What is capital, really? And what happens when Bitcoin forces a repricing of everything we think we know about it? In this reboot episode we're bringing back Capital in the 21st Century by Allen Farrington. A piece that explores the deep connection between money and capital - two concepts often conflated but fundamentally distinct. Farrington dismantles the illusion that money itself is wealth, arguing instead that it is merely a claim on wealth, a liquid mechanism for valuing the things we trul...
Mar 28, 2025•1 hr 9 min
"Not your keys, not your coins." I posit that the corollary to this principle is: 'Your keys, only your coins.' A quantum capable entity breaks the corollary of this foundational principle. We secure our bitcoin with the mathematical probabilities related to extremely large random numbers. Your funds are only secure because truly random large numbers should not be guessable or discoverable by anyone else in the world. It seems almost inevitable, that at some point quantum computing could reach t...
Mar 26, 2025•1 hr 35 min
Bitcoin’s strength lies in its core properties—trust minimization, decentralization, censorship resistance, and more. But what exactly defines these principles, and why do they matter? In this episode, I revisit Jameson Lopp’s What Are the Key Properties of Bitcoin? , a piece that breaks down the fundamental attributes that make Bitcoin what it is. Along the way, I share updated thoughts on how these ideas hold up today, especially in the face of ongoing protocol debates and potential future thr...
Mar 24, 2025•1 hr 15 min
In this episode of Bitcoin Audible, I revisit an important concept that deserves more attention: timeout trees and their potential to revolutionize scaling for the Lightning Network. Based on Shinobi's article, "A Solution to Scaling Lightning," we explore how this innovative proposal leverages CheckTemplateVerify (CTV) to create a simple yet powerful scaling primitive. Could timeout trees be the key to unlocking the next order of magnitude in Lightning's efficiency? I break down the mechanics o...
Mar 21, 2025•49 min
"The last thing we should want to do is the government to print up a bunch of money, which steals from the poor, so that they can buy Bitcoin to enrich us. Or fill up the SBR by seizing coins, which is basically what it is now. The real adoption comes from people actually using it, from individuals and businesses creating circular economies, trading goods and services, increasing the velocity. This is what real Bitcoin adoption is all about." ~ UTXO The irony of posting on Twitter, how Nostr isn...
Mar 20, 2025•1 hr 26 min
What if your heating system could pay you in Bitcoin? In this episode, I read an article exploring the concept of "heat punks"—Bitcoin miners who use their rigs not just to earn sats, but to heat their homes. The article breaks down the economics of mining-as-heating, from upfront costs to the surprising efficiencies that make it viable. Along the way, I add my own thoughts on the practicality of this approach, the trade-offs involved, and what it could mean for the future of energy use. Could m...
Mar 18, 2025•26 min
Life has been hectic lately, but I didn’t want to leave you hanging! While I navigate the joys of parenthood, I’m bringing back a classic - Guy's Take #44 - Bitcoin is Not What you Think it is . What if your understanding of Bitcoin is only scratching the surface? In this episode, I dive into the deeper realities of money itself—how great societies are built on sound money, why money is more foundational than language, and how prices convey critical information rather than being arbitrary. We al...
Mar 13, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Bitcoiners having babies, P2P protocols, Bitcoin price without third parties, mining problems and solutions, stable coins coming back to Bitcoin, massive hacks, shitcoin quacks, and a partridge in a pear tree. Wrapping up February and all the major news with some Bitcoin OGs. Guest Links Steve Simple Nostr (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3s6a8yn8) Steve Simple on X (Link: https://x.com/stevesimple) Bitcoin Mechanic Nostr (Link: https://tinyurl.com/2tm827ut) Bitcoin Mechanic on X (Link: https://x.com/...
Mar 05, 2025•2 hr
Nicholas Dorier brings us a short piece that is very relevant to many of our challenges today, being clear and precise about the definition of the word custody. As we have seen for decades, the political sphere is almost designed to destroy and confuse the definition of words for the explicit purpose of broadening power, and creating enemies and criminals of anyone who gets in their way. But an even greater dilution of the term has come from within, as new "layer 2" systems compete to be seen as...
Mar 03, 2025•30 min
Did you know that the value and utility of Bitcoin can be trivially duplicated? At least this is what the increasingly bitter buttcoiners of the world seem to espouse, even when proven wrong over and over again, and seeing a million copy cats fail at this very challenge. At least the capitulation is fun to watch. A short one from FT with a Guy's Take to follow. An "apology" to bitcoiners. Check out the original article Hodlers: an apology by Financial Times (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3byu5hnd) H...
