With the COVID-19 crisis showing no signs of abating in the United States, central banks around the world have deployed financial airbags in the form of quantitative easing, and they plan to do a lot more. Modern Monetary Theory has taken center stage, and we are witnessing it in action. It’s a sight that will leave you awestruck: like witnessing the financial version of the first atomic explosion of Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project.  What is going on with the world’s economy is unprecedented. We are entering completely new and uncharted territories, and all bets are off with respect to inflation/deflation. How will different asset classes react to the stimulus? Will we see price inflation, price stability or chaos? No one knows. One thing is certain: More absurdity is surely in store, and one should keep their wits about them and pay close attention. In 2008, the QE money printed did not enter circulation — it stayed at the Federal Reserve in a charter account of the member banks in the form of accounting entries on computers. This was just ignorance of how the financial flows worked, even though the net effect was positive: Bitcoin () was born as a reaction to QE. The QE of today is, however, one of a different animal — it is meant to go to households and small businesses to pay for food and rent, or simply put, prevent famine, mass homelessness, general riots and societal breakdown. What we have been witnessing is the end of 19th-century industrial capitalism and the reign of monetary capitalism. This has been true since the end of the Bretton Woods Agreement some 50 years ago, but not entirely evident for all. The goal is humanistic: to avoid death, misery and social upheaval. This new money has entered circulation all at once — no questions asked — directly into the bank accounts of households and small businesses as deposits pumped by the Fed, and these have inadvertently found their way into the financial markets. The result: a monster rally in the equity markets that has snapped a few necks and caught sociopathic short-sellers by surprise. Do not bet against the Fed. Doing so will give you a quick, unglamorous and leveraged death. While Robinhood traders are typically thought to be behind the market’s rallies, the truth is, operators directly linked to the Fed do the bulk of the “behind-the-scenes” buying, and they buy everything from bonds to index funds and single equities, and soon –– cryptocurrencies. Ironically, crypto heads are uniquely conditioned to understand what is going on with the current monetary system and market-led shenanigans — it’s all in the market-making order books. Cryptos never had a real economy backing them — they have no endogenous cash flows. Their main economic value propositions are (1) speculation; (2) drugs and tax evasion; and (3) alternative stores of value outside the traditional banking system. In short, they are valid financial instruments. Increasingly, stocks are becoming uncorrelated from the underlying economic value and rely solely on the supply and demand dynamics of the financial markets, without economic underpinning. The economy is crashing, yet stocks are going skywards — this is not a paradox, but a feature: This is exactly what is happening with cryptocurrencies. The paradox of zero cash flows and infinite valuations is one of perception. Asset backing is important. Cryptos, in general, have held their own as an investment class even with little asset backing and –– perhaps! –– because of it. Since cryptos are not directly linked to the health of the economy, their movements have been largely independent of economies. They performed well as stores of value by paring March’s losses and seem poised, as of this writing, to break out going forward. This is pure supply and demand logic — the psychology of a numerus clausus financial assets (limited supply of only 21 million BTC) and a seemingly infinite wall of liquidity chasing them. What you are seeing is an inflow of financial and monetary demand, not economic demand on the demand side of the order books of market makers, both in stock and crypto markets. Forget fundamentals, narratives and traditional valuation methodologies. Stocks are now like crypto: a store of value that exists in the traditional economy and purely in exchanges. Something’s value is determined by whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Pay attention to the flow of new money and the technical depth of the order books in front of it. The wall of liquidity is huge, yet the order book pales in comparison. The main way to value a stock is not through its economic value but through the exchanges and the technical arcana of market-making bots. A stock’s worth is determined by whatever someone is willing to pay for it, similar to that of crypto. This layer of indirection among economy, exchanges and stocks/coins allows for a decoupling of price from cash flow and can be a blessing when the economy crashes. This is at the heart of what is generally going on in the financial markets at the moment. When Tesla’s stock to increase twofold in a couple of months while Elon Musk blabs incoherently about weed, predatory Lithium mining and a regime change he instigated, you would think that the company’s stock is the new darling overachieving asset class in an attempt to rationalize the rally. When analysts and your friends cry in disbelief at what is going on in delusional public markets, the crypto cultists should feel smug in their knowledge that ab initio stores of value can and do in fact exist, with BTC as the poster child. You are not witnessing an increase in economic demand for electric Tesla cars, or whatever Musk is tripping about at the moment, you are witnessing an increase in the monetary demand for Tesla’s stock, probably helped by the unhinged rants of Musk himself. These are purely technical financial moves, not economic, and are nothing new. Stocks behave more like cryptos now in how they find valuations, and investors are the main source for demanding cashing financial instruments. This is why trusted brands are so important. What is this economy you speak of? At a time of economic hardship, it is somewhat sociopathic to focus on the narrow and cold-hearted technical details of a speculative financial instrument and the arcana of monetary issuance — but herein may lie the keys to social stability and the future of money. The wall of liquidity that has hit the public markets is now finally finding its way, almost by overspill or trickle-down, to the crypto markets. Money has been looking to take new shapes, for such is the spirit of money. QE will reach more people through these channels. It’s QE that will soon land us on the moon. It is ironic. We actually expected this sooner, but it seems to be underway at the moment. What was seen first as a rally in alt-coins is now a rally in Bitcoin and Ether. Where alt-coins don’t move is a bullish sign for cryptos in general. This may spell the beginning of a monster rally — the pendulum has swung from the crypto winter and the trough of disillusionment. With literally nothing to anchor the valuations, the price of cryptos is technically and psychologically positioned to exponentially blow up. And this price is a direct function of the fiat QE sloshing around the financial markets and a direct function of the monetary levels. It is ironic that QE is actually propping BTC when it was born in antagonism to said QE. What may have delayed the move up is that getting into crypto is still a complicated affair. Liquidity in the crypto markets remains opaque. Most exchanges are vast washing machines that do not serve any social purpose but perpetuate pump-and-dump schemes, which are just proxies for degenerate gambling. Dealing with custody and keys is still a thing and a complicated affair for most people. Wallets are mostly useless, and there are a plethora of them — but they are making progress. We should all pay close attention to the fact that U.S. banks have just been cleared to do crypto custody, thereby removing one of the biggest technical hurdles to retail and institutional growth outside of the crypto ghetto. While we are still a long way from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance on deposits, this is a significant step, and crypto may yet play a central role in the future of money and banking. Bank custody will create unprecedented retail and institutional comfort and, thus, demand. Those who want to live outside the banking system, for whatever reason, ideological or legal, still can, and those who want the security of the traditional banking system (essentially, the vast majority) can do that as well. Having more options is always good, and crypto maximalism and dogmatism are just that — a series of “isms.” Understanding the different schemes of crypto is difficult and time-consuming even for savvy investors. Due diligence is meaningless and almost impossible — you really have to take a deep dive to know whom to trust, what to trust, who knows what they are doing, who is still high on the unicorn powder of blockchain for good, and who will preserve and grow your money as opposed to blow it all on flimsy tech no one needs or has asked for. Similarly, some newfangled financial products have raised eyebrows, prompting people to ask themselves: “How can anyone offer 8% APY on crypto when we are entering an era of negative interest rates on fiat?” These are still the many elephants in the crypto room. All those things that seem to defy (pun intended) logic and financial gravity are enough to deter newbies — for if it seems too good to be true, it is probably too good to be true. We need to shed all linguistic pretense of tech pompousness and grandiose societal schemes. Cryptos work well as stores of value — they are either volatile stores of value, such as BTC or ETH, or stablecoins. In short, we need stable growth coins. We are seeing the rise of stable growth hybrid coins, such as FF1 by TwoPrime or Bitcoin trust by Greyscale, that marry upside potential with downside protection and leverage what the crypto markets do well. Expect more to come as the DeFi wave stabilizes and cashes in. All in all, the crypto markets have been lagging behind the equity markets in terms of feeling the impact of QE. It simply means the critical mass is still not here. It’s easier, safer, more liquid and simply more expedient to buy Tesla stock for twice the return in three months via your 401K than to gamble on an obscure pump-and-dump that promises gains of up to 10 times. But with thinner and lower liquidity, cryptos will also feel the pressure in an exponential way when the QE tsunami hits its shores — it won’t be doubled... It may increase by 40 times. Who knows. We may be in the middle of this movement — the mother of all rallies. It will be swift and brutal. Don’t miss out; don’t short out; don’t hold out; and don’t chicken out. Pay attention to what is happening around you — these are once-in-a-lifetime events. This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, readers should conduct their own research when making a decision. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

