Control Your Data: How Bitcoin Is Powering the Future of Digital Identity - Mike Carson

It's like GoFundMe, you know, or whatever had that boycott GoFundMe was like, you know what?

We're not all that money you sent. We're just going to give it to So it would be much. Wouldn't it be much more cool at bitcoin and then nobody's They got, you know, whoever and nobody can stop. Welcome to the Business to helping you enrich your bitcoin, the hardest money on I'm your host, Josh Mike Carson, who is an early He was also one of the first to purchase a physical item on And now he's created the create permissionless and We're going to get to our Mike, welcome to the podcast. Thanks.

Thanks for having me. So I like to start off every that help us to get to know us some insight for our own lives. Are you ready for these? Yeah. Question number one is this. When and how did you first I read Hacker News. I've been on Hacker News for a posts about bitcoin, but I Attention. I wish I would have paid it like, they posted on Hacker So I ignored like the first But then there was a post I should look. This sounds interesting. So I looked into it.

I looked in my email, like, I mention of bitcoin and I was like, I really want to get bitcoin. I think it could be big. It's currently. It was at $8 on Wednesday and So I missed the chance. But I remember looking into it but there were no exchanges So I remember I created an You had to Western Union some And it just seemed like such a I wish I would have. But then I got.

I remember I had a little bit I'm a domain investor, so I Like, I remember, I think I And this is when Bitcoin was So it's a domain for like less But then I sold it because it It went from under 100 to. And like, I sold it at like 200. I was like, yeah, I doubled my But then after it went so like, this is okay. Something is going. Something's here. So I waited and like, I don't really got it. I got into Bitcoin in 2013, There's like a bear market, I had waited for. And like, I. I was like.

Because it was in the news and to wait until it's like, kind and there's not a lot of stuff

And then I got some more then. But yeah, so it's. I've been in, you know, I've Over 10 years, probably since. Seriously. Well, since 2013 around there. Yeah. Well, I think the anecdote of just been 8, I think that's now be getting interested in went from about 60 to 90 in Some people are going to think I think a lot of people who number of years would probably five or 10 years is still Obviously, getting in 2009 or going to be much, much better.

But at the same time, I feel think you kind of touched on of what they were holding to 2024. So it's just a different time. But it's certainly not too The thing is, it's a constant I keep learning more and more it's like talking about, are It's like, what are the You know, like, do you want by the government where they Is that what you want to, you save up and do you want your money? Do you want to hold your print a lot more and they have years?

It's like, no, I don't, I And then, but then it's like, And you know, you just learn bitcoin is, I mean, what I I mean, there's a lot of like it's backed by math. You know, it's. It's not backed by the power you know, the military or, you It's like it's backed just So that may. You may have pre answered this is what's an insight or fact understood? Yeah, that's hard to narrow But I mean, it's the cool. Yeah, I mean, the. Well, I guess. Okay, here's one thing that I think. I think would be.

Is really interesting thing knew is that it's not that I mean, it can be, you know, code and stuff like that. But like, if you just read the That's what struck me really like huge, complex research to know. It's like, it's actually like probably watch a YouTube video But the way that blocks are find the, you know, you just the first number of the first You know, it's like really That's how you mine a block And you get the block reward it's pretty much a simple math simple.

But it solves this problem which is really cool. So it's backed by this simple problem that's never been So I guess my main. I guess if I was going to not as complicated as people The basic principles are Question number three. What's the bitcoin resource Yeah, that's a tricky one. I'm a fan of Andreas Antonopoulos. He's been around for a long on. He does a good job of His book Mastering Bitcoin is If you read that, you'll have And he's on Patreon now. You can, like, sign up and he answer stuff.

And so I guess that that would Yeah.

Question number four. Beyond Bitcoin, what's a helpful to you or your work recently? Yeah, that one. It would definitely have to be AI. I mean, AI has changed. I mean, for me, I was a little You know, I don't. I don't know what's a good. What's it really changing? What's it. You know, is it. Is it really. Is there just a lot of hype But then I started using it of difference from, like, I before my daughter was born. And, you know, is. It is completely different. It was so much slower.

Like now with AI, it's so much faster. I can do so much more, so much It's really changed the. It's really changed it completely. Like, if I had to go back just it would be so horrible. I was talking to my friend. He. He's older and he, like, used they had to do, like. He had to type in numbers into a computer, it was just like a an. And he was like, if I had to myself. And it's like almost. It's. In some ways it's kind of similar. Like, if I had to go back and It's so much slower that it ways.