Feb 28, 2025•34 min
Tired of app stores controlling what you download and who gets paid? What if there was a way to directly connect with developers, verify the authenticity of their apps, and support them directly using Bitcoin? Could Nostr, the decentralized social network, be the key to unlocking a new era of app distribution, giving users more control and fostering a more trustworthy ecosystem? Check out the original article Can Nostr fix app distribution? by Franzap . (Link: https://tinyurl.com/yc3cvx8x) Host ...
Feb 24, 2025•55 min
I joined Knut Svanholm and Luke de Wolf on the Bitcoin Infinity Show to explore the fundamental role of money, incentives, and sound economics in shaping society. We dug into the "Give-a-Shit Matrix", a powerful framework for understanding how people allocate resources—and how broken incentives lead to systemic waste. We also unpacked why Bitcoin is the apex of financial responsibility, how fiat incentivizes inefficiency, and why Ethereum’s staking model is fundamentally flawed. Along the way, w...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 42 min
It's easy to complain about what hasn't happened yet or what problems are still to be solved. And it's also hard to have humility, recognizing that maybe how and when we imagined a problem would be solved, may not be how reality plays out. Without getting complacent, it is prudent to also have perspective and compare where we are to its alternatives, rather than an assumed perfect solution that doesn't yet exist. So today we take a break from the technical dives, and the challenges ahead, and ta...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 23 min
I've wanted for a long time to understand how a DHT works, and how a P2P network is able to establish connections in a resilient, scalable, and decentralized way. So diving into it on the show and having to explain it, seemed the easy way to force me to figure it out. With the help of a fantastic article from the Pubky team, let's make sense of the censorship resistance of P2P networks. Check out the original article Mainline DHT — Censorship-Resistance Explained by Severin Alexander Bühler . (L...
Feb 14, 2025•53 min
In a past episode, I joined Steve Patterson and the host for what was supposed to be a discussion but quickly turned into one of the most heated debates I've had on the show. Along with Steve, who co-authored Hijacking Bitcoin with Roger Ver, we dove into a fiery debate about Michael Saylor—his influence, his ideas, and whether Bitcoin has been hijacked. While we all agreed it wouldn’t be a debate, the conversation sparked intense back-and-forths about Bitcoin’s direction and the potential dange...
Feb 13, 2025•2 hr 41 min
We are all addicted to digits. Fiat digits, loyalty points, social media likes, stock prices—everywhere we turn, someone is trying to hook us. But what if the biggest addiction of all is the illusion of control over numbers that don’t belong to us? In this episode, I dive into a thought-provoking article that exposes how fiat, real estate, gold, stocks, and even Bitcoin itself have become part of a global digit addiction. Who are the digit lords keeping us hooked? How do they manipulate our perc...
Feb 11, 2025•1 hr
"We've planted our orange flag in the ground. We've made it known this is a space where we will try to propagate and spread the mission, values and ethos of Bitcoin. And we hope that not only spreads to other cities around the country or the world, but we really view this as a greater movement of how we can really take back our cities. We do need to organize and align ourselves. You know, online, but when it actually comes time to take action, the in real life aspect can't be understated. And, y...
Feb 05, 2025•1 hr 39 min
"We owe it to ourselves." I truly hope you aren't so stupid as to believe this statement when it is uttered by the frauds running the financial and political establishment. But if you never had the time to breakdown why the notion was so stupid, or never thought to question it, don't worry, Marty Bent and I have it taken care of for you. Enjoy. Check out the original article Issue #754: The danger of the collective "we" by Marty Bent. (Link: https://tinyurl.com/y59whawa) Host Links Guy on Nost...
Feb 03, 2025•23 min
Bitcoin adoption, political shifts, and the future of money - this roundtable gets into it all. How will stablecoins impact the global financial system? Can Bitcoin truly function as a medium of exchange, or is it destined to remain a store of value? What happens when governments and banks start stockpiling BTC? And, in a world where the rules of money are shifting, is the U.S. setting up a strategic Bitcoin reserve? Join me, Bitcoin Mechanic, Steve, and Jeff as we break it all down - no filters...
Jan 31, 2025•2 hr 20 min
What if exploitation and war weren't merely anomalies of human society, but there was something inherent to the incentives of the fiat system, that made them inevitable? In today's Read we dive into Petter Englund's, "Island Economics: Why Perpetual War is Rational Under Fiat", and expand on its core ideas. Is a world free from the zero-sum game of fiat possible? Can Bitcoin get us there? Check out the original article Island Economics: Why Exploitation & Perpetual Wars are Rational Under FI...