own purposes. Over the years, misunderstanding Bitcoin—deliberately or just misguided—has led to a lot of wasted time, missed opportunities, lost money, and confusion. Money Button founder Ryan X. Charles has made it his mission to find Bitcoin’s true meaning, and educate himself and others. To that end, he and Dr. Craig S. Wright have created the “Theory of Bitcoin” series of very in-depth discussions on both the broader philosophy and finer points of Bitcoin. We chatted to Charles about why Bitcoin and its creator have been so misunderstood. Bitcoin is both radically new and yet timeless, and to build something truly worthwhile, it helps to understand which parts of its nature fall into those categories. That said, Bitcoin’s true nature isn’t exactly obvious. Charles himself says it wasn’t until recent years that he began to understanding it better, and even now it would take him the rest of his life to master it. One key to understanding Bitcoin is, you need to learn a lot more than just Bitcoin. A proper classical education with all the history, accumulated human knowledge and guiding principles it provides is rare these day. But it’s not impossible. Educate yourself, and you’ll begin to understand the “why” of Bitcoin as much as the “what.” And you’ll also realize that the “why” was probably the most important thing all along. If you’re reading this article then you’re already on the right track, and that’s an advantage. Charles has written a lengthy blog post about what he’s learned so far, and why it’s important, but read on to hear a little more about where he thinks Bitcoiners went wrong and why, and how they can fix it. Interview with Ryan X. Charles, Money Button CEO/founder and co-host, “Theory of Bitcoin” series Do you think there’s a difference between Craig Wright the public figure, and Craig Wright the person? If yes, what is it? Yes. Many people in the cryptocurrency industry have an interest that is in opposition to the Craig’s original vision for Bitcoin. They have done a good job using Craig’s weaknesses against him in order to create an image that suits their interests. Craig’s weaknesses are essentially that he is not good at interacting with people (although he is getting better). They have taken snapshots of Craig’s public failures, like his faux pas about Rwanda, “I have more money than your country,” and use it against him over and over. But the real Craig Wright is nothing like this public image. The real Craig Wright is a hyperfocused knowledge geek who obsessively tries to learn everything and who is generous with his time with people who help him. Are all the people working in “crypto” or “blockchain” outside the BSV world actually wasting their time and energy? Yes. Every single one that is not BSV has limitations that will prevent them from achieving mass adoption. The only one that has a chance is BSV. How much of the “other 99%” of Bitcoin do you feel you understand, at the present time? I’m not sure, but I will say that I have learned immensely by talking with Craig in this interview series. In every single interview I learned something important that grew my understanding of Bitcoin, and many other subjects as well. I estimate that it will take about five to ten years to master the most important background material for Bitcoin. I believe it will take the rest of my life to master all of the material. You said the conversations with Dr. Wright had led to you changing your very definition of Bitcoin. If you could take your knowledge of Bitcoin now, and give it to yourself in 2011, what’s the best advice you would give? I would tell myself to adopt maximum responsibility for the success of Bitcoin (and for my own success). A key mistake I made early on was to assume that other people would understand the incentives of Bitcoin and would identify and fulfill their niche in the ecosystem. That is not what happened. Instead, almost no one bothered to understand Bitcoin, but rather manipulators got involved who twisted the narrative in a direction of shallow scams and crime. If I had taken responsibility early on to understand Bitcoin completely, and to explain it to people, and to make sure all the components of the ecosystem were filled in properly, we would be substantially further ahead today. I could have prevented the creation of the alternative narrative had I done this back then. How will your newly-acquired knowledge change your approach to your company, or business in general, from this point on? My vision has become much bigger but also much more long-term. I used to have fantasies that we would have global success very quickly because people would simply understand Bitcoin and adopt it. However, I now realize that rapid success is unlikely because understanding Bitcoin is difficult and most people aren’t bothering to do so, and so long as they misunderstand the incentives, they will continue to build the wrong things. I can now see how difficult it is to learn Bitcoin and to explain it to people and that this limits the speed with which we can grow. In my new vision, I think global adoption for one use-case, such as tokenized digital assets, is possible in five to ten years, but the full vision for Bitcoin will take several decades to accomplish. This is not unlike the internet. Do you see your work as a developer/entrepreneur moving in different directions as a result of these conversations? Yes. Out of necessity I am becoming more focused on learning and teaching. I can be more effective if I can properly explain Bitcoin to a handful of driven entrepreneurs rather than trying to program things myself. My new emphasis is on adopting responsibility for making sure the ecosystem develops properly. This is what I should have done back in 2011. A classical, broad education is necessary to really understand the world… and Bitcoin. Has this notion disappeared from most universities, or is it still in place? As best I can tell, the separation between the arts and sciences occurred in the 20th century and has gotten worse with time, and is quite extreme today. Artists don’t know logic and scientists don’t know Shakespeare. This is an educational disaster because people have become substantially less educated and are on average less competent than educated people of a hundred or two hundred years ago. This can be resolved only by the adoption of individual responsibility. You can’t shove knowledge into other people’s minds. They must actively try to learn. How many books can you read in a week/month? I can read or listen to up to five books a day, but my average is more like one book every two days. This is much more than most people, but I assure you I do not have any special abilities in this respect. I just like reading and listening to books because I am able to improve my life every day from the knowledge contained within. The most important trick for this I learned from Konstantinos Sgantzos, who said, paraphrasing, “Concentrate on learning things that are useful.” The way I interpret this is that I always and everywhere follow my own curiosity. I stay motivated to learn because it is so useful. Bitcoin is a more honest system that makes everyone equal under the law. However it appears sometimes that those in power would resist change to the (existing) system they’re able to ‘game’ to their advantage. If this is true, how does Bitcoin overcome any obstacles they may put in place to resist it? Maybe my take is a bit cynical? People are equal under the law whether Bitcoin exists or not. The elimination of all issues with society can only be accomplished one way, which is with the adoption of maximum responsibility by every individual. So long as people try to blame others for issues, and to take from others so as to give to themselves, then we will have problems. The resolution to this can be facilitated through education. One must start with oneself. What (if any) special skills are needed to communicate Dr. Wright’s message to the wider public? I think everyone who is interested in Bitcoin has something unique to offer to help. The interview series is a way that I can uniquely contribute. I would suggest that people ask themselves, “What is the most valuable way I can spend my time?” For some people, part of the answer to that question will involve helping to educate people about Bitcoin. People need to answer this question for themselves. If the “other 99% of Bitcoin” is something most people don’t know or understand, what’s the best way communicators (like CoinGeek and its contributors) change this? For CoinGeek specifically, I think you are on the right track with respect to the constant creation and publication of material that markets and explains Bitcoin. However, there is a lot of work to be done to establish the full background material for Bitcoin, and I believe CoinGeek’s content covers only a small fraction of this material. I am not sure what is the best way for CoinGeek to improve this, but I will tell you what I am doing, and this may spark ideas inside CoinGeek. I am using the interview series to frame the full scope of theory that needs to be explained, I am understanding it myself (over years), and I am compiling the information into a structure that will allow me to explain it and pitch it to companies inside Silicon Valley. In the next one to two years, I hope to have fifty or so presentations for every major Silicon Valley company. I believe this holistic and deep approach will be effective at rectifying the misunderstanding of Bitcoin and compelling Silicon Valley to adopt Bitcoin as the base layer of their systems. New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeek’s Bitcoin for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoin—as originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamoto—and blockchain.

2015. She holds an MA in digital art and philosophy.

These days I spend most of my time tweaking the code of a bitcoin wallet that runs in Terminal. Based on Libbitcoin, it’s built to work over Nym Technologies’ anonymizing mixnet. I call it the Dark Renaissance wallet.

It’s mostly a learning exercise to hone my C++ skills, but the Dark Renaissance wallet is a harbinger for what is to come.

Working with a small, focused and ideological team, my comrades at PolyTech are upending some of the key assumptions on which the crypto industry has been built, and are plotting an all-out privacy offensive.

Our mission – the Dark Renaissance – is strategic and philosophical. At a personal level, it relates to a lifelong obsession with the philosophy of technology, and an intense awareness of the power of software.

It represents a desire to reconnect with bitcoin’s crypto-anarchist roots and fend off the forces of surveillance that creep into every aspect of our lives in 2020.

But first, it requires an understanding of the distant past.

Like the ancient Irish poets, the filí, programmers have the ability to alter reality with an utterance. Code is an incantation, an act of summoning ideas and inclinations into material reality. It is a conduit between the sphere of ideation and that of politics and sociality. 

But technology isn’t merely the product of ideas – it actively shapes belief systems, reconfiguring the world in which it is applied.

Programmers know this: When a user’s behavior is influenced by code, it’s called opinionated software. When a user is manipulated for corporate interests, it is known as a dark pattern.

Software also has unintended consequences. Released into the wild, code propagates ideology in unpredictable and chaotic ways. Inevitably, it backfires, and innovation flows through human society, irrespective of, and indifferent to, political difference. 

To what extent technology is informed by and produces belief systems has haunted me throughout my adult life.

It has also given me dreams. I believe it is within humanity’s power to reshape the narrative by which technology is formed. In doing so, it becomes possible to take back the reins of runaway technological innovation and re-orientate human destiny.

Crypto is at the front line of this struggle.

I came to crypto through encryption. I saw hash functions as a kind of abstract poetry that spoke of the secrecy of nature and the unknown.

Crypto was immersed in a romantic glow. In Ethereum’s early days, I believed I was witnessing the emergence of Skynet. It was the promise of Turing Complete, general computation and if artificial intelligence was going to emerge anywhere, it would be there, I believed at the time.

It was my doomer phase, and Ethereum was a source of dark fascination. Inspired by the Ethereum yellow paper, I wrote my master’s thesis in 2016 on what I felt was a sadomasochistic dynamic between natural language and code. It included an erotic poem featuring a kind of vampire DAO (far before I had familiarized myself with the unicorns and rainbows that better represent the Ethereum community).

But while my approach was unconventional, the idea dates back to a problem as old as philosophy itself. To borrow a metaphor from computers, human experience consists of abstractions: mere interfaces that we interact with. Base reality occurs on a lower level, corresponding to hardware and raw machine code.

This hierarchization of reality – of partitioning nature into the more and less real – occurs across philosophy in different guises and names. For some philosophers, such a partition gets us no further in understanding the “things-in-themselves.” Humans are encased by a sphere of representation, wholly cut off from an inaccessible and inhuman outside.

At the time, I believed the reality hierarchy had a linguistic equivalent. At the bottom were operational languages such as computer programming. At the top were descriptive, natural languages.

With this philosophical backdrop, code acquires a profound metaphysical weight. It became a way to transmute the lowest level of reality into human experience.

The DAO hack was the first crack in this worldview.

Implicitly, I maintained at the time that natural language was somehow inferior to the perfect objectivity of code.

Not only that, but I believed the behavior of technology within capitalism – its tendency toward monopolization, value-extraction and surveillance – was technology’s true nature revealing itself.

Martin Heidegger – a philosopher known for supporting the Nazi party and for transforming Western philosophy – calls this tendency Gestell, or enframing. 

According to Heidegger, technology is a process of dismantling, quantifying and repackaging for export. In modernity, it has captured humanity, reducing people and everything else into a resource, a “standing reserve” to be exploited by the technological regime.

An equally controversial philosopher called Nick Land takes this process and gives it an agency. 

According to Land, technology exposes an inhuman intelligence optimizing itself at the expense of the human. Stimulated by finance and a strange, contorting temporality, this inhuman intelligence is climbing its way up the reality hierarchy, threatening to replace the human as the world’s top predator.

It might sound like science fiction but crypto is full of this kind of rhetoric. Early efforts toward smart contracts promise nothing short of optimizing humans out of the equation. The blockchain is described as pure, trustless and incorruptible, turning all that it touches into glacial, inalterable code.

Ethereum’s infamous experiment in corporate governance, The DAO, echoed this language.

As Ethereum Classic fans will no doubt remember, The DAO was a high-profile fundraising campaign for a decentralized incubator. Its marketing spoke of “the steadfast iron will of unstoppable code” – a phrase whose irony is hard to forget.

Due to a vulnerability discovered in Solidity smart contracts not long after its launch, The DAO was subject to a re-entrancy attack, in which a hacker exploited a function within the code to drain 3.6 million ether out of it.

Following a heated discussion that resulted in the birth of a new cryptocurrency, ethereum classic (ETC), Ethereum developers implemented a controversial upgrade to refund DAO investors.