And I think just going It might get more and More Because I was a little skeptical because I've used multiple things, not just programming. Like, I was putting together I have a 3D printer, and me like, wiring these circuits And I'm not an electrician or I didn't really know. I mean, there was a wiring I had some questions because three. And so I just put the wiring can see that it splits into What do I. Should I splice the wire? What should I do?

And it was like, no, it's not You should probably get, like, And I didn't know what a Amazon for, like, a couple So it's like having an expert different things. So, yeah, I mean, I can Like, imagine when robot. Like the Tesla robot or capabilities. It's gonna be. Things are gon. Yeah, it'll be an interesting And I'm sure things will only But it is interesting to see last couple of years from AI using it for is very rudimentary.

But now it's a great sounding or at least sparks for So I can definitely, you know, there. Now we have our final. What we call our arbitrary but And it's this. As a general life principle, Yeah, that's. That's a good question. Interesting question. Because they're. In some ways, they're similar. But I. I like the why not question like, you know, why things are to be. I try to. I really try to teach that to Like, actually, my. My son, I purposely didn't Like, I want it because I wanted.

That's the whole reason and I want you to question, like, do say, you don't have to do it for yourself, basically think So yeah, I like that. Why? Why not? But why is good too. Yeah, they both have their

Well, Mike, we're here today you're involved with, but I think when this is released, If my intel is correct, I'm us a little bit about the that you're looking to solve So I just to give a little bit called Parc IO in 2014. So 10 years ago that was into And I ended up managing like and did a lot of domain stuff domain stuff like DNS and stuff. And so I got to know a lot how And also at the same time I that domain names should they're a digital asset.

And why do you need a third to use your name or why do you and the problems even get worse. It's not just like ownership. There's like, you know, the Internet has to rely on a So you have to like, basically keys. You know, it's, it's kind of ridiculous. And it's not just domain names though. It's like usernames, like Like they even, you know, not know, even the President of name taken away. A person should be able to own Like it's super important. If there's one thing as it's naming.

You know, I looked at all the and ENS and handshake and error and stuff and working should be built on Bitcoin. Bitcoin's by far the strongest And it's in my opinion the I know there's problems with of miners and stuff, but it's, Ethereum, which is really hard the whole blockchain. Like a lot of people are party, like Infura and stuff So I wanted something, I in the security of Bitcoin.

And so we spent a year and a protocol that's built on to Bitcoin and leaves a really small footprint on the blockchain. But it's a decentralized own their name and use it for have to ask permission. So yeah, we're launching that days. And yeah, I'm really excited So let's say you purchase and what would you, would it be buy or what are people buying where can they use it? Any name can go up for. There's an auction system, so out.

Like some other protocols had just allowed anybody to So basically they all got Like you couldn't get a good had registered them all. But we, so we have an auction like if you want Josh or if like you know, Bitcoin or like it up for auction and there's rolls out the 10 auctions with They, every day they go into a a chance to bid during those bid with Bitcoin to get that whoever has the highest bid own it and yeah, to use it.

I mean we've, we've, if you to spaces protocol.org and our have a way to configure it lot of different ways you I mean, you know, you could for that, or you could use it Like I think a really great Because right now everybody's my in pub or like my key or string, you know, Wouldn't it just. You could just find me at like And so I think that's really a I mean, there's other things could send Bitcoin to at Josh whatever and you know, sending But yeah, there's a lot of.

Anything that ties a name to to memorize. You know, naming is like a long time. Like cities, instead of having geolocation coordinates, you name. And like, instead of like you know, whatever, you're name, a surname and like, so valuable and used all the time. Just like money and you shouldn't. Yeah, there shouldn't be a need. It's one way that's like People have controlled people affected things. Like. So, yeah, like people should So that's. Anyway, that's.

I have really strong I think it's so valuable that And if it's not our protocol, be something else that does it eventually.

So what would it look like? Let's just, you know, have let's say Josh. So I would, if it's not know, it's not technically auction, it would be live for name Josh. And then at the end, let's say of have that direct to Yeah. How exactly would that work? And then could it be kind of locations I want to send What would that look like? Yeah, I mean, right away, like Spaces client, our Space D bid in auctions and open Like right away I could send Like I could just send it.

And so that's the first like We also released some open set it up with DNS and that's DNS to that wouldn't be stored It's stored in like a peer to The library that we have is It's in our GitHub repository. But yeah, so, and also an build it in a scalable way so on Bitcoin. But you can do subspaces. It's kind of like traditional and stuff. Well, you can get top level There's a limited number of like at Bitcoin and the syntax So it's like you could get at or at nostr or at Bitcoin and those.

