig key security.
Exodus - The world's leading Desktop, Mobile and Hardware crypto wallets.
Ledger - State of the art Bitcoin hardware wallet

-----

WBD313 - Show Notes

-----

If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following:

Become a Patron and get access to shows early or help contribute

Make a tip:
Bitcoin: 3FiC6w7eb3dkcaNHMAnj39ANTAkv8Ufi2S
QR Codes: Bitcoin
If you do send a tip then please email me so that I can say thank you

Subscribe on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | Deezer | TuneIn | RSS Feed

Leave a review on iTunes

Share the show and episodes with your friends and family

Subscribe to the newsletter on my website

Follow me on Twitter Personal | Twitter Podcast | Instagram | Medium | YouTube

If you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.

“It’s like saying I can’t handle the internet in 1995, and there were many people that couldn’t. Do you know what happened? The internet ploughed ahead, and eventually, you caught up… the world is going to catch up to this because there is going to be no alternative.”
— Bill Barhydt

Location: Remotely
Date: Thursday 18th Feb
Company: Abra
Role: Founder & CEO

In the last week, bitcoin broke $50,000 for the first time, a significant milestone, helped by corporate adoption. Tesla’s $1.5bn bitcoin buy was a watershed moment. Still, it would likely not have happened without MicroStrategy, who themselves announced this week that they would be raising another $900 million to acquire more bitcoin.

Using Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset is only expected to grow, with some bitcoiners suggesting that as many as half the S&P500 will hold bitcoin in their balance sheet before the end of 2021.

The next logical step after corporate adoption of Bitcoin is the nation-state. With India looking to ban Bitcoin, it is clear there is still a large amount of scepticism from nation-states. However, the first country to embrace Bitcoin will likely see the same benefits as MicroStrategy did.

In this interview, I talk to Bill Barhydt, the CEO and Founder of Abra. We discuss what $50k bitcoin means, increasing corporate adoption and which nation-state will be the first to embrace Bitcoin.

This episode’s sponsors:

Kraken - The best place to buy, sell & trade Bitcoin
BlockFi - The future of Bitcoin financial services
Sportsbet.io - Online sportsbook & casino that accepts Bitcoin
Casa - The leading provider of Bitcoin multisig key security.
Exodus - The world's leading Desktop, Mobile and Hardware crypto wallets.
Ledger - State of the art Bitcoin hardware wallet

-----

WBD312 - Show Notes

-----

If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following:

Become a Patron and get access to shows early or help contribute

Make a tip:
Bitcoin: 3FiC6w7eb3dkcaNHMAnj39ANTAkv8Ufi2S
QR Codes: Bitcoin
If you do send a tip then please email me so that I can say thank you

Subscribe on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | Deezer | TuneIn | RSS Feed

Leave a review on iTunes

Share the show and episodes with your friends and family

Subscribe to the newsletter on my website

Follow me on Twitter Personal | Twitter Podcast | Instagram | Medium | YouTube

If you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 18th Feb Company: Abra Role: Founder & CEO

In the last week, bitcoin broke $50,000 for the first time, a significant milestone, helped by corporate adoption. Tesla’s $1.5bn bitcoin buy was a watershed moment. Still, it would likely not have happened without MicroStrategy, who themselves announced this week that they would be raising another $900 million to acquire more bitcoin.

Using Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset is only expected to grow, with some bitcoiners suggesting that as many as half the S&P500 will hold bitcoin in their balance sheet before the end of 2021.

The next logical step after corporate adoption of Bitcoin is the nation-state. With India looking to ban Bitcoin, it is clear there is still a large amount of scepticism from nation-states. However, the first country to embrace Bitcoin will likely see the same benefits as MicroStrategy did.

In this interview, I talk to Bill Barhydt, the CEO and Founder of Abra. We discuss what $50k bitcoin means, increasing corporate adoption and which nation-state will be the first to embrace Bitcoin.

“With businesses and the value they create less rooted to the locality of any jurisdiction, it just pushes this free market paradigm on governments, and that’s what we are seeing happen. They are being forced to compete, just like every other enterprise on the planet.”
— Robert Breedlove

Location: Remotely
Date: Monday 15th February
Company: Bitcoin Magazine & Independent
Role: Media Editor & Bitcoin Writer

Bitcoin is the separation of money and state. It allows hodlers to opt-out of government-issued fiat currency and take sovereignty over their money. For many libertarian-minded Bitcoiners, this was the draw to Bitcoin, even before it had any real value. 

Throughout late 2020 and into early 2021, more and more companies have added Bitcoin to their treasuries. MicroStrategy led the way, but the most notable is Tesla's recent $1.5bn Bitcoin acquisition. 

For many, Bitcoin's attraction is due to its monetary policy and thus is a hedge against the unprecedented levels of money printing and the fear of high inflation. However, as Christian Keroles said in his article for Bitcoin Magazine The Sovereign Company Thesis "As companies adopt Bitcoin, they will begin to gain new levels of sovereignty and leverage over the state … this in and of itself will challenge the dynamics of governance and the nature of nation-states as we currently know them.  