The DAO episode exposed many myths about blockchain, but this one stands out: Despite claims to the contrary, crypto contains an inextricably human element.

I spent the subsequent years following the ebb and flow of Ethereum software development as a reporter for CoinDesk.

For two years I attended every single Ethereum core developer call. I tracked decision-making on the platform like a jealous lover, refreshing Twitter handles, expanding sprawling GitHub discussions, quietly watching chat groups.

During this time, Ethereum faced the fallout of its DAO refund and dealt with the challenge of informal, decentralized governance. This challenge was intensified by a few simple facts: Ethereum has a leadership that is ideologically opposed to authority, and a vision that is inclusive to the point of being meandering.

Criticisms aside, Ethereum was in uncharted territory. And despite the odds, the platform managed to keep its course, even with pressure from monetary interest pulling it from each side.

Over time, I understood the mistakes I had made. Ethereum is not Skynet, and code has much more in common with natural languages than the raw mechanics of primary nature. I learned that sometimes, developers actually trade efficiency for readability; favoring clear, modular code over code which is fast.

I also learned power exists on all decentralized networks, but it is typically nameless and therefore unaccountable. Over time, power relations solidify. Networks become institutionalized and the rift between users and developers deepens.

Software, I decided, is a social good, like water and clean air. To maintain the balance of power, coders must elevate those around them. They must discourage passive user-ship, inspire users to become active network participants and train the next generation of coders to replace them.

Armed with a newly found focus, I left the Ethereum beat to join the Rojava revolution in North Syria.

Inspired by the writings of Kurdish ideologue Abdullah Ocalan, the Rojava revolution sprang up during the Syrian Civil War. Its supporters maintain that the nation-state is an abstraction badly suited to the Middle East. In its place, Rojava is pioneering new forms of decentralized social organization.

But it is not merely a social organization that binds Rojava together. Rather, Rojava is governed by a collective idea: the concept of democratic modernity.

In his five-book manifesto written from Turkish prison island İmralı, Ocalan essentially agrees with Heidegger’s “Gestell” – there is a reductive, exploitative process at work within modernity. 

But Ocalan does not identify this process with technology. According to him, it is the logic of capitalist civilization itself.

The task of democratic modernity is to decouple technology from globalization. In its place, new modernities can be built, based on a plurality of logics – not merely Western-style reductionism that has come to dominate the world.

In Rojava, learning is paramount. People are encouraged to develop “xwe zanîn,” or self-knowledge, inspired by the Ancient Greek maxim “know thyself.” This is a project of remembering, of resurfacing histories worn away by globalization.

Here, I spent my time establishing technical academies. Inspired by the scientific centers of the ancient world, like Plato’s Academy and the House of Baghdad, our goal was to train a new generation of philosophical programmers.

But my time in Rojava was cut short. 

During the nine months I spent there, the risk of a Turkish invasion weighed heavily. It cast a dark shadow across all of our work, like a storm cloud looming in the distance.

Finally, the storm came, and the sky rained bullets and bombs. Disguised as a man, I was among the last foreigners to cross the border to safety before the death count started to rise. 

I found myself at the Devcon5 Ethereum conference in Osaka, Japan, one week after leaving Syria. 

With friends on the front line, I found it hard to look people in the eye. Ethereum’s unicorn-punk aesthetic set against the backdrop of war was hard to stomach. 

Sleeplessly refreshing the Syrian Civil War subreddit and Syria Live Map on my phone, I watched the war play out in total horror.

Airstrikes, bombings, body counts. On stage, well-meaning developers called for diversity and social justice, innocent to, or oblivious of, the blanket of physical safety that surrounded them. 

It was overpriced and sparsely attended. At a panel on Ethereum-based mixers an audience member warned that facilitating “bad guys” through privacy-tech could alienate the “average user” – a statement that was met with broad approval.

Maybe it was my state of mind, but it felt like the dissonance between cryptocurrency’s stated aims and its material reality was reaching a fever pitch. The general effort toward compliance was not only enabling certain forms of oppression but at times actively supporting it. 

At that moment, I decided that anonymity is where all philosophy of technology collides. In technical terms, it is synonymous with freedom. Practically, it can mean life or death. 

Since then, I have set about orchestrating the Dark Renaissance.

The Dark Renaissance is a revolution within cryptocurrency. It is a rallying cry to all who still believe in crypto’s true potential. It calls for a rebirth back to bitcoin’s original principles: to be autonomous, censorship-resistant and dark-by-design.

While crypto-anarchist in origin, bitcoin has lost its way. Rather than empowering black markets, it has allied with state and corporate interests – traded its radical potential for mainstream adoption.

But by suppressing its crypto-anarchist roots and whitewashing its aims to appeal to bankers, crypto has cut itself off from its source of power. The Dark Renaissance seeks to resurface that power, to allow the truly disruptive potential of cryptocurrency to realize itself.

That truly disruptive potential lies in cryptocurrency’s ability to extend the space of illegality outward: to increase the remit and power of unauthorized black market activity and strip resources away from the nation-state.

Our methods are part educational, part software production. We are setting up the PolyTech Academy, where technical skills are taught in tandem with a philosophy curriculum.

Read more: Code as a Weapon: Amir Taaki Wants You to Join the Real Crypto Revolution

Through education, we want to elevate the culture of the cryptocurrency space, to create a community of active network participants and to inspire a new generation of programmers to succeed us.

In our code, we build tools to practically enforce our ideology. Advocating autonomy, anonymity and censorship-resistance, we will lead with the launch of several financial products, and iterate into a full-fledged dark financial system.

These tools will enable us to create a new economic paradigm. We are building financial networks to disintermediate local economies away from the state and large banks, and to usher in a more democratic alternative.

Rather than controlling people through mechanism design as much crypto-economics often intends to do, we are instead seeking to inspire people – to create a vision of technology that empowers people from within.

We are in the midst of a turning point. Technologists today are faced with a choice: Either passively advance the interests of a system fated for destruction or undertake a psychic reversal.

