“This problem is precisely why all previous attempts of digital cash required a centralized registry. You always had to trust someone to correctly identify the order of things. A centralized party was required to keep the time. Bitcoin solves this problem by re-inventing time itself. It says no to seconds and yes to blocks.”- DerGigi DerGigi is back at it with a chapter from his upcoming book 21 Ways, all about the nature of Bitcoin not as new invention in money, or payments, or cryptography… ...
Mar 05, 2021•1 hr 11 min
"As a consensus system without central authority, Bitcoin protocol upgrades can be challenging. If one segment of the network upgrades to a new version of the protocol before another segment does, different nodes might enforce different rules, introducing the risk that the network fractures between them." - Aaron Van Wirdum Today's read is from Aaron Van Wirdum at Bitcoin Magazine, an excellent writer who has so many brilliant breakdowns of the technical and historical elements of Bitcoin. Tapro...
Mar 04, 2021•45 min
"The most egregious falsehood regarding economic health that is nonetheless widely believed is surely that we ought to measure it by the magnitude of goods and services consumed. This is dangerous nonsense." - Allen Farrington How is it that we found ourselves in such a disastrous and unstable financial situation across the entire country, and even the entire world? How has the economic system been overtaken by exploiters, over consumption, and waste while completely lost touch with sustainable,...
Mar 03, 2021•1 hr 38 min
" The Internet’s protocol (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol, or TCP/IP) doesn’t offer “services.” It doesn’t make decisions about content. It doesn’t distinguish between photos and text, video and audio. It doesn’t have a list of approved applications. It doesn’t even distinguish between client and server, user and host, or individual versus corporation. Every IP address is an equal peer." - Andreas M. Antonopolous Today we hit a great and classic essay by Andreas on the amazing F...
Mar 02, 2021•52 min
"If the US Dollar really was to reach an uncontrollable level of inflation, a last move by the Fed may be to do this same trade on a Federal level by printing dollars to acquire Bitcoins to stack on their balance sheet. Only time will tell." - William Clemente III Today we read an excellent piece from bitrawr.com by William Clemente on the various feedback loops that could lead not only to the qualitative loss of trust in the fiat system, but a quantitative pull to earn a near risk-free position...
Feb 26, 2021•1 hr 7 min
"So far, it seems that when governments try to ban or restrict Bitcoin, it ends up merely accelerating the adoption of the currency inside their countries. Governments that have failed miserably with their Wars on Drugs may find stopping people from holding something that’s invisible, borderless, and teleporting much more difficult." - Alex Gladstein Today we read an amazing article from Quillette by returning author and brilliant Bitcoiner, Alex Gladstein . Can governments ban Bitcoin? Will the...
Feb 25, 2021•1 hr 25 min
"Peter Todd, a Bitcoin developer who has been around from the very beginning and even well before Bitcoin was released and Guy Swann who bought his first Bitcoin on Mt. Gox in early 2011, join us to dive into Bitcoin's fascinating history." Today we get into a recent fun episode on Swan Signal where we take a little walk through Bitcoin's history. For those new to Bitcoin this is a great discussion to get an idea of how we got to where we are, and the reason behind it. Connect with Peter Todd: h...
Feb 24, 2021•1 hr 36 min
"Does anybody really believe that, having fully understood the choice they face, any individual would choose to save in a self-referentially mispriced toxic loan rather than a provably sound digital bearer asset? Or, more simply still, that they will think it makes less sense to hold money that is a pure asset than money that is literally defined as a liability? Why not opt into a financial system that is built on trustless verifiability rather than unverifiable trust?" - Allen Farrington Today'...
Feb 23, 2021•2 hr
“When we begin to value things in bitcoin, we can find their legitimate value, as bitcoin is the most legitimately-valued money. There are no manipulations of supply, or buybacks, or quantitative easing or laws protecting value — only direct valuation.” - Casey Bitcoin may appear volatile, but how does it make sense to measure the volatility of an asset with extremely stable & predictable supply, in an asset who’s supply is horrifically volatile & unpredictable? What happens when we turn...
Feb 19, 2021•56 min
“The annual issuance rate with all those annotations kind of looks like it was drawn by a Bitcoiner making fun of Ethereum, but instead that’s from an Ethereum source. Various Ethereum Improvement Proposals or “EIPs” by developers have changed its monetary policy over time as needed for various reasons.” - Lyn Alden Lyn Alden always brings a clear, investor centered perspective to the space which I highly value. With no “crypto” or Bitcoin baggage she takes a rational view of digital assets from...