Jan 29, 2025•58 min
Today, Ross Ulbricht breathes the free air again. What does the story of Ross Ulbricht reveal about justice, freedom, and the early ethos of Bitcoin? I thought I would take a little time to delve into the inconsistencies and controversies surrounding the trial, the principles of voluntary trade, and the deeper values of the Bitcoin revolution. Was justice truly served, or did systemic corruption shape the narrative? It's time for a Guy's Take episode. Links mentioned: Donald Trump Did the Right ...
Jan 27, 2025•46 min
"The Bitcoin community possesses a unique advantage that will ultimately allow us to prevail: not only do we have skin in the game, we have soul in the game. Our tribe of a few thousand cypherpunk Bitcoin maximalist fanatics stand against an empire of fiat clones, millions of faceless cogs in a soulless machine. I like our odds." — Francis, Bull Bitcoin In this episode I dive into Francis Pouliot's thought-provoking article, "The Hard Path", exploring the philosophy and challenges of building su...
Jan 24, 2025•52 min
"That's a really cool aspect of the Bitcoin community and the nostr community as things are right now is most of our users are not your typical what you consider like dumb TikTok users. most of them are like borderline developers. And when people bring up the typical conversation of like we need slicker apps that have easier user interfaces and don't make me think kind of stuff We don't have those users. We have a user base that is like Exponentially more curious than any any other user base out...
Jan 22, 2025•2 hr 22 min
In this episode of Bitcoin Audible, I read James O'Beirne's "Bitcoin Core’s Loss of Focus" and offer my perspective on its critical arguments. Has Bitcoin’s development strayed from its core mission of empowering trustless self-custody for all? Let's unpack the challenges, potential solutions like CTV, and the broader implications for Bitcoin's future scalability. Is the community prepared to face these fundamental issues—or are we losing sight of what truly matters? Check out the original artic...
Jan 20, 2025•45 min
While impatiently waiting for my Jade Plus I started digging into the Jade docs and found a unique idea for securing a hardware wallet using a blind oracle. In the theme of our adventures breaking down various security models and leveraging servers or secondary devices for added protection and convenience, this presents a really interesting new too. And of course its open source, so you can run one yourself! Ever innovating and ever exploring, let's dive into the blind oracle design of the Jade....
Jan 17, 2025•37 min
"Our philosophy with building Pubky was, all right, we're not going to say never on a server. We're going to say, use a server if you want. Don't use a server if you don't want. Either way, it's fine because no matter what happens to you, you can redefine it later. So it's just basically adding the censorship resistance, this credible exit to using servers. And that's a big part of what pub key enables that other alternatives don't really enable in quite the same way or at all." - John Carvalho ...
Jan 15, 2025•2 hr 16 min
What happens when the Fed's one tool for controlling inflation, stops working? The conditions in the market and in our political institutions is such that this may be where we find ourselves. If they lower interest rates, then inflation will run hot and new money will flood into the economy. But if they raise interest rates, then the massive govt debt and ongoing deficit will require trillions in new money just to keep it afloat. Inflation if you do, inflation if you don't. Where we're going, yo...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 26 min
Roger Ver went on tucker carlson recently to discuss how the government infiltrated Bitcoin development, took over the protocol, and killed its potential to ever be electronic cash. He wrote a book titled Hijacking Bitcoin to lay out this story. But there's actually another story of a small group who tried to hijack Bitcoin, who sought to force out the developers who wouldn't go along with what they wanted, who used leverage over miners to keep them in line, who tried to hold bug fixes hostage t...
Jan 10, 2025•1 hr 29 min
"Bitcoin is anti-fragile it secures $2 trillion worth of value currently and there's a huge monetary incentive to maintain that security and there's a number of very intelligent people who are working on that problem of just making sure that is quantum resistant. There might be a period of time where there's like you know a transitionary period that could be quite you know stressful but once that's done then we've hardened Bitcoin you know for the foreseeable future." - Hunter Beast In this epis...
Jan 09, 2025•1 hr 37 min
"Imagine waking up in a world where every piece of information you encounter is carefully filtered by faceless algorithms. Your online interactions are curated not by your preferences, but by the agendas of corporations and governments. You can only speak within the walls of platforms that commodify your every word, every click. This isn’t a dystopian novel — it’s the current reality of the internet." — John Carvalho There is something very wrong with the internet today. There are increasingly m...
Jan 08, 2025•1 hr 20 min
