Confused about what MuSig2 is? As Bitcoin’s Schnorr Taproot soft fork has now been merged into Bitcoin Core (but not yet activated), it’s worthwhile understanding what some of the new multisignature schemes are for using Taproot. Jonas Nick and Tim Ruffing, cryptographers working at Blockstream join me on the show to talk about their latest, MuSig2. Jonas Nick ‘s Links: Twitter: @n1ckler Tim Ruffing ‘s Links: Twitter: @real_or_random Links: MuSig2 paper: Simple Two-Round Schnorr Multi-Signatures...
Oct 27, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 222
What are the considerations for your business in holding bitcoin? Should you self custody with multi signature for improved security and control? Joe Kelly and Dhruv Bansal, CEO and CSO of Unchained Capital join me to chat. We talk: What business owners have to consider How to custody bitcoin Unchained Capital’s solution Coldcard Financialisation of computer networks Challenges of being a bitcoin company founder Joe and Dhruv Links: Twitter: @josephkelly Twitter: @dhruvbansal Unchained Capital P...
Oct 21, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 221
Is Bitcoin a democracy? Or is it more like a natural order? What about democracy in general, does that protect human rights and enable human flourishing? Saifedean and Alex Gladstein debate the question of whether democracy promotes human flourishing. This was moderated by Stephan Livera, initially on Saifedean’s online seminar. Saifedean 's Links: Twitter: @saifedean Saifedean.com Alex Gladstein 's Links: Twitter: @gladstein Hrf.org Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital (code LIVERA) Knox Cu...
Oct 18, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 220
What are Discreet Log Contracts? Are they just for degenerate gamblers or is there a business use here? Nadav Kohen of Suredbits joins me to talk about what they are, why they’re useful and how they work. Why Use DLCs over multisig? Trust and Privacy Funding and Contract Execution Transactions Oracles and associated problems Lightning DLCs DLC Spec Nadav ‘s Links: Twitter: @ nadav_kohen Suredbits Suredbits Blog Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital (code LIVERA) Knox Custody Stephan Livera li...
Oct 15, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 219
Philip Haslam and Russ Lamberti join me to talk about their book on Zimbabwe and hyperinflation, When Money Destroys Nations. We chat about: Where hyperinflation has happened before The culture of debt & entitlement Print and spend vs loan and spend The stages or ‘gorge moments’ Financial repression Liquidity obfuscation How might future hyperinflation episodes play out Links: Website: whenmoneydestroys.com Book: When Money Destroys Nations Russell Lamberti: @RussLamberti Philip Haslam: @Has...
Oct 09, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 218
Godfrey Bloom, Austrian economist, former politician, and libertarian author joins me to talk. Godfrey is a self proclaimed goldbug, and in this conversation we explore Bitcoin and his recent discussion on it. We chat about: Bitcoin’s use as reserve asset Some similarities and differences between Bitcoin and Gold Central Banking Welfare Statism Links: Twitter: @Goddersbloom Website: godfreybloom.uk Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital (code LIVERA) Knox Custody Stephan Livera links: Show not...
Oct 07, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 217
Why is Bitcoin so exciting? How does Silicon Valley culture influence it? Gloria Zhao, bitcoin core contributor joins me to talk: Silicon Valley culture influences Teaching blockchain, then getting more into Bitcoin Being mentored by Bitcoin core developers Bitcoin PR Review club Map of the Bitcoin Network Gloria 's Links: Twitter: @glozow Github: Glozow Article: Map of the Bitcoin network Relevant episodes: SLP124 Jon Atack – Bitcoin Core Contribution Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital (c...
Oct 02, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 216
After terrifying everyone with his prior SLP appearance re: hardware wallet security, Michael Flaxman rejoins me on the show to talk about his new multisig guide to help users secure their coins without any single point of failure. We cover: What’s improved in the space since last year Why you need to eliminate SPOFs (Single Points of Failure) Comparison of current hardware wallets Multi sig services vs DIY Using Specter Using Coldcard & Cobo Seedpicker Tips on maintaining the setup Michael ...