shirt and carrying a swoop haircut, but he flies drones, tinkers on full nodes, and writes about libertarian principles. He doesn’t match the usual stereotypes. “It’s been hard to reconcile that in terms of where I fit in.” Football, Held says, is a big deal in Texas. Years ago, the growth lead at cryptocurrency exchange Kraken enjoyed success as a football player there, going 16-0 and winning state in his senior year of high school. He played tight end, a position that requires a high degree of versatility as a combination of offensive lineman and receiver. At Kraken, he’s continued in a similar vein spending his first year on business development, and now working on growth. Even while going undefeated in high school football, the self-described “jock-nerd” was also crushing advanced placement exams. But Held has grown accustomed to the ongoing dichotomies that have built his character — and, ultimately, his career. He grew up all over the political and societal map in an unusual melange of experiences, spending time in Colorado, Minnesota, and Texas, eventually landing in San Francisco.   He was one of the few people in his circles who was really into Bitcoin in its early days, yet was decidedly non-techie. What really grabbed him was Bitcoin’s value proposition as a solution to the failures of modern monetary policy. During his college days, the 2008 financial crisis caused him to question the system. He soon was captivated by Bitcoin’s monetary policy and how well it fit with the libertarian ideology of free markets.  Studying finance as an undergrad in 2008, Held recalled a breakdown in his faith in the financial system and in the experts that were supposed to explain and defend it. “My professors didn’t know what they were talking about, everyone on TV didn’t know what they were talking about, all the institutions that we had formally trusted, we couldn’t trust anymore.” It shook his foundational trust in the financial system that most of us take for granted.  Surrounded by the textbooks of his economics classes, he was hit with a revelation: “Wait. So, all these books are bullshit?” Years of being yelled at by demanding football coaches have immunized Held from caving under pressure.  It probably also helped that his father was an extreme sports enthusiast who bicycled across America at 60 years old. He would take the teenaged Held boys out on “14er” hikes, climbing 14,000 foot mountain peaks in Colorado. “One slip, and it’s a thousand feet until you hit something. That’s what I grew up with.” To say it instilled a sense of ruggedness and perseverance would be an understatement. The lessons have stuck with Held throughout his career, serving him well when he needed to make quick decisions under pressure. It’s also hardened his resolve when it comes to squaring up against competitors. “It’s kind of funny in the crypto space where people whine about competition and they whine about fierceness and I’m like ‘Well, welcome to how the world works.’ There are winners and losers. Not everyone wins.” In Held’s view, the winner in business is the company that builds a product that serves humankind in a better way. Texans, Held says, are a unique type of people. It is one of a handful of states that was an independent republic before voluntarily choosing to join the United States. “So, in schools in Texas, in elementary school, middle school, high school, you pledge allegiance to the American flag and the Texas flag.” Texan culture is fiercely independent, Held elaborates. The University of Texas took physical delivery of their gold from the Federal Reserve because they did not trust them with their gold. “That’s the extent of being a Texan.” This core underpinning made the concept of Bitcoin immediately palatable when he first heard about it. At the time, ZeroHedge was breaking news of corruption on Wall Street, from high-frequency trading cheats to metals manipulation, all before mainstream media was willing to touch the stories. Against this backdrop, Bitcoin’s monetary policy stood out as an elegant solution. “I’m a libertarian Austrian economics sort of guy, so I heard about Bitcoin and was like, ‘Oh this is perfect. 21 million hard cap? Genius.’ The disinflationary monetary policy is the breakthrough.” It was a stroke of luck that landed Held in San Francisco at just the right time. Working for a small investment firm out of Dallas, Held was relocated to San Francisco in January, 2013. There he met crypto pioneers like Jed McCaleb, Fred Ehrsam, Brian Armstrong, Charlie Lee and now-Kraken CEO, Jesse Powell. “I’m one of the only non-billionaires from that group,” Held chuckles. Held approached the sector from a different angle, working on products that solve problems rather than fixating on shiny new technological tricks. His first crypto-oriented solution was a popular mobile app that tracked real-time crypto market data called ZeroBlock. Held admits he stumbled through the building process, but created a solution to a problem he was experiencing. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just laser-focused on solving this problem.” To gain users for the app, Held employed a clever tactic. The FBI had recently seized funds from the Silk Road. The funds, being held in Bitcoin addresses, were trackable on the blockchain.info explorer. Held took advantage of being one of the earliest to see the wallets, alerting major news outlets about the FBI’s movement of the confiscated funds to new addresses. “I knew a bunch of eyeballs were about to land on that URL,” Held explains, so he sent tiny transactions worth pennies to the FBI’s wallet with a simple marketing message: “Download ZeroBlock, the number one app in the app store for crypto trading.” He figures he spent around two dollars in “advertising” to gain over 2,000 app installs. Along with a few other growth hacks, Held’s ZeroBlock app found success as a simple but useful product. It was soon picked up by Blockchain, where Held acted as director of product. Held kept his rebellious streak going during his time at Blockchain, using guerilla advertising tactics to invigorate his customer base. In 2014, a Reddit post based on a Blockchain press release criticized Apple’s rampant Bitcoin wallet banning practices. The post stirred up intense emotions from readers, many of whom filmed themselves shooting their iPhones as an act of protest against the policy. In a subsequent press release, Held copied and pasted Steve Jobs’ classic “Here’s to the rebels” quote as an ironic rebuke against Apple’s stance. “That very much fit the early experience of crypto, which was rebellious.” Held feels this rebellious spirit has sadly faded. The early Bitcoin ethos, he says, was about “fighting the state and being free, being able to do what you want with your money and your body. That’s why Silk Road was popular.” Now, Held says, the space is diluted by distracting narratives like Crypto Kitties on the blockchain. “It feels a bit more silly because the original focus was so clear and distinct and revolutionary.” “People talk about ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be really boring if Bitcoin is the only thing that a blockchain is useful for?’ and I’m like, ‘Why? It’s a couple hundred trillion dollar total addressable market!’” “There’s nothing more important than money,” Held insists. “It’s the underpinning of all value in society.” Bitcoin, built for this singular purpose that solves a crucial problem: building an immutable store of value. The early innovators were looking at the crypto space as a revolution, Held says. “We thought we might get arrested. We didn’t know. There weren’t a lot of regulations back then. We weren’t sure if the state was going to clamp down really hard immediately and go ‘we want to squash this.’” Now, the industry is filled with opportunists looking for a quick exit, Held says. But one key narrative lives on: Bitcoin as digital gold. After a brief period working on social media micropayments with a company called ChangeTip that was acquired by Airbnb, Held moved on to another effort in decentralization outside the crypto space: Uber. The growth team at Uber was composed of a legendary team, Held says. The ex-Amazon and ex-Facebook project managers collected to lead the company were masters of execution. Under their leadership, Held developed a data-driven growth mindset that has shaped his work since that time.  Uber broke taxi laws in every city it launched in, Held says. “Uber was fiercely libertarian. It was data-driven meritocracy, focused on, ‘Let’s go, execute and build at all costs.’” “I loved that we were like, ‘Oh, that law? Why does it exist? What if we break that law?’ Laws aren’t inherently moral. They just exist. That’s what drew me to it.” Equipped with his newfound skills, Held carried over his growth mindset and libertarian passions to Interchange, an accounting tool for institutional trading firms. Returning to crypto at the peak of the ICO craze in 2017, he was baffled to see an industry that was “devoid of any product-thinking.” People were busily building fancy tech and then looking for a problem to retrofit to their products. Held estimates that more than 99% of the projects had little to no grasp of product management.  “Ultimately, a product has to solve a problem for someone… Most engineers build shiny things looking for a problem. When you attach speculation to that, things can get pretty wild pretty quick.” As the narrative shifted away from ICOs, Interchange was acquired by Kraken, where an independent spirit remains alive and well today. Held came on board in a business development role, but shifted over to growth lead, removing points of friction for new users and optimizing the onboarding process.  Held exhibits another interesting dichotomy in his work at Kraken. While he is a self-proclaimed Bitcoin realist, he embraces the libertarian principle of enabling others to freely choose their investment and trading practices. “I’ve been tasked with helping weave growth principles into product with the objective of increasing trading volume. Publicly, with my own personal brand, I’m a hodl guy — buy and hodl.” “Someone who works at an ice cream store doesn’t have to like every flavor. They might prefer chocolate or vanilla.” Held says he is concentrating on the performance of Kraken regardless of Bitcoin. He strives to layer in Bitcoin whenever he can, making it easier to understand and surfacing content inside the app that can explain the value of Bitcoin to users.  Held is steadfast in his defense of the principle of Bitcoin, not blockchain. The genius of Bitcoin, Held explains, is its ability to be Gold 2.0. It solves this particular problem very well. “When people look at blockchains, sure they might be useful for a few other things, but they’re inherently bad at doing almost everything.” “I’m still obsessed and I’m still a huge Bitcoin believer… I think it’s cool people want to try new things, but I’m pretty focused on Bitcoin and I’m going to defend Bitcoin.” This staunch defense of Bitcoin brought Held considerable fame in the public space. A bevy of frustrated tweetstorms and a broad range of articles argued against efforts to undermine confidence in Bitcoin. Held set out to dismantle a series of what he considered to be intellectually dishonest arguments.  “In 2018, I started writing about these things that just nagged me, like the concept that hodlers were free-riders. That triggered me to start writing.” Hodlers, Held wrote, are the revolutionaries. It’s not just about making a cheap alternative to PayPal, Held says. It’s about changing the world. “I’m going to defend it. I will write articles that will adequately explain a good rational defense of certain attributes of Bitcoin. I do it because I think it’s our best shot at freeing humankind.” Held believes that economies are nearing a tipping point where the whole world will reject government money in favor of Bitcoin. “As long as people want to preserve value, I think Bitcoin will win.” If Bitcoin fails, Held says, there isn’t an alternative that will simply take its place. Bitcoin isn’t just code, he says, it’s a belief. “It’s not like all that faith and trust that’s built into the Bitcoin ledger is instantly transferable. That dies forever. That fundamentally impacts every other chain, too.” Now, Held is dedicated to growth in his work at Kraken and to defending Bitcoin in his public life. He will soon launch his own YouTube channel with evergreen content to introduce viewers to the value proposition of Bitcoin and to basic principles of monetary freedom. “You can’t have freedom over your body if you don’t have freedom over your money. Your money is an extension of your body. You spent time and energy using your body to generate that money. It’s a compression of all of your life’s energy.” “The preservation of that wealth — the ability to store that wealth and transfer it to anyone you’d like — is a natural human right.”

but managed to ensure that they were laid waste altogether. With billions of people isolated in their homes across the world with nothing but their screens to help them socialize, teach, learn, and work, many are discovering that digital relationships are a poor substitute for flesh and blood connections. We have gorged too much, too mindlessly, on this thing that ultimately doesn’t serve us awfully well, it seems; the only way forward is to deny, absolve ourselves, and repeat.BOOKS IN REVIEW

Xiaowei Wang’s Blockchain Chicken Farm: And Other Stories of Tech in China’s Countryside arrives in our oversaturated digital moment as a welcome reprieve, reminding us that there is more to technology than our thumbs hovering over our phones, unable to escape ourselves. Wang, who is the creative director at Logic magazine, visited a number of new businesses across China’s countryside during the past year to document the ways in which rural towns have become the engines of global consumer capitalism. Technology is steadily changing how work is done in these far-flung places. In a village in the southern province of Guizhou, chickens are tracked with Fitbit-like ankle bracelets; a 25-year-old man in the eastern province of Anhui remotely controls drones that spray pesticides on crops all over the country; in the southwest, small communities are being turned into manufacturing zones for online shopping.

Stories about technology, Wang (who uses “they”/”them” pronouns) writes, often focus on cities, influenced by the bias of what theorist Jack Halberstam has deemed “metronormativity.” While metronormativity posits that “rural culture and rural people are backward” subjects who must be “saved” by “internet, technology, and media literacy,” Wang’s travels show the centrality of China’s countryside to global life. What does it mean to hold on to the binaries of “rural versus urban, natural versus man-made, digital versus physical” at a time when—as one of Wang’s case studies shows—nearly all the Halloween costumes worn by children in suburban America come from one tiny remote village in western China? It is only by bringing the supposed periphery into the center that we can begin to unpack the ties that bind us and see the systems that make our lives tick.

Many Western narratives about contemporary China draw on the language of contradictions: the “gleaming skyscrapers alongside ramshackle food stalls, the chaos of crowds tracked by surveillance cameras, the steam of a wok reflecting the blue light of an iPhone.” Wang finds this play with predetermined symbols unsatisfactory; they deliver myth at the expense of actual insight. “I know you’re here writing about a book about Chinese technology, but the only way to understand China’s future is through its past,” the author’s great-uncle, a former doorboy at a local Western restaurant who is still haunted by memories of famine in the nation, tells Wang.

The countryside commands a mythic status in the narrative of the modern Chinese state. During the civil war with the Nationalists from 1927 to 1949, Mao Zedong had strongholds in rural areas and mobilized peasants to “encircle cities from the countryside”; when he established the People’s Republic of China in 1949, he made the countryside the site of his agrarian-centered revolution. As power has flowed to the cities over recent decades, resentments have accrued around the hukou system, a government household registration system that disincentivizes people from migrating by limiting their access to social benefits to which they would be entitled elsewhere, such as education and insurance. But mass migration to the cities for better jobs continues regardless.

Economists warn that China now faces an “agrarian transition,” which could further accelerate migration to urban sites as small-scale farming is supplanted by industrialized agriculture. In 2010, a state-affiliated think tank identified China’s 750 million rural workers—particularly dissatisfied younger workers living on the margins of a city—as a key threat to the government’s legitimacy: “Policy-making must confront the pressing reality that migrant workers now dominated by a younger generation will remain in towns and cities.” The government, in response, has spurred efforts to construct a “new socialist countryside” over the past decade, marshaling technology giants to develop a place, Wang writes, “filled with peasants starting e-commerce businesses, small-scale manufacturing, new data centers, and young entrepreneurial workers returning to their rural homes.”

The titular blockchain chicken farm is one such effort to forge a new countryside, itself doubling as a way to cool down social discontent about food safety. This is a perennial concern in China: headlines over the years have warned of human hair being ground up in soy sauce and bubble tea balls being made with plastic peas. In the quiet Sanqiao village, two hours from the southwest megacity of Chongqing, farmer Jiang oversees the local blockchain chicken operation in his area. Launched by Lianmo Technology, the project affixes free-range chickens with a tamper-proof ankle bracelet that tracks their steps and location, logging this information through a blockchain ledger, which provides data on the chickens in an efficient format. Chickens are further tested every two weeks for the presence of illegal antibiotics. A QR code affixed to each ankle bracelet takes the (largely middle-class) consumers to a website where they can see the data of the chicken’s life cycle and be assured that the chicken they are consuming is sufficiently free-range. Although the project’s future is uncertain—last year, Lianmo ordered 6,000 blockchain chickens, but there is no such order this year—Jiang remains optimistic, Wang reports. But the problem is, Jiang continues, that while his region is remote, pollution-free, and enjoys fresh air and clean soil, “the villagers don’t quite know how to put a dollar value on that.”

