Steve Ehrlich, CEO Of Voyager, joins Charlie Shrem on this episode of Untold Stories. Steve and Charlie discuss the market crash of October 1987 and the trading environment at the time, Steve's transition to crypto, the parallels between online brokerages in the 1990's and the crypto industry, the importance of price discovery, Voyager's culture and technology, their merger with Ethos and going public, tokenization and the maturation of the industry. --- BitPanda Bitpanda is a fintech based in V...
May 19, 2020•57 min•Ep. 86
Journalist and Author Ken Kurson joins Charlie Shrem on today’s episode of Untold Stories. Ken and Charlie discuss political and financial journalism, Ken's interest in money and finance, the role of institutions in crypto, Ken's links to the President and conversations with people in government about crypto, Ripple and its perception in the crypto community, Ken's history writing about financial literacy, the crypto media, and the 2020 US election. --- BitPay BitPay gives you the tools to live ...
May 14, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 85
Brock Pierce joins Charlie on this episode of Untold Stories. Brock and Charlie discuss Brock's life as a child actor, growing up with the internet and an entrepreneurial attitude, the lessons learned being a young entrepreneur during the rise of the internet, how to hire and get market timing right, finding his way from managing a large company to creating, moving to Puerto Rico and making an impact, the economic damage caused by Coronavirus and what positive changes can come from it. --- BitPa...
May 12, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 84
Kadan Stadelmann, CTO of Komodo, joins Charlie Shrem on today’s episode of Untold Stories. Kadan and Charlie discuss governments focusing on Coronavirus but neglecting cybersecurity, the pandemic challenging ideals of decentralization and free speech, Kadan's early work in crypto and beginning with Komodo, the Bitcointalk forum and its community, growing up in cyberspace and IRC, life with the Coronavirus lockdown, and the Komodo platform's technology. --- BitPay BitPay gives you the tools to li...
May 07, 2020•51 min•Ep. 83
Emin Gun Sirer, Founder and CEO Ava Labs, joins Charlie Shrem on today’s episode of Untold Stories. The professor and Charlie discuss the cryptocurrency the professor worked on in 2002, years before Satoshi Nakamoto, the 2008 financial crisis as the context in which Satoshi released Bitcoin, the events surrounding the DAO hack, criticisms of the scaling wars, tribalism and trolling, what Satoshi's code reveals about his identity, Ava Labs and Avalanche, and Bitcoin-NG. --- BitPanda Bitpanda is a...
May 05, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 82
Charles Hoskinson, Founder of Cardano and CEO of IOHK, joins Charlie Shrem on today’s episode of Untold Stories. Charles and Charlie discuss the current loss of faith in institutions, conspiracy theories, Cardano's development philosophy, roadmap, and current progress, why merchant adoption is hard, Cannabis and other underbanked industries, the case for country adoption of a stablecoin, over-litigation, onchain governance, the key man problem, and COVID. --- BitPanda Bitpanda is a fintech based...
Apr 28, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 80
David Chaum, pioneering cryptographer and founder of the XX network, joins Charlie Shrem on today’s episode of Untold Stories. Charlie and David discuss threats to democracy and the importance of metadata shredding, Elixxir and the XX Network, Digicash, the Cypherpunk movement, ballot secrecy and cryptography in voting, whether David met Satoshi Nakamoto, how David got interested in cryptography, and what cryptographers in the 1980's and 90's thought it would look like today. --- BitPanda Bitpan...
Apr 21, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 78
Author Dan Simon joins Charlie Shrem on today’s episode of Untold Stories. Dan and Charlie discuss crypto pioneers and money hackers as misfits, Dan's unique perspective on financial history, the erosion of the middle class, failing financial oversight, history's view of the current crisis,entrepreneurship and opportunity in the current environment and Dan's new book The Money Hackers. --- BitPay BitPay gives you the tools to live life on crypto. Whether you want to send crypto to friends, use c...
Apr 16, 2020•58 min•Ep. 77
Danny Brewster, Founder of Fastbitcoins, joins Charlie Shrem on today’s episode of Untold Stories. Danny and Charlie discuss building a brick and mortar Bitcoin business in 2013 and today, the 2013 Cyprus banking crisis and today's rampant money printing, the collapse of Neo & Bee, Danny's arrest and extradition proceedings, his goal to repay investors, and developing Fastbitcoins. --- BitPanda Bitpanda is a fintech based in Vienna, Austria founded in 2014 by Eric Demuth, Paul Klanschek and ...