And each subspace we've decentralized. So not even you as the owner or do anything to the subspace itself. So if I had Mike at Bitcoin, It's completely mine and. But I. But so you can turn it into a business. You could sell like that and You could have millions under. At Bitcoin, millions of subspaces. And it doesn't the we did it it's all verifiable with a hash. Like so there's very minimal blockchain, but it's anchored So yeah.

And who do you primarily see Would this mostly be something that larger of? And maybe in each case, how Well, I think I could see now online, it's all So I see. You know, even just if it was that as very valuable because want. Nobody can, nobody can But also like usernames, I like for social media. Like you could own a name and Like Noster, you know, if you publish content under that name. People can find you there and It's yours. So that's another use case.

I mean the other one is like So that right now a lot of And there's even like a for human readable wallet addresses. But right now it's using DNS, which. So like a registrar. I mean, I know I worked in the it's like a registrar, a registry. Like I can. People can. A lot of people have access to So if you're accepting are taking a risk because if you know, an employee at a address or something, so. Or they could just take the taking.

Money. It's like GoFundMe, you know, or whatever had that boycott GoFundMe was like, you know what? We're not all that money you to other charities and stuff is. So it would be much, wouldn't like send it to truckers at they got, you know, whoever and nobody can enter, nobody If someone wants to take what would you recommend them I guess in particular, if you could take advantage of as But what would be a strategic using the Spaces protocol in Well, I think first you want top level space.

So I would go to software. We have a command line wallet and install the wallet. We're also going to have a GUI Maybe at release we'll have So it'll be much easier for command line. But yeah, get a wallet and Get a name. I think early on there's going So you probably be able to get later on if it becomes more popular. So I think getting a name per day, so there's only going So they're kind of rare.

So anyway, getting a name I we're gonna, we're gonna have we'll do all the work so that So if you get a good top level bitcoin, crypto or something up so people could get like it so you could earn money And so I think that's another I would also love it if like know, integrating it into that. And we have people on our to help and who have been helping. So that's another good place You know, if you have any you go to spaces, telegram link in the top corner. You can click there and join

This is going to be a slight pivot. But one of the interesting I was looking at your bio for early on in the Lightning Network. And so I think it'd be on being in so early on I don't think I was in Bitcoin about Bitcoin at the time. So I don't know how quickly Network bandwagon. What was it like being in, on days and are there any to spaces or is it too as analogies? No, I think it's good. I mean, yeah, Lightning, well, it had a lot of buzz and It was like another layer that and stuff.

So it was really exciting, So you know, being a I, I wanted to try it out. So I, I mean I downloaded I, you know, was like on their they were really helpful and and stuff. So I mean it's, it's cool. I mean that's, you know, Bitcoin. It's like this hacker spirit building this, you know, we're So I think it's. Yeah, I think it's great. Just like jumping in, just figuring, you know, figuring And I think it's the same with Spaces. Like, you know, there's people like installing it and something new.

So then I also saw that you to purchase a physical item on Can you go into detail as to purchased? I had, yeah, I had a node set And like you couldn't use I think the only thing you could. One server hosting company But then Blockstream set up a and stuff. And right when the store away and then I emailed them goods were being sold for So I just emailed them and And they said no, I was third. But so, and I, and I'm pretty don't know who was second. But yeah, I still have the That's cool.

And one thing we didn't, I spaces is that the only way like from what I've checked Can you use dollars as well or with. Bitcoin if you're doing the if, and that's for top level spaces. Eventually we're going to set you know, people to sell their I don't know. I think at first it'll just be without a third party. But also subspaces like if you whatever and you decide to you could buy that for. So you could buy like Josh at credit card or something like that.

Well, any final thoughts It's been, it's been interesting. It's one of those things where People are going to be getting There's always opportunities looking into it a little bit But any final thoughts before and where you'd like for conversation? Yeah, just check out on Twitter if you go to name to my Twitter. But yeah, but yeah, thanks for It's great to talk to you and thanks. Great. Well, Mike, thank you so much It's been a pleasure. Yeah, me too. Well, friends, it's a wrap.

Thanks so much for listening Show. If you want to reach out to links down in the show notes. And be sure to check out building, keep growing, and leading. Well, thanks to no Waste, BTC the show on Fountain this week. If you would like to support on the Fountain app and either a boost. And if you include a note with it on the show.