Sep 28, 2020•2 hr 34 min•Season 1Ep. 215
Why does auditing Bitcoin matter? Why won’t the supply ever actually reach 21 million? Pierre Rochard of Kraken and Fabian Jahr (Bitcoin Core contributor) join me on the show to talk. Bitcoin supply Auditing Gettxoutset Bitcoin Core coin stats index More in depth bitcoin accounting Links: Fabian Jahr github: @fjahr Fabian Jahr: @fjahr Article: https://fjahr.com/posts/where-are-the-coins/ Pierre Rochard: @pierre_rochard Article: https://www.pierrerochard.com/auditing-bitcoin-supply/ Sponsors: Swa...
Sep 25, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 214
Why did MicroStrategy buy $425 million of Bitcoin and adopt it as Primary Treasury Reserve Asset? How did the team learn about Bitcoin? What is driving people to learn about Bitcoin in this high inflation environment? Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy joins me to discuss. Links: Twitter: @michael_saylor Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital (code LIVERA) Knox Custody Stephan Livera links: Show notes and website Follow me on twitter @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Patreon @stephanli...
Sep 21, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 213
Bitcoin custody insurance has been hotly debated in the industry, with concerns around the volatility, its feasibility, and whether it makes sense. What's Knox doing differently? Alex Daskalov, CEO of Knox Custody joins me to discuss these questions. Alex links: Alex Twitter: @daskalov Knox Custody: @knoxcustody Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital (code LIVERA) Knox Custody Stephan Livera links: Show notes and website Follow me on twitter @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Patreon @ste...
Sep 20, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 212
What grants have Square Crypto given? How can Bitcoin design be improved? How can Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Patents be protected for the community and permissionless innovation to continue apace? Steve Lee of Square Crypto joins me to talk about some of the latest. Links: Steve twitter: @moneyball COPA Thread: https://twitter.com/sqcrypto/status/1304087270736236544 Bitcoin Design: https://medium.com/@squarecrypto/bringing-together-the-bitcoin-design-community-b89e5fbe080f Prior episode: SLP144 ...
Sep 15, 2020•1 hr 34 min•Season 1Ep. 211
How do you watch Bitcoin’s mempool? What tools should we use? What are the implications longer term for a blockspace market? Sergej Kotliar, CEO of Bitrefill joins me to talk about this and more: Mempool watching and what tools are needed Blockspace market longer term Lightning adoption Bitcoin Privacy and ‘bad actors’ COVID and Bitcoiners Sergej links: Twitter: @ziggamon Bitrefill: Bitrefill.com Prior episodes: SLP85 Sergej Kotliar – Building Bitcoin’s circular economy SLP25 – Taking Bitcoin Li...
Sep 11, 2020•1 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 210
Is Bitcoin user culture going the wrong way? Or are these general cultural things? What should be the approach around avoiding KYC? What new features are coming to Samourai Wallet? Samourai Wallet joins me to discuss. Samourai Wallet links: Site: samouraiwallet.com Twitter: @samouraiwallet Prior episodes: SLP150 Samourai Wallet – Make Every Bitcoin Spend a Coinjoin Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital (code LIVERA) Knox Custody Stephan Livera links: Show notes and website Follow me on twitte...
Sep 08, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 209
Does money need a non-monetary use? Will the government return to a gold standard? Are we doomed to repeat the same cycle of fiat money? Peter Schiff, CEO Euro Pacific Capital, chairman of Schiff Gold, and host of Schiff Radio joins me to discuss. Peter links: Twitter: @PeterSchiff Schiff Radio: schiffradio.com Euro Pac: europac.com Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital (code LIVERA) Knox Custody CypherSafe (Code: LIVERA for discount) Stephan Livera links: Show notes and website Follow me on ...