Apr 14, 2020•59 min•Ep. 76
Bram Cohen, BitTorrent Creator and Founder of the Chia Network, joins Charlie Shrem on today’s episode of Untold Stories. Bram and Charlie discuss Bram's work on the 90's cryptocurrency project MojoNation, the contributions of cryptographers in Satoshi's circle including Hal Finney's pre-Bitcoin presentation, Bram's introduction to Bitcoin and his formative years in programming, his creation of BitTorrent, Proof of space and Proof of time, ASIC-resistance, mining, and the scaling debate. --- Bit...
Apr 09, 2020•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 75
Bitpanda CEOs Paul Klanschek and Eric Demuth join Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They begin by discussing some of Bitpanda's unorthodox marketing techniques as well as their focus on education and user experience. Charlie asks about their sales which reveals a strong increase in retail buying of Bitcoin and gold, and leads to a discussion of gold production and supply issues. They shift gears a little and talk about how Eric and Paul started working together, what it's l...
Apr 07, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 74
Justin O’Connell of GoldSilverBitcoin joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They begin by discussing the Silk Road as an intersection between Bitcoin advocates and free market advocates, how it worked, and Justin's awareness of it at the time. Justin explains how he got into writing in crypto and some of his background in precious metals. They return to the topic of Silk Road and the circumstances of Ross Ulbricht's arrest and questions about the identity of Dread Pirate ...
Apr 02, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 62
Jason Goldberg, Founder of OST and Pepo, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They begin by laying out what needs to happen for crypto mass adoption to take place. Jason goes on to talk about what led him to build in crypto and the potential he saw in it. He continues to explain the roots of Pepo and OST in the idea of building the tech instead of waiting for it, and focusing on the user experience. Charlie asks about maximalism and tribalism and Jason explains his belie...
Mar 31, 2020•59 min•Ep. 72
Crypto Trader @Crypto_Bitlord joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They begin by recounting @Crypto_Bitlord's time in China reporting on COVID-19 via his Twitter account as the crisis was unfolding, even before it was considered an epidemic. @Crypto_Bitlord comments on his hospital visits while he was sick, their procedures, quarantines, and the subsequent lockdown. They discuss the statistics of a spreading epidemic and shift the discussion to the economic impact. Charl...
Mar 26, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 71
Bill Barhydt, Abra Founder & CEO, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They begin by talking about the most pressing issue of the day, the Coronavirus lockdown. Charlie reveals that Bill worked as a cryptographer for the CIA which leads to a discussion of right-sized government and what that would look like in today's world. They move on to talk about how the financial system has failed with regards to Coronavirus, paper money, and the need for digital alternatives. ...
Mar 24, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 70
Jameson Lopp, Casa Cofounder & CTO, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They begin by discussing the importance of nodes, both as a measure of decentralization and for maintaining self-sovereignty in Bitcoin. They continue on to discuss coin tracking, exchanges requiring public keys, and how people are willing to give up privacy and security for the sake of convenience. Jameson explains how Casa is really a personal sovereignty company helping people with custody of...
Mar 19, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 69
Mrinal Manohar, CEO and Cofounder of Casper Labs, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They begin by discussing Bitcoin's evolution at the protocol level and whether the tech should change in order to adapt. Mrinal explains Casper Labs' focus on decentralization and the practicalities of building a decentralized project. This leads Charlie and Mrinal to talk about the pros and cons of PoW and PoS, the token distribution problems of PoS, energy inefficiency of PoW, mining...
Mar 17, 2020•57 min•Ep. 68
Joe Lallouz, CEO of Bison Trails joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They begin talking about imposter syndrome, something they both agree is common in crypto, and move on to discuss the New York crypto scene. Joe talks about Bison Trails and its focus on non-Proof of Work blockchain infrastructure, tells the origin story of the name, and talks about his background in engineering and economics. But Charlie has clearly been itching to ask about Joe's participation in the...
Mar 12, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 67
Rob Viglione, Cofounder and CEO of Horizen Labs, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They start by discussing Rob's move to Puerto Rico, Act 22, and Panama's history as a haven for Bitcoin pioneers. Rob and Charlie discuss the launch of ZenCash in 2017 as well as Zendoo, a current sidechain project. Charlie asks about Rob's doctoral thesis, based on Bitcoin, which leads the discussion to governance in an increasingly digital world. Rob talks about the 51% attack on ZenC...