Blockchain, now hailed as a way to ensure social trust, ironically has its roots in a paranoid way of thinking. We can’t trust institutions, and every system will have bad actors, the thinking goes, so why not create a decentralized “ledger” where records are distributed and synced among many people—in the case of the blockchain chickens, they include the farmers, the inspectors, and the consumers—ideally making the project impervious to a single effort to sabotage it? But as Wang observes, “technical systems are legible only to a select few,” and judging by the audiences of the bitcoin conferences held in California, these few are overwhelmingly white and male.

A similar hierarchy is evident in a conference for a high-tech drone company that Wang attends in the southern city of Guangzhou; investors and venture capitalists sit at the very front, followed by engineers and bored-looking journalists, with drone operators at the back. This typifies a paradox inherent in many tech circles today: “utopian” projects are undergirded by ideologies that have little faith in people, ushered through by rigidly hierarchical businesses, and they run on systems that are so, complex and esoteric that any avowed commitment to a democratic ideal feels thin. Moreover, the goals they chase, which involve a complete “connection” of the world’s people, optimized control of global supply chains, and the synthetic generation of social trust mediated by a surveillance complex, will always remain mere illusions. The pandemic has shown us how easily the vast sprawling machinery of our lives can collapse in the face of an aberrant threat.

It has also led to a ramping up of tensions between the United States and China. Blockchain Chicken Farm is more interested in seeing what unites the citizens of the two countries than what distinguishes them from each other. A brief visit to a facial recognition company in Beijing, an account that would have benefited from further detail given rising concern about China’s surveillance apparatus, finds Wang expecting to encounter a sinister, Soviet-like den. “[I]nstead, I was met with a total indifferent openness combined with the dry, surgical threat of a nondisclosure agreement. It didn’t remind me of Silicon Valley; it was Silicon Valley.”

And like Silicon Valley, the language of the hustle is everywhere. When visiting Sanqiao village, Wang chances upon a large red banner strewn across a local hospital that announces “Being lazy is a disgrace. Being self-reliant leads to strength,” a slogan that is “eerily reminiscent of several American values: Don’t be lazy. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.” Wang later visits an oyster farm near the coastal province of Zhejiang, where they meet an entrepreneur who runs a global pearl business. The oysters that yield the pearls are packed up and sealed, then flown halfway across the world to America. Their pearls are sold by cheery white women influencers on Instagram via live “unshucking” videos. These influencers often hail from North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, and other places with some of the highest unemployment figures in the United States and are “consultants” for various Multilevel Marketing schemes (MLMs). They have bought the oysters at a hefty price and must offload them quickly to avoid spiraling into debt: “direct selling is not the cheerful respite from life it appears to be in ads, but a kind of desperate grab at survival.” Technology, along with globalization, has evidently helped to connect the world, but such connection feels overwhelmingly like a mutual race to the bottom for ever diminishing profits. It’s unsettling how what looks like joyful self-empowerment can edge so close to its opposite.

Discussions about tech, Wang writes, are often “caught in a long list of binaries: Tech is dehumanizing, tech brings liberation. Tech dragged the world into the mess it’s in, tech frees it from this mess.” Can we ever break out of the binaries? Wang’s cautiously optimistic approach advocates for the messy, imperfect power of being human: that an algorithm or data can never sum up who you are and will become; that technology, when harnessed properly, can one day serve open systems. It is also telling that one of Wang’s last case studies, concerning a group of countercultural nihilist Chinese youth known as shehui ren, those who believe they cannot advance to the “upper-middle-class life promised to them in advertisements” and who reject conventional values of jobs, marriages, and families, turn to live-streaming platforms and lifestyles that valorize the hustle.

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or Xiaowei Wang’s Blockchain Chicken Farm: And Other Stories of Tech in China’s Countryside arrives in our oversaturated digital moment as a welcome reprieve, reminding us that there is more to technology than our thumbs hovering over our phones, unable to escape ourselves. Wang, who is the creative director at Logic magazine, visited a number of new businesses across China’s countryside during the past year to document the ways in which rural towns have become the engines of global consumer capitalism. Technology is steadily changing how work is done in these far-flung places. In a village in the southern province of Guizhou, chickens are tracked with Fitbit-like ankle bracelets; a 25-year-old man in the eastern province of Anhui remotely controls drones that spray pesticides on crops all over the country; in the southwest, small communities are being turned into manufacturing zones for online shopping.

Stories about technology, Wang (who uses “they”/”them” pronouns) writes, often focus on cities, influenced by the bias of what theorist Jack Halberstam has deemed “metronormativity.” While metronormativity posits that “rural culture and rural people are backward” subjects who must be “saved” by “internet, technology, and media literacy,” Wang’s travels show the centrality of China’s countryside to global life. What does it mean to hold on to the binaries of “rural versus urban, natural versus man-made, digital versus physical” at a time when—as one of Wang’s case studies shows—nearly all the Halloween costumes worn by children in suburban America come from one tiny remote village in western China? It is only by bringing the supposed periphery into the center that we can begin to unpack the ties that bind us and see the systems that make our lives tick.

Many Western narratives about contemporary China draw on the language of contradictions: the “gleaming skyscrapers alongside ramshackle food stalls, the chaos of crowds tracked by surveillance cameras, the steam of a wok reflecting the blue light of an iPhone.” Wang finds this play with predetermined symbols unsatisfactory; they deliver myth at the expense of actual insight. “I know you’re here writing about a book about Chinese technology, but the only way to understand China’s future is through its past,” the author’s great-uncle, a former doorboy at a local Western restaurant who is still haunted by memories of famine in the nation, tells Wang.

The countryside commands a mythic status in the narrative of the modern Chinese state. During the civil war with the Nationalists from 1927 to 1949, Mao Zedong had strongholds in rural areas and mobilized peasants to “encircle cities from the countryside”; when he established the People’s Republic of China in 1949, he made the countryside the site of his agrarian-centered revolution. As power has flowed to the cities over recent decades, resentments have accrued around the hukou system, a government household registration system that disincentivizes people from migrating by limiting their access to social benefits to which they would be entitled elsewhere, such as education and insurance. But mass migration to the cities for better jobs continues regardless.

Economists warn that China now faces an “agrarian transition,” which could further accelerate migration to urban sites as small-scale farming is supplanted by industrialized agriculture. In 2010, a state-affiliated think tank identified China’s 750 million rural workers—particularly dissatisfied younger workers living on the margins of a city—as a key threat to the government’s legitimacy: “Policy-making must confront the pressing reality that migrant workers now dominated by a younger generation will remain in towns and cities.” The government, in response, has spurred efforts to construct a “new socialist countryside” over the past decade, marshaling technology giants to develop a place, Wang writes, “filled with peasants starting e-commerce businesses, small-scale manufacturing, new data centers, and young entrepreneurial workers returning to their rural homes.”

The titular blockchain chicken farm is one such effort to forge a new countryside, itself doubling as a way to cool down social discontent about food safety. This is a perennial concern in China: headlines over the years have warned of human hair being ground up in soy sauce and bubble tea balls being made with plastic peas. In the quiet Sanqiao village, two hours from the southwest megacity of Chongqing, farmer Jiang oversees the local blockchain chicken operation in his area. Launched by Lianmo Technology, the project affixes free-range chickens with a tamper-proof ankle bracelet that tracks their steps and location, logging this information through a blockchain ledger, which provides data on the chickens in an efficient format. Chickens are further tested every two weeks for the presence of illegal antibiotics. A QR code affixed to each ankle bracelet takes the (largely middle-class) consumers to a website where they can see the data of the chicken’s life cycle and be assured that the chicken they are consuming is sufficiently free-range. Although the project’s future is uncertain—last year, Lianmo ordered 6,000 blockchain chickens, but there is no such order this year—Jiang remains optimistic, Wang reports. But the problem is, Jiang continues, that while his region is remote, pollution-free, and enjoys fresh air and clean soil, “the villagers don’t quite know how to put a dollar value on that.”

Blockchain, now hailed as a way to ensure social trust, ironically has its roots in a paranoid way of thinking. We can’t trust institutions, and every system will have bad actors, the thinking goes, so why not create a decentralized “ledger” where records are distributed and synced among many people—in the case of the blockchain chickens, they include the farmers, the inspectors, and the consumers—ideally making the project impervious to a single effort to sabotage it? But as Wang observes, “technical systems are legible only to a select few,” and judging by the audiences of the bitcoin conferences held in California, these few are overwhelmingly white and male.

A similar hierarchy is evident in a conference for a high-tech drone company that Wang attends in the southern city of Guangzhou; investors and venture capitalists sit at the very front, followed by engineers and bored-looking journalists, with drone operators at the back. This typifies a paradox inherent in many tech circles today: “utopian” projects are undergirded by ideologies that have little faith in people, ushered through by rigidly hierarchical businesses, and they run on systems that are so, complex and esoteric that any avowed commitment to a democratic ideal feels thin. Moreover, the goals they chase, which involve a complete “connection” of the world’s people, optimized control of global supply chains, and the synthetic generation of social trust mediated by a surveillance complex, will always remain mere illusions. The pandemic has shown us how easily the vast sprawling machinery of our lives can collapse in the face of an aberrant threat.

It has also led to a ramping up of tensions between the United States and China. Blockchain Chicken Farm is more interested in seeing what unites the citizens of the two countries than what distinguishes them from each other. A brief visit to a facial recognition company in Beijing, an account that would have benefited from further detail given rising concern about China’s surveillance apparatus, finds Wang expecting to encounter a sinister, Soviet-like den. “[I]nstead, I was met with a total indifferent openness combined with the dry, surgical threat of a nondisclosure agreement. It didn’t remind me of Silicon Valley; it was Silicon Valley.”