Sep 04, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 208
What’s the latest with the Lightning Network? What will it mean when channels go large sized with wumbo? How is the network and ecosystem growing? Laolu (roasbeef) CTO of Lightning Labs joins me to talk. Links: Twitter: @roasbeef Lnd 0.11 post Lightning labs: Lightning.engineering Lightning Labs twitter: @lightning Prior episode: SLP39 Olaoluwa Osuntokun (Roasbeef), CTO of Lightning Labs Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital (code LIVERA) Knox Custody CypherSafe (Code: LIVERA for discount) St...
Sep 02, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 207
Have you wondered how to recover bitcoins from a seed? Maybe your friend doesn’t remember which wallet they used? In this episode with Luke Childs, we talk about how to recover them into Electrum with his newly written tool. We also talk about Umbrel, a new node package promising very easy set up. We also chat about security, development and bitcoin coding. Links: Twitter: @lukechilds Github: https://github.com/sponsors/lukechilds#sponsors Site: https://lukechilds.co/ Umbrel: https://getumbrel.c...
Aug 31, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 206
Are you looking for an easy bitcoin multi signature wallet that doesn’t require an electrum server? Or perhaps one with support for different bitcoin hardware wallets and a different interface? Check out Specter-Desktop! Stepan Snigirev (CTO Crypto Advance) and Ben Kaufman (Specter Desktop contributor) join me to talk about the project. Features UX Multi signature standards HWI and HWW support Design decisions Looking for contributors Links: @StepanSnigirev @_BenKaufman @CryptoAdvance Specter De...
Aug 28, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 205
What’s the relation between fiat money and slavery? How did easy money and government suppression of honest money lead to this outcome? What’s the story with aggry beads and panos? How does Bitcoin change this? Robert Breedlove (CEO & CIO Parallax Digital) joins me to talk about these questions. Links: Twitter: @breedlove22 Article: Masters and Slaves of Money Parallax Digital: ParallaxDigital.io Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital Stephan Livera links: Show notes and website Follow me ...
Aug 25, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 204
Raoul Pal of Real Vision rejoins me on the show to talk about how Bitcoin and Macro are colliding. We talk about the incredible risk:reward opportunity of bitcoin, DCA long term, Bitcoin as better collateral, and more. Raoul Pal Links: Twitter: @RaoulGMI RealVision Prior Episodes: SLP93 Raoul Pal – Global Macro Risks and Bitcoin Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital CypherSafe (Code: LIVERA for discount) Stephan Livera links: Show notes and website Follow me on twitter @stephanlivera Subscrib...
Aug 21, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 203
What are some of the stories from Bitcoin’s Brisbane scene in Australia? Jeff Yew joins me to chat about his experiences from the Brisbane scene, and teaching newcoiners about bitcoin. We also chat about the Binance Australia launch. Jeff links: Twitter: @Vnumeris Binance AU Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital (code: LIVERA) Stephan Livera links: Show notes and website Follow me on twitter @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Patreon @stephanlivera...
Aug 20, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 202
Want to buy bitcoin w/o KYC and non custodial all in one app? BlueWallet has recently launched this feature. Igor and Nuno from the BlueWallet team join me to talk about their work and the many features available in BlueWallet. Creating BlueWallet Partnering with Hodl Hodl UX Lightning Custodial Watch only wallets and hardware wallet support BlueWallet links: BlueWallet.io @BlueWalletio Nuno: @nvcoelho Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital CypherSafe (Code: LIVERA for discount) Stephan Livera...
Aug 17, 2020•56 min•Season 1Ep. 201
What’s ANYPREVOUT? How does MPP work in practice and what are the considerations? What about some of these LN attacks, what are the mitigations and do they limit LN’s effectiveness? How is Bitcoin’s Lightning Network likely to grow out in the future? Christian Decker links: Twitter: @snyke ANYPREVOUT: BIP118 MPP Blog: All Paths Lead to Your Destination github cdecker Relevant prior episodes: SLP134 Rusty Russell Lightning Multi Part Payments SLP59 Christian Decker Bitcoin Lightning Channel Facto...