So, what does the future of sovereign companies look like?

In this interview, I talk to Christian Keroles, the Media Editor of Bitcoin Magazine and Robert Breedlove. We discuss the idea of sovereign companies, jurisdictional arbitrage and moving away from a state-controlled world.This episode’s sponsors:

Kraken - The best place to buy, sell & trade Bitcoin
BlockFi - The future of Bitcoin financial services
Sportsbet.io - Online sportsbook & casino that accepts Bitcoin
Casa - The leading provider of Bitcoin multisig key security.
Exodus - The world's leading Desktop, Mobile and Hardware crypto wallets.
Ledger - State of the art Bitcoin hardware wallet

-----

WBD311 - Show Notes

-----

If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following:

Become a Patron and get access to shows early or help contribute

Make a tip:
Bitcoin: 3FiC6w7eb3dkcaNHMAnj39ANTAkv8Ufi2S
QR Codes: Bitcoin
If you do send a tip then please email me so that I can say thank you

Subscribe on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | Deezer | TuneIn | RSS Feed

Leave a review on iTunes

Share the show and episodes with your friends and family

Subscribe to the newsletter on my website

Follow me on Twitter Personal | Twitter Podcast | Instagram | Medium | YouTube

If you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 15th February Company: Bitcoin Magazine & Independent Role: Media Editor & Bitcoin Writer

Bitcoin is the separation of money and state. It allows hodlers to opt-out of government-issued fiat currency and take sovereignty over their money. For many libertarian-minded Bitcoiners, this was the draw to Bitcoin, even before it had any real value. 

Throughout late 2020 and into early 2021, more and more companies have added Bitcoin to their treasuries. MicroStrategy led the way, but the most notable is Tesla's recent $1.5bn Bitcoin acquisition. 

For many, Bitcoin's attraction is due to its monetary policy and thus is a hedge against the unprecedented levels of money printing and the fear of high inflation. However, as Christian Keroles said in his article for Bitcoin Magazine The Sovereign Company Thesis "As companies adopt Bitcoin, they will begin to gain new levels of sovereignty and leverage over the state … this in and of itself will challenge the dynamics of governance and the nature of nation-states as we currently know them.  

So, what does the future of sovereign companies look like?

In this interview, I talk to Christian Keroles, the Media Editor of Bitcoin Magazine and Robert Breedlove. We discuss the idea of sovereign companies, jurisdictional arbitrage and moving away from a state-controlled world.

“Robinhood users realised what everyone in the venture and startup industry knew a long time ago, which is that they are the product and that the customer is Citadel and Knight.”
— Cory Klippsten

Location: Remotely
Date: Friday 5th February
Company: SwanBitcoin
Role: Founder

We are just over a month into 2021, and it has already been a wild start of the year for Bitcoin and the broader financial markets.

The r/wallstreetbets subreddit took it to Wall Street by collectively buying up the heavily shorted GameStop (GME). The stock price went from around $20 in mid-January to over $450 in less than two weeks, wiping a staggering $4.5 billion off Melvin Capital’s balance sheet.

In early February, corporate Bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor held his ‘Bitcoin for Corporations’ event which around 7,000 companies attended. Just days after the conference, Tesla announced that they had bought $1.5bn of Bitcoin.

With any bull market, shitcoins also see an increase in activity. With the rise of Clubhouse, the salesmen are out in force. Yet, Bitcoiners are marshalling the rooms, educating newcomers on why Bitcoin is the only asset they should be considering.

In this interview, I talk to Cory Klippsten, the founder of SwanBitcoin. We discuss how shitcoiners are invading Clubhouse, r/wallstreetbets, corporations buying Bitcoin, and which nation-states will first disclose a Bitcoin position first.

This episode’s sponsors:

Kraken - The best place to buy, sell & trade Bitcoin
BlockFi - The future of Bitcoin financial services
Sportsbet.io - Online sportsbook & casino that accepts Bitcoin
Casa - The leading provider of Bitcoin multisig key security.
Exodus - The world's leading Desktop, Mobile and Hardware crypto wallets.
Ledger - State of the art Bitcoin hardware wallet

-----

WBD310 - Show Notes

-----

If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following:

Become a Patron and get access to shows early or help contribute

Make a tip:
Bitcoin: 3FiC6w7eb3dkcaNHMAnj39ANTAkv8Ufi2S
QR Codes: Bitcoin
If you do send a tip then please email me so that I can say thank you

Subscribe on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | Deezer | TuneIn | RSS Feed

Leave a review on iTunes

Share the show and episodes with your friends and family

Subscribe to the newsletter on my website

Follow me on Twitter Personal | Twitter Podcast | Instagram | Medium | YouTube

If you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.