And like Silicon Valley, the language of the hustle is everywhere. When visiting Sanqiao village, Wang chances upon a large red banner strewn across a local hospital that announces “Being lazy is a disgrace. Being self-reliant leads to strength,” a slogan that is “eerily reminiscent of several American values: Don’t be lazy. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.” Wang later visits an oyster farm near the coastal province of Zhejiang, where they meet an entrepreneur who runs a global pearl business. The oysters that yield the pearls are packed up and sealed, then flown halfway across the world to America. Their pearls are sold by cheery white women influencers on Instagram via live “unshucking” videos. These influencers often hail from North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, and other places with some of the highest unemployment figures in the United States and are “consultants” for various Multilevel Marketing schemes (MLMs). They have bought the oysters at a hefty price and must offload them quickly to avoid spiraling into debt: “direct selling is not the cheerful respite from life it appears to be in ads, but a kind of desperate grab at survival.” Technology, along with globalization, has evidently helped to connect the world, but such connection feels overwhelmingly like a mutual race to the bottom for ever diminishing profits. It’s unsettling how what looks like joyful self-empowerment can edge so close to its opposite.

Discussions about tech, Wang writes, are often “caught in a long list of binaries: Tech is dehumanizing, tech brings liberation. Tech dragged the world into the mess it’s in, tech frees it from this mess.” Can we ever break out of the binaries? Wang’s cautiously optimistic approach advocates for the messy, imperfect power of being human: that an algorithm or data can never sum up who you are and will become; that technology, when harnessed properly, can one day serve open systems. It is also telling that one of Wang’s last case studies, concerning a group of countercultural nihilist Chinese youth known as shehui ren, those who believe they cannot advance to the “upper-middle-class life promised to them in advertisements” and who reject conventional values of jobs, marriages, and families, turn to live-streaming platforms and lifestyles that valorize the hustle.

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or ies about technology, Wang (who uses “they”/”them” pronouns) writes, often focus on cities, influenced by the bias of what theorist Jack Halberstam has deemed “metronormativity.” While metronormativity posits that “rural culture and rural people are backward” subjects who must be “saved” by “internet, technology, and media literacy,” Wang’s travels show the centrality of China’s countryside to global life. What does it mean to hold on to the binaries of “rural versus urban, natural versus man-made, digital versus physical” at a time when—as one of Wang’s case studies shows—nearly all the Halloween costumes worn by children in suburban America come from one tiny remote village in western China? It is only by bringing the supposed periphery into the center that we can begin to unpack the ties that bind us and see the systems that make our lives tick.

Many Western narratives about contemporary China draw on the language of contradictions: the “gleaming skyscrapers alongside ramshackle food stalls, the chaos of crowds tracked by surveillance cameras, the steam of a wok reflecting the blue light of an iPhone.” Wang finds this play with predetermined symbols unsatisfactory; they deliver myth at the expense of actual insight. “I know you’re here writing about a book about Chinese technology, but the only way to understand China’s future is through its past,” the author’s great-uncle, a former doorboy at a local Western restaurant who is still haunted by memories of famine in the nation, tells Wang.

The countryside commands a mythic status in the narrative of the modern Chinese state. During the civil war with the Nationalists from 1927 to 1949, Mao Zedong had strongholds in rural areas and mobilized peasants to “encircle cities from the countryside”; when he established the People’s Republic of China in 1949, he made the countryside the site of his agrarian-centered revolution. As power has flowed to the cities over recent decades, resentments have accrued around the hukou system, a government household registration system that disincentivizes people from migrating by limiting their access to social benefits to which they would be entitled elsewhere, such as education and insurance. But mass migration to the cities for better jobs continues regardless.

Economists warn that China now faces an “agrarian transition,” which could further accelerate migration to urban sites as small-scale farming is supplanted by industrialized agriculture. In 2010, a state-affiliated think tank identified China’s 750 million rural workers—particularly dissatisfied younger workers living on the margins of a city—as a key threat to the government’s legitimacy: “Policy-making must confront the pressing reality that migrant workers now dominated by a younger generation will remain in towns and cities.” The government, in response, has spurred efforts to construct a “new socialist countryside” over the past decade, marshaling technology giants to develop a place, Wang writes, “filled with peasants starting e-commerce businesses, small-scale manufacturing, new data centers, and young entrepreneurial workers returning to their rural homes.”

The titular blockchain chicken farm is one such effort to forge a new countryside, itself doubling as a way to cool down social discontent about food safety. This is a perennial concern in China: headlines over the years have warned of human hair being ground up in soy sauce and bubble tea balls being made with plastic peas. In the quiet Sanqiao village, two hours from the southwest megacity of Chongqing, farmer Jiang oversees the local blockchain chicken operation in his area. Launched by Lianmo Technology, the project affixes free-range chickens with a tamper-proof ankle bracelet that tracks their steps and location, logging this information through a blockchain ledger, which provides data on the chickens in an efficient format. Chickens are further tested every two weeks for the presence of illegal antibiotics. A QR code affixed to each ankle bracelet takes the (largely middle-class) consumers to a website where they can see the data of the chicken’s life cycle and be assured that the chicken they are consuming is sufficiently free-range. Although the project’s future is uncertain—last year, Lianmo ordered 6,000 blockchain chickens, but there is no such order this year—Jiang remains optimistic, Wang reports. But the problem is, Jiang continues, that while his region is remote, pollution-free, and enjoys fresh air and clean soil, “the villagers don’t quite know how to put a dollar value on that.”

Blockchain, now hailed as a way to ensure social trust, ironically has its roots in a paranoid way of thinking. We can’t trust institutions, and every system will have bad actors, the thinking goes, so why not create a decentralized “ledger” where records are distributed and synced among many people—in the case of the blockchain chickens, they include the farmers, the inspectors, and the consumers—ideally making the project impervious to a single effort to sabotage it? But as Wang observes, “technical systems are legible only to a select few,” and judging by the audiences of the bitcoin conferences held in California, these few are overwhelmingly white and male.

A similar hierarchy is evident in a conference for a high-tech drone company that Wang attends in the southern city of Guangzhou; investors and venture capitalists sit at the very front, followed by engineers and bored-looking journalists, with drone operators at the back. This typifies a paradox inherent in many tech circles today: “utopian” projects are undergirded by ideologies that have little faith in people, ushered through by rigidly hierarchical businesses, and they run on systems that are so, complex and esoteric that any avowed commitment to a democratic ideal feels thin. Moreover, the goals they chase, which involve a complete “connection” of the world’s people, optimized control of global supply chains, and the synthetic generation of social trust mediated by a surveillance complex, will always remain mere illusions. The pandemic has shown us how easily the vast sprawling machinery of our lives can collapse in the face of an aberrant threat.

It has also led to a ramping up of tensions between the United States and China. Blockchain Chicken Farm is more interested in seeing what unites the citizens of the two countries than what distinguishes them from each other. A brief visit to a facial recognition company in Beijing, an account that would have benefited from further detail given rising concern about China’s surveillance apparatus, finds Wang expecting to encounter a sinister, Soviet-like den. “[I]nstead, I was met with a total indifferent openness combined with the dry, surgical threat of a nondisclosure agreement. It didn’t remind me of Silicon Valley; it was Silicon Valley.”

And like Silicon Valley, the language of the hustle is everywhere. When visiting Sanqiao village, Wang chances upon a large red banner strewn across a local hospital that announces “Being lazy is a disgrace. Being self-reliant leads to strength,” a slogan that is “eerily reminiscent of several American values: Don’t be lazy. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.” Wang later visits an oyster farm near the coastal province of Zhejiang, where they meet an entrepreneur who runs a global pearl business. The oysters that yield the pearls are packed up and sealed, then flown halfway across the world to America. Their pearls are sold by cheery white women influencers on Instagram via live “unshucking” videos. These influencers often hail from North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, and other places with some of the highest unemployment figures in the United States and are “consultants” for various Multilevel Marketing schemes (MLMs). They have bought the oysters at a hefty price and must offload them quickly to avoid spiraling into debt: “direct selling is not the cheerful respite from life it appears to be in ads, but a kind of desperate grab at survival.” Technology, along with globalization, has evidently helped to connect the world, but such connection feels overwhelmingly like a mutual race to the bottom for ever diminishing profits. It’s unsettling how what looks like joyful self-empowerment can edge so close to its opposite.

Discussions about tech, Wang writes, are often “caught in a long list of binaries: Tech is dehumanizing, tech brings liberation. Tech dragged the world into the mess it’s in, tech frees it from this mess.” Can we ever break out of the binaries? Wang’s cautiously optimistic approach advocates for the messy, imperfect power of being human: that an algorithm or data can never sum up who you are and will become; that technology, when harnessed properly, can one day serve open systems. It is also telling that one of Wang’s last case studies, concerning a group of countercultural nihilist Chinese youth known as shehui ren, those who believe they cannot advance to the “upper-middle-class life promised to them in advertisements” and who reject conventional values of jobs, marriages, and families, turn to live-streaming platforms and lifestyles that valorize the hustle.

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or wanting.”

Many Western narratives about contemporary China draw on the language of contradictions: the “gleaming skyscrapers alongside ramshackle food stalls, the chaos of crowds tracked by surveillance cameras, the steam of a wok reflecting the blue light of an iPhone.” Wang finds this play with predetermined symbols unsatisfactory; they deliver myth at the expense of actual insight. “I know you’re here writing about a book about Chinese technology, but the only way to understand China’s future is through its past,” the author’s great-uncle, a former doorboy at a local Western restaurant who is still haunted by memories of famine in the nation, tells Wang.

The countryside commands a mythic status in the narrative of the modern Chinese state. During the civil war with the Nationalists from 1927 to 1949, Mao Zedong had strongholds in rural areas and mobilized peasants to “encircle cities from the countryside”; when he established the People’s Republic of China in 1949, he made the countryside the site of his agrarian-centered revolution. As power has flowed to the cities over recent decades, resentments have accrued around the hukou system, a government household registration system that disincentivizes people from migrating by limiting their access to social benefits to which they would be entitled elsewhere, such as education and insurance. But mass migration to the cities for better jobs continues regardless.

Economists warn that China now faces an “agrarian transition,” which could further accelerate migration to urban sites as small-scale farming is supplanted by industrialized agriculture. In 2010, a state-affiliated think tank identified China’s 750 million rural workers—particularly dissatisfied younger workers living on the margins of a city—as a key threat to the government’s legitimacy: “Policy-making must confront the pressing reality that migrant workers now dominated by a younger generation will remain in towns and cities.” The government, in response, has spurred efforts to construct a “new socialist countryside” over the past decade, marshaling technology giants to develop a place, Wang writes, “filled with peasants starting e-commerce businesses, small-scale manufacturing, new data centers, and young entrepreneurial workers returning to their rural homes.”