Mar 10, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 66
Developer Peter Todd joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They begin by talking about Peter's focus on community rather than software as an important aspect of crypto. Charlie asks why the Bitcoin scaling debate was so controversial and it leads to an extensive discussion of the events of the debate, people involved, and some of the toxic environment during that period. They compare scaling and community aspects as it relates to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple as well. Pet...
Mar 05, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 65
Marc Fleury, Founder and CEO of Two Prime, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They begin by talking about the open source movement and why it is so attractive for developers. Marc continues with comparisons between crypto today and internet and software development in the 90's and makes an amazing alien reveal. Charlie and Marc agree that Bitcoin showed resilience surviving the Mt. Gox debacle. Charlie asks if the earlier open source movement has evangelists like crypt...
Feb 27, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 63
Ryan Selkis, CEO of Messari, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They begin by talking about what drew Ryan into researching Bitcoin in the first place and what led him to writing about it. Ryan talks a bit about Messari's mission to improve industry data standards which leads the discussion to his research into Mt. Gox just as it was unraveling in late 2013-2014. He reveals details about the insolvency of Mt. Gox and how it was an existential threat to Bitcoin itself. ...
Feb 25, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 62
David Bailey, CEO of BTC Inc, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. Charlie and David begin with a discussion of the first wave of Bitcoin growth and the seminal San Jose Bitcoin Conference in 2013. David describes his company's evolution from yBitcoin to Bitcoin Magazine and it's place in the ecosystem as an archive of Bitcoin history. He further explains his recent refocus on Bitcoin. They then discuss what is a Bitcoin OG and the changing narratives over the years. Dav...
Feb 20, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 61
Clinton Donnelly, the Crypto Tax Fixer, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. They begin by discussing a new question on this year's IRS forms asking everyone if they have owned, sent or received any crypto transaction. Clinton explains the importance of the question, potentially setting up the filer for past audits. Charlie and Clinton talk about big fish vs small fish and how the IRS will approach different filers. Clinton gets into the issue of a critical question on t...
Feb 18, 2020•57 min•Ep. 60
Ryan Taylor, CEO of Dash Core Group, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. Charlie and Ryan begin by discussing the Dash focus on the user experience and how Dash has been working towards adoption, especially in Venezuela, and growing when other coins have not. The conversation flows into talk of the Dash block rewards, masternodes, security, and comparing to other networks. Charlie asks why Dash doesn't have a troll army which leads Ryan to tout Dash's positive culture. ...
Feb 13, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 59
Rodolfo Novak, CEO and Cofounder of Coinkite, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. Charlie and Rodolfo begin with a discussion on value, comparing the value of domain names and squatting with the value of Bitcoin and the expansion of the altcoin markets. Rodolfo expounds on a 'winner takes most' concept and relates it all back to Bitcoin and its network effects. A discussion ensues as to why use does not equal value which brings up the ICO frenzy and projects that are pa...
Feb 11, 2020•59 min•Ep. 58
Tuur Demeester, Bitcoin thought leader and economist, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. Tuur begins with a powerful comparison between Bitcoin today and the internet's Windows 95 moment when a critical threshold of people may begin to use and adopt it in 2020. He tempers his prediction with a warning that Bitcoin intolerance may arise as countries try to limit Bitcoin's growth. The conversation shifts to academia and the challenges facing the traditional university sy...
Feb 06, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 57
David A Johnston, crypto pioneer and cofounder of BitAngels, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. David begins by recounting the San Jose Bitcoin conference, a watershed event where he cofounded BitAngels. He gives his insights into the first attempts to put assets on Bitcoin with Mastercoin, Omni, and Tether. David recalls the early arguments around building on Bitcoin, what is ok and not ok to put on Bitcoin, and censorship on the network. He talks about coining the te...
Feb 04, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 56
Arthur Breitman, founder of Tezos, joins Charlie Shrem on this week’s episode of Untold Stories. He explains how Tezos is trying to create a true digital commonwealth by incorporating liquid democracy and POS. Tezos has successfully completed two consensus votes so far and is preparing for its third, all in the span of a few years. Arthur describes his passion for self-amending systems, limited governance and the need to account for innovation while staying decentralized. He explains the differe...
Jan 28, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 54
Charlie Shrem interviews Jake Brukhman, the founder and managing director of Coinfund, the longest running VC fund in the crypto space operating since 2015. He shares how they didn’t even consider smart contracts in the beginning, only digital assets. Jake thinks we’re still very early in the crypto space and that radical innovation will require governance and regulation to get to market. He shares how VC funds operate and how they invest. He also explains the advantages and disadvantages of pro...
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 53