Feb 16, 2021•2 hr 1 min
"Supplying liquidity is an investment, and we need to treat it accordingly. Like lending money or buying stock, investors commit capital for a period and expect a return that increases over time." - Roy Sheinfeld Now that we are entering Chapter 2 of Bitcoin where the free and open network begins to act as a backbone for financial infrastructure made possible by the Lightning network and global Bitcoin liquidity, we dive into the economics of Lightning with the Breez Technology CEO, Roy Sheinfel...
Feb 13, 2021•1 hr 2 min
"if the representation of reality in this article is correct, the highest and best use of a dollar of debt may simply be to buy bitcoin. Many more individuals and entities will leverage this asymmetry for personal gain into the future." - Croesus With increased attention on the Bitcoin price and the speculative attack by Michael Saylor himself having paid off so extraordinarily well, its time to revisit the concept with an article by Croesus_BTC at Bitcoin Magazine . Its not merely something tha...
Feb 10, 2021•47 min
"In Chapter 1 we reached millions. In Chapter 2 we're going to reach billions and we're going to do it quickly. And Chapter 2 starts right now." - Ross Stevens We are entering a phase of Bitcoin where it becomes accepted as a global store of value asset by large institutions and corporations around the world. Yet simultaneously, we are reaching a point where Bitcoin is also being recognized and utilized as a global, open source, and highly liquid monetary *network.* Chapter 2 isn't merely about ...
Feb 09, 2021•43 min
"I believe Bitcoin is one hell of an invention. To have invented a new type of money via a system that is programmed into a computer and that has worked for around 10 years and is rapidly gaining popularity as both a type of money and a storehold of wealth is an amazing accomplishment." - Ray Dalio We read a great piece by Ray Dalio to get his thoughts, concerns, & criticisms of Bitcoin as well as Guy's Take trying to answer those criticisms and making sense of the mental model that will bet...
Feb 06, 2021•1 hr 3 min
"Perhaps one of the great ironies of the future will be the Solcoin alliance between urbane Terrans and hillbilly belters." - Dhruv Bansal Continuing our awesome walk through Dhruv's excellent Bitcoin Astronomy series we hit Part 2 today! What does a Type II blockchain look like when we scale to a Type II society? What time scales do they operate on, and what horizons will they enable us to conquer? Can multiple blockchains resonate with each other, or is one doomed to collapse into another? You...
Feb 04, 2021•1 hr 23 min
Preparing for the Second Part of Dhruv's incredible series, today we have a reboot of Part 1! Equal parts entertaining & intellectually intriguing, we start with Part 1 of Dhruv Bansal's wonderful piece, Bitcoin Astronomy ! The interplanetary center of hash, the Law of Hash Horizons, the Muskcoin Revolution, retaliation of the Bitcoin Empire, and the total economic devastation of the Hash Bomb! How could you not want to know more? Another one from the excellent content over at the Unchained ...
Feb 03, 2021•48 min
"People aren’t trading bitcoin, they’re accumulating more and more of it over time and holding it long term (aka, “stacking sats“ ). This is evident not only through the raw on-chain data and exchange flows, but also through consumer behavior." - Abhay Aluri We aren't in the same world, nor the same phase of Bitcoin as we were in 2017. This bull run seems not to be fueled by retail speculation and wall street gamblers, but instead its entering a phase where its a truly legitimized, investment gr...
Feb 02, 2021•41 min
Curious to know what the recent clown show of GameStop and r/WallStreetBets was all about? Well we get into it in today's rant about the phenomenal arrogance and outright manipulation of the major players in Wall Street after retail investors made them cry. There is nothing that could more perfectly demonstrate the reality that average Joe's only have freedom when they are losing, but when they make a win at the expense of billionaire hedge funds, you can bet your ass the stocks will be delisted...
Jan 29, 2021•1 hr 5 min
“Because of Nakamoto’s deliberate actions and Bitcoin’s permissionless, free & open-source nature, bitcoin is the first truly neutral money. Bitcoin eliminates the inherent unfairness that comes with all previous monies as well as any need to trust a third party in order to use Bitcoin.” - CK & Deniz Saat The inherent problem with our monetary system is a systemic & inescapable unfairness. Bitcoin is provably, the fairest money that has ever existed. If you actually believe in equali...
Jan 27, 2021•48 min
"Any solution to the oracle problem, makes Bitcoin able to do anything that any other protocol out there can do." - Nadav Kohen So much cool technology coming to Bitcoin! We dive into some of the most amazing new tools with Nadav Kohen of SuredBits. DLCs, Turing completeness, PTLCs, The future of Lightning and so much more! Don't miss this incredible Bitcoin Audible Chat Follow Nadav on Social media: https://twitter.com/nadav_kohen Check out the SuredBits blog for breakdowns of all this incredib...