The titular blockchain chicken farm is one such effort to forge a new countryside, itself doubling as a way to cool down social discontent about food safety. This is a perennial concern in China: headlines over the years have warned of human hair being ground up in soy sauce and bubble tea balls being made with plastic peas. In the quiet Sanqiao village, two hours from the southwest megacity of Chongqing, farmer Jiang oversees the local blockchain chicken operation in his area. Launched by Lianmo Technology, the project affixes free-range chickens with a tamper-proof ankle bracelet that tracks their steps and location, logging this information through a blockchain ledger, which provides data on the chickens in an efficient format. Chickens are further tested every two weeks for the presence of illegal antibiotics. A QR code affixed to each ankle bracelet takes the (largely middle-class) consumers to a website where they can see the data of the chicken’s life cycle and be assured that the chicken they are consuming is sufficiently free-range. Although the project’s future is uncertain—last year, Lianmo ordered 6,000 blockchain chickens, but there is no such order this year—Jiang remains optimistic, Wang reports. But the problem is, Jiang continues, that while his region is remote, pollution-free, and enjoys fresh air and clean soil, “the villagers don’t quite know how to put a dollar value on that.”

Blockchain, now hailed as a way to ensure social trust, ironically has its roots in a paranoid way of thinking. We can’t trust institutions, and every system will have bad actors, the thinking goes, so why not create a decentralized “ledger” where records are distributed and synced among many people—in the case of the blockchain chickens, they include the farmers, the inspectors, and the consumers—ideally making the project impervious to a single effort to sabotage it? But as Wang observes, “technical systems are legible only to a select few,” and judging by the audiences of the bitcoin conferences held in California, these few are overwhelmingly white and male.

A similar hierarchy is evident in a conference for a high-tech drone company that Wang attends in the southern city of Guangzhou; investors and venture capitalists sit at the very front, followed by engineers and bored-looking journalists, with drone operators at the back. This typifies a paradox inherent in many tech circles today: “utopian” projects are undergirded by ideologies that have little faith in people, ushered through by rigidly hierarchical businesses, and they run on systems that are so, complex and esoteric that any avowed commitment to a democratic ideal feels thin. Moreover, the goals they chase, which involve a complete “connection” of the world’s people, optimized control of global supply chains, and the synthetic generation of social trust mediated by a surveillance complex, will always remain mere illusions. The pandemic has shown us how easily the vast sprawling machinery of our lives can collapse in the face of an aberrant threat.

It has also led to a ramping up of tensions between the United States and China. Blockchain Chicken Farm is more interested in seeing what unites the citizens of the two countries than what distinguishes them from each other. A brief visit to a facial recognition company in Beijing, an account that would have benefited from further detail given rising concern about China’s surveillance apparatus, finds Wang expecting to encounter a sinister, Soviet-like den. “[I]nstead, I was met with a total indifferent openness combined with the dry, surgical threat of a nondisclosure agreement. It didn’t remind me of Silicon Valley; it was Silicon Valley.”

And like Silicon Valley, the language of the hustle is everywhere. When visiting Sanqiao village, Wang chances upon a large red banner strewn across a local hospital that announces “Being lazy is a disgrace. Being self-reliant leads to strength,” a slogan that is “eerily reminiscent of several American values: Don’t be lazy. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.” Wang later visits an oyster farm near the coastal province of Zhejiang, where they meet an entrepreneur who runs a global pearl business. The oysters that yield the pearls are packed up and sealed, then flown halfway across the world to America. Their pearls are sold by cheery white women influencers on Instagram via live “unshucking” videos. These influencers often hail from North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, and other places with some of the highest unemployment figures in the United States and are “consultants” for various Multilevel Marketing schemes (MLMs). They have bought the oysters at a hefty price and must offload them quickly to avoid spiraling into debt: “direct selling is not the cheerful respite from life it appears to be in ads, but a kind of desperate grab at survival.” Technology, along with globalization, has evidently helped to connect the world, but such connection feels overwhelmingly like a mutual race to the bottom for ever diminishing profits. It’s unsettling how what looks like joyful self-empowerment can edge so close to its opposite.

Discussions about tech, Wang writes, are often “caught in a long list of binaries: Tech is dehumanizing, tech brings liberation. Tech dragged the world into the mess it’s in, tech frees it from this mess.” Can we ever break out of the binaries? Wang’s cautiously optimistic approach advocates for the messy, imperfect power of being human: that an algorithm or data can never sum up who you are and will become; that technology, when harnessed properly, can one day serve open systems. It is also telling that one of Wang’s last case studies, concerning a group of countercultural nihilist Chinese youth known as shehui ren, those who believe they cannot advance to the “upper-middle-class life promised to them in advertisements” and who reject conventional values of jobs, marriages, and families, turn to live-streaming platforms and lifestyles that valorize the hustle.

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or wanting.”

The countryside commands a mythic status in the narrative of the modern Chinese state. During the civil war with the Nationalists from 1927 to 1949, Mao Zedong had strongholds in rural areas and mobilized peasants to “encircle cities from the countryside”; when he established the People’s Republic of China in 1949, he made the countryside the site of his agrarian-centered revolution. As power has flowed to the cities over recent decades, resentments have accrued around the hukou system, a government household registration system that disincentivizes people from migrating by limiting their access to social benefits to which they would be entitled elsewhere, such as education and insurance. But mass migration to the cities for better jobs continues regardless.

Economists warn that China now faces an “agrarian transition,” which could further accelerate migration to urban sites as small-scale farming is supplanted by industrialized agriculture. In 2010, a state-affiliated think tank identified China’s 750 million rural workers—particularly dissatisfied younger workers living on the margins of a city—as a key threat to the government’s legitimacy: “Policy-making must confront the pressing reality that migrant workers now dominated by a younger generation will remain in towns and cities.” The government, in response, has spurred efforts to construct a “new socialist countryside” over the past decade, marshaling technology giants to develop a place, Wang writes, “filled with peasants starting e-commerce businesses, small-scale manufacturing, new data centers, and young entrepreneurial workers returning to their rural homes.”

The titular blockchain chicken farm is one such effort to forge a new countryside, itself doubling as a way to cool down social discontent about food safety. This is a perennial concern in China: headlines over the years have warned of human hair being ground up in soy sauce and bubble tea balls being made with plastic peas. In the quiet Sanqiao village, two hours from the southwest megacity of Chongqing, farmer Jiang oversees the local blockchain chicken operation in his area. Launched by Lianmo Technology, the project affixes free-range chickens with a tamper-proof ankle bracelet that tracks their steps and location, logging this information through a blockchain ledger, which provides data on the chickens in an efficient format. Chickens are further tested every two weeks for the presence of illegal antibiotics. A QR code affixed to each ankle bracelet takes the (largely middle-class) consumers to a website where they can see the data of the chicken’s life cycle and be assured that the chicken they are consuming is sufficiently free-range. Although the project’s future is uncertain—last year, Lianmo ordered 6,000 blockchain chickens, but there is no such order this year—Jiang remains optimistic, Wang reports. But the problem is, Jiang continues, that while his region is remote, pollution-free, and enjoys fresh air and clean soil, “the villagers don’t quite know how to put a dollar value on that.”

Blockchain, now hailed as a way to ensure social trust, ironically has its roots in a paranoid way of thinking. We can’t trust institutions, and every system will have bad actors, the thinking goes, so why not create a decentralized “ledger” where records are distributed and synced among many people—in the case of the blockchain chickens, they include the farmers, the inspectors, and the consumers—ideally making the project impervious to a single effort to sabotage it? But as Wang observes, “technical systems are legible only to a select few,” and judging by the audiences of the bitcoin conferences held in California, these few are overwhelmingly white and male.

A similar hierarchy is evident in a conference for a high-tech drone company that Wang attends in the southern city of Guangzhou; investors and venture capitalists sit at the very front, followed by engineers and bored-looking journalists, with drone operators at the back. This typifies a paradox inherent in many tech circles today: “utopian” projects are undergirded by ideologies that have little faith in people, ushered through by rigidly hierarchical businesses, and they run on systems that are so, complex and esoteric that any avowed commitment to a democratic ideal feels thin. Moreover, the goals they chase, which involve a complete “connection” of the world’s people, optimized control of global supply chains, and the synthetic generation of social trust mediated by a surveillance complex, will always remain mere illusions. The pandemic has shown us how easily the vast sprawling machinery of our lives can collapse in the face of an aberrant threat.

It has also led to a ramping up of tensions between the United States and China. Blockchain Chicken Farm is more interested in seeing what unites the citizens of the two countries than what distinguishes them from each other. A brief visit to a facial recognition company in Beijing, an account that would have benefited from further detail given rising concern about China’s surveillance apparatus, finds Wang expecting to encounter a sinister, Soviet-like den. “[I]nstead, I was met with a total indifferent openness combined with the dry, surgical threat of a nondisclosure agreement. It didn’t remind me of Silicon Valley; it was Silicon Valley.”

And like Silicon Valley, the language of the hustle is everywhere. When visiting Sanqiao village, Wang chances upon a large red banner strewn across a local hospital that announces “Being lazy is a disgrace. Being self-reliant leads to strength,” a slogan that is “eerily reminiscent of several American values: Don’t be lazy. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.” Wang later visits an oyster farm near the coastal province of Zhejiang, where they meet an entrepreneur who runs a global pearl business. The oysters that yield the pearls are packed up and sealed, then flown halfway across the world to America. Their pearls are sold by cheery white women influencers on Instagram via live “unshucking” videos. These influencers often hail from North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, and other places with some of the highest unemployment figures in the United States and are “consultants” for various Multilevel Marketing schemes (MLMs). They have bought the oysters at a hefty price and must offload them quickly to avoid spiraling into debt: “direct selling is not the cheerful respite from life it appears to be in ads, but a kind of desperate grab at survival.” Technology, along with globalization, has evidently helped to connect the world, but such connection feels overwhelmingly like a mutual race to the bottom for ever diminishing profits. It’s unsettling how what looks like joyful self-empowerment can edge so close to its opposite.

Discussions about tech, Wang writes, are often “caught in a long list of binaries: Tech is dehumanizing, tech brings liberation. Tech dragged the world into the mess it’s in, tech frees it from this mess.” Can we ever break out of the binaries? Wang’s cautiously optimistic approach advocates for the messy, imperfect power of being human: that an algorithm or data can never sum up who you are and will become; that technology, when harnessed properly, can one day serve open systems. It is also telling that one of Wang’s last case studies, concerning a group of countercultural nihilist Chinese youth known as shehui ren, those who believe they cannot advance to the “upper-middle-class life promised to them in advertisements” and who reject conventional values of jobs, marriages, and families, turn to live-streaming platforms and lifestyles that valorize the hustle.