Aug 13, 2020•1 hr 59 min•Season 1Ep. 200
Electrum Wallet is one of the longest standing Bitcoin wallets, and well known for supporting hardware wallets, multi signature - and now lightning! We talk about a range of things: Lightning HWW support Multi sig Electrum Server model Backup seeds Links: Electrum.org Twitter: @ElectrumWallet Electrum github Prior episode : SLP125 Thomas Voegtlin – Electrum Wallet: Bitcoin seeds, PSBT, Multi sig, Lightning Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital Stephan Livera links: Show notes and website Foll...
Aug 09, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 199
Caitlin Long of Avanti Financial Group joins me to talk about Bitcoin, banking, rehypothecation and what Austrian Economists are missing. How much additional money is being created in the shadow banking system? What about ‘moneyness’? We also discuss Caitlin’s IMF working paper, and the recent OCC Interpretive Letter 1170. Caitlin Long links: Twitter: @CaitlinLong_ Avanti: AvantiBank.com Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital CypherSafe (Code: LIVERA for discount) Stephan Livera links: Show no...
Aug 05, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 198
How do we grow Bitcoin’s community of self custodying HODLers? With Bitcoin Meetups! How do you organise and run one? What topics do you present? How do you get a venue? How do you keep people engaged? Stephen Cole of the OC Bitcoin Meetup joins me to discuss. Stephen Cole links: Twitter: @sthenc OCBTN Meetup OCBTN twitter: @OCBTN Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital New Brighton Capital (use code: LIVERA) Fund Bitcoin Open Source development: www.bitcoindevlist.com Stephan Livera links: Sho...
Jul 31, 2020•53 min•Season 1Ep. 197
Does government regulation of AML (Anti Money Laundering) represent a new way for governments to capture Bitcoin? FATF (Financial Action Task Force) is driving stricter regulations, and it now appears that large Bitcoin businesses are looking for ways to collaborate with the “Travel Rule”. What are the implications of this for Bitcoin privacy? Will Bitcoin be captured by governments, or will Bitcoin capture governments? Links: Matt Odell of TFTC/RHR ( MattOdell.com ) Alex Gladstein of HR F Rafae...
Jul 28, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 196
Nix-Bitcoin is a designed to be a more secure Bitcoin node, based on NixOS. Pseudonymous developer, nixbitcoindev joins me to explain more about why and how. What are the benefits of reproducibility? What else can be done from a security perspective to secure your bitcoin node? Will it be easy to use or only for technical people? Nix-Bitcoin links: Nix-bitcoin github Nix bitcoin twitter Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital Stephan Livera links: Show notes and website Follow me on twitter @st...
Jul 26, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 195
Wondered how to set up your own bitcoin + lightning node? Raspiblitz is a project offering a DIY node (or you can buy a premade one), with an LCD screen. Rootzoll and openoms join me to discuss. Raspiblitz links: Rootzoll: @rootzoll Openoms: @openoms Raspiblitz Raspiblitz guide Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital New Brighton Capital (use code: LIVERA) Stephan Livera links: Show notes and website Follow me on twitter @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Patreon @stephanlivera...
Jul 23, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 194
How do you teach Bitcoin to your Boomer relatives and friends? What are some of the common sticking points? Should you explain it as Digital Gold? Gary Leland, Hall of Fame podcaster, entrepreneur, and conference organizer of Bit Block Boom joins me to discuss! Gary links: Twitter: @GaryLeland BitBlockBoom: bitblockboom.com Sponsors: Swan Bitcoin Unchained Capital Stephan Livera links: Show notes and website Follow me on twitter @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Patreon @stephanlivera...
Jul 15, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 193