Jan 26, 2021•1 hr 54 min
What the hell is everyone squealing about regarding this “critical flaw” and “confirmed double spend” on the Bitcoin network? Is this another 2013 bug, or a giant nothing burger? Guy dives into it on today’s episode and then gets into the follow-up to Wittgenstein’s Money, the amazing piece by Allen Farrington that we covered in the previous episode on the show. What is value, what is money, & what would it seem like if it did seem like a money was emerging from zero? Don’t miss today’s Guy’...
Jan 22, 2021•1 hr 3 min
"What would it seem like if it did seem like a global, digital, sound, open source, programmable money was monetizing from absolute zero?" - Allenf32 Today's piece is a remarkable and just fun article that dismisses defending Bitcoin against the static arguments that can't be money because it is too volatile to "store value," isn't a widely used "unit of account," & isn't used as a "medium of exchange," but rather it flips the perspective on its head. Instead of trying to prove that Bitcoin ...
Jan 22, 2021•1 hr 4 min
"In a world in which governments and companies continually encroach on personal liberties via surveillance and outright control, Bitcoin shines like a beacon of freedom." - Andy Edstrom & Peter McCormack The anti-bitcoin narratives are going to flood in and have already started. We need to be ready for it, and that’s why this piece by Andy Edstrom & Peter McCormack is a required listen/read. How do we answer the Fed, how do we respond to the propaganda and the ignorance? Find out in anot...
Jan 19, 2021•1 hr 5 min
“Fiat money is a positivist money, a tool of governments pursuing a utopian vision. Bitcoin is a Natural Law money, a tool to protect individual liberty. Bitcoin is therefore the more moral money.” - Jimmy Song There is the economic case, there is the individual sovereignty case, & there is an investment case for Bitcoin. But the deepest case to be made, & the one with the strongest argument, is the moral case. It’s not merely profits, sound economics, or the potential of future growth t...
Jan 16, 2021•35 min
“From the beginning, Bitcoin has remained an open source and fully transparent project, and has the most organic growth trajectory of the industry. Given available information, the market has priced it as it sees fit, out in the open.” - Lyn Alden Bitcoin is a Ponzi, say the detractors. Their arguments never seem anymore sophisticated, and sound increasingly desperate as Bitcoin continues to defy their view. Is there any truth to this? Well Lyn Alden decides to break it down for us, using ...
Jan 14, 2021•1 hr 5 min
“As books became more accessible and affordable, individuals were now personally consuming, reflecting upon and critiquing written texts. It was an idea meritocracy. No longer was “truth” conferred solely by the ordained to the illiterate masses inside of churches.” - Anil The Printing press was a revolution in the spread of information and communication, leading to the Renaissance and the age of Science & Reason. Bitcoin is a revolution in the dissemination & spread of real economic val...
Jan 12, 2021•58 min
An excellent chat today with 2 brilliant, bullish, & amazing writers in the Bitcoin space. Andy Edstrom, author of "Why Buy Bitcoin," and Knut Svnaholm of "Sovereignty Through Mathematics" and "Independence Reimagined" join us today for a discussion on everything important with catching the new people coming to Bitcoin, the complications with solidifying ideas out and making them accessible, the feedback loops that will make Bitcoin a dominant macro-political force, & what we can expect ...
Jan 11, 2021•1 hr 33 min
“Hard times make strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” - Giacomo Zucco Today's read is another amazing article from Vol 3 of The Bitcoin Times. This is such a cool concept taking an evolutionary and social pattern and applying it to technology and the history of the internet. Another brilliant piece for the archive and I had a blast with Guy’s Take section on this one, so don’t miss it. Check out the original and the other amazing ...
Jan 08, 2021•39 min
"Perhaps just in time, each U.S. citizen now has a choice. You can stay on the Fiat Standard, in which some people get to produce unlimited new units of money for free, just not you. Or opt in to the Bitcoin Standard, in which no one gets to do that, including you. With the option, now, of a monetary system governed by rules instead of rulers, on behalf of myself, my family, and the firms I’m responsible for leading, I’ve made my choice." - Ross L. Stevens After about 100 requests to get it done...
Jan 07, 2021•1 hr 11 min
"We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. People play games because they are fun, not because they are on a blockchain." - Simon Cowell As Bitcoin established a universal value transfer protocol for the internet, we are going to begin to see unique monetization, and also incentive models that simply weren't possible before. One area, that historically has had deep ties to monetary incentive, but lost it in the digital age... was gaming. Listen to today's excellent article from Bitcoin Magazine and a...
Jan 06, 2021•31 min