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or wanting.”

Economists warn that China now faces an “agrarian transition,” which could further accelerate migration to urban sites as small-scale farming is supplanted by industrialized agriculture. In 2010, a state-affiliated think tank identified China’s 750 million rural workers—particularly dissatisfied younger workers living on the margins of a city—as a key threat to the government’s legitimacy: “Policy-making must confront the pressing reality that migrant workers now dominated by a younger generation will remain in towns and cities.” The government, in response, has spurred efforts to construct a “new socialist countryside” over the past decade, marshaling technology giants to develop a place, Wang writes, “filled with peasants starting e-commerce businesses, small-scale manufacturing, new data centers, and young entrepreneurial workers returning to their rural homes.”

The titular blockchain chicken farm is one such effort to forge a new countryside, itself doubling as a way to cool down social discontent about food safety. This is a perennial concern in China: headlines over the years have warned of human hair being ground up in soy sauce and bubble tea balls being made with plastic peas. In the quiet Sanqiao village, two hours from the southwest megacity of Chongqing, farmer Jiang oversees the local blockchain chicken operation in his area. Launched by Lianmo Technology, the project affixes free-range chickens with a tamper-proof ankle bracelet that tracks their steps and location, logging this information through a blockchain ledger, which provides data on the chickens in an efficient format. Chickens are further tested every two weeks for the presence of illegal antibiotics. A QR code affixed to each ankle bracelet takes the (largely middle-class) consumers to a website where they can see the data of the chicken’s life cycle and be assured that the chicken they are consuming is sufficiently free-range. Although the project’s future is uncertain—last year, Lianmo ordered 6,000 blockchain chickens, but there is no such order this year—Jiang remains optimistic, Wang reports. But the problem is, Jiang continues, that while his region is remote, pollution-free, and enjoys fresh air and clean soil, “the villagers don’t quite know how to put a dollar value on that.”

Blockchain, now hailed as a way to ensure social trust, ironically has its roots in a paranoid way of thinking. We can’t trust institutions, and every system will have bad actors, the thinking goes, so why not create a decentralized “ledger” where records are distributed and synced among many people—in the case of the blockchain chickens, they include the farmers, the inspectors, and the consumers—ideally making the project impervious to a single effort to sabotage it? But as Wang observes, “technical systems are legible only to a select few,” and judging by the audiences of the bitcoin conferences held in California, these few are overwhelmingly white and male.

A similar hierarchy is evident in a conference for a high-tech drone company that Wang attends in the southern city of Guangzhou; investors and venture capitalists sit at the very front, followed by engineers and bored-looking journalists, with drone operators at the back. This typifies a paradox inherent in many tech circles today: “utopian” projects are undergirded by ideologies that have little faith in people, ushered through by rigidly hierarchical businesses, and they run on systems that are so, complex and esoteric that any avowed commitment to a democratic ideal feels thin. Moreover, the goals they chase, which involve a complete “connection” of the world’s people, optimized control of global supply chains, and the synthetic generation of social trust mediated by a surveillance complex, will always remain mere illusions. The pandemic has shown us how easily the vast sprawling machinery of our lives can collapse in the face of an aberrant threat.

It has also led to a ramping up of tensions between the United States and China. Blockchain Chicken Farm is more interested in seeing what unites the citizens of the two countries than what distinguishes them from each other. A brief visit to a facial recognition company in Beijing, an account that would have benefited from further detail given rising concern about China’s surveillance apparatus, finds Wang expecting to encounter a sinister, Soviet-like den. “[I]nstead, I was met with a total indifferent openness combined with the dry, surgical threat of a nondisclosure agreement. It didn’t remind me of Silicon Valley; it was Silicon Valley.”

And like Silicon Valley, the language of the hustle is everywhere. When visiting Sanqiao village, Wang chances upon a large red banner strewn across a local hospital that announces “Being lazy is a disgrace. Being self-reliant leads to strength,” a slogan that is “eerily reminiscent of several American values: Don’t be lazy. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.” Wang later visits an oyster farm near the coastal province of Zhejiang, where they meet an entrepreneur who runs a global pearl business. The oysters that yield the pearls are packed up and sealed, then flown halfway across the world to America. Their pearls are sold by cheery white women influencers on Instagram via live “unshucking” videos. These influencers often hail from North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, and other places with some of the highest unemployment figures in the United States and are “consultants” for various Multilevel Marketing schemes (MLMs). They have bought the oysters at a hefty price and must offload them quickly to avoid spiraling into debt: “direct selling is not the cheerful respite from life it appears to be in ads, but a kind of desperate grab at survival.” Technology, along with globalization, has evidently helped to connect the world, but such connection feels overwhelmingly like a mutual race to the bottom for ever diminishing profits. It’s unsettling how what looks like joyful self-empowerment can edge so close to its opposite.

Discussions about tech, Wang writes, are often “caught in a long list of binaries: Tech is dehumanizing, tech brings liberation. Tech dragged the world into the mess it’s in, tech frees it from this mess.” Can we ever break out of the binaries? Wang’s cautiously optimistic approach advocates for the messy, imperfect power of being human: that an algorithm or data can never sum up who you are and will become; that technology, when harnessed properly, can one day serve open systems. It is also telling that one of Wang’s last case studies, concerning a group of countercultural nihilist Chinese youth known as shehui ren, those who believe they cannot advance to the “upper-middle-class life promised to them in advertisements” and who reject conventional values of jobs, marriages, and families, turn to live-streaming platforms and lifestyles that valorize the hustle.

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or wanting.”

The titular blockchain chicken farm is one such effort to forge a new countryside, itself doubling as a way to cool down social discontent about food safety. This is a perennial concern in China: headlines over the years have warned of human hair being ground up in soy sauce and bubble tea balls being made with plastic peas. In the quiet Sanqiao village, two hours from the southwest megacity of Chongqing, farmer Jiang oversees the local blockchain chicken operation in his area. Launched by Lianmo Technology, the project affixes free-range chickens with a tamper-proof ankle bracelet that tracks their steps and location, logging this information through a blockchain ledger, which provides data on the chickens in an efficient format. Chickens are further tested every two weeks for the presence of illegal antibiotics. A QR code affixed to each ankle bracelet takes the (largely middle-class) consumers to a website where they can see the data of the chicken’s life cycle and be assured that the chicken they are consuming is sufficiently free-range. Although the project’s future is uncertain—last year, Lianmo ordered 6,000 blockchain chickens, but there is no such order this year—Jiang remains optimistic, Wang reports. But the problem is, Jiang continues, that while his region is remote, pollution-free, and enjoys fresh air and clean soil, “the villagers don’t quite know how to put a dollar value on that.”

Blockchain, now hailed as a way to ensure social trust, ironically has its roots in a paranoid way of thinking. We can’t trust institutions, and every system will have bad actors, the thinking goes, so why not create a decentralized “ledger” where records are distributed and synced among many people—in the case of the blockchain chickens, they include the farmers, the inspectors, and the consumers—ideally making the project impervious to a single effort to sabotage it? But as Wang observes, “technical systems are legible only to a select few,” and judging by the audiences of the bitcoin conferences held in California, these few are overwhelmingly white and male.

A similar hierarchy is evident in a conference for a high-tech drone company that Wang attends in the southern city of Guangzhou; investors and venture capitalists sit at the very front, followed by engineers and bored-looking journalists, with drone operators at the back. This typifies a paradox inherent in many tech circles today: “utopian” projects are undergirded by ideologies that have little faith in people, ushered through by rigidly hierarchical businesses, and they run on systems that are so, complex and esoteric that any avowed commitment to a democratic ideal feels thin. Moreover, the goals they chase, which involve a complete “connection” of the world’s people, optimized control of global supply chains, and the synthetic generation of social trust mediated by a surveillance complex, will always remain mere illusions. The pandemic has shown us how easily the vast sprawling machinery of our lives can collapse in the face of an aberrant threat.

It has also led to a ramping up of tensions between the United States and China. Blockchain Chicken Farm is more interested in seeing what unites the citizens of the two countries than what distinguishes them from each other. A brief visit to a facial recognition company in Beijing, an account that would have benefited from further detail given rising concern about China’s surveillance apparatus, finds Wang expecting to encounter a sinister, Soviet-like den. “[I]nstead, I was met with a total indifferent openness combined with the dry, surgical threat of a nondisclosure agreement. It didn’t remind me of Silicon Valley; it was Silicon Valley.”

And like Silicon Valley, the language of the hustle is everywhere. When visiting Sanqiao village, Wang chances upon a large red banner strewn across a local hospital that announces “Being lazy is a disgrace. Being self-reliant leads to strength,” a slogan that is “eerily reminiscent of several American values: Don’t be lazy. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.” Wang later visits an oyster farm near the coastal province of Zhejiang, where they meet an entrepreneur who runs a global pearl business. The oysters that yield the pearls are packed up and sealed, then flown halfway across the world to America. Their pearls are sold by cheery white women influencers on Instagram via live “unshucking” videos. These influencers often hail from North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, and other places with some of the highest unemployment figures in the United States and are “consultants” for various Multilevel Marketing schemes (MLMs). They have bought the oysters at a hefty price and must offload them quickly to avoid spiraling into debt: “direct selling is not the cheerful respite from life it appears to be in ads, but a kind of desperate grab at survival.” Technology, along with globalization, has evidently helped to connect the world, but such connection feels overwhelmingly like a mutual race to the bottom for ever diminishing profits. It’s unsettling how what looks like joyful self-empowerment can edge so close to its opposite.

Discussions about tech, Wang writes, are often “caught in a long list of binaries: Tech is dehumanizing, tech brings liberation. Tech dragged the world into the mess it’s in, tech frees it from this mess.” Can we ever break out of the binaries? Wang’s cautiously optimistic approach advocates for the messy, imperfect power of being human: that an algorithm or data can never sum up who you are and will become; that technology, when harnessed properly, can one day serve open systems. It is also telling that one of Wang’s last case studies, concerning a group of countercultural nihilist Chinese youth known as shehui ren, those who believe they cannot advance to the “upper-middle-class life promised to them in advertisements” and who reject conventional values of jobs, marriages, and families, turn to live-streaming platforms and lifestyles that valorize the hustle.

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or wanting.”

Blockchain, now hailed as a way to ensure social trust, ironically has its roots in a paranoid way of thinking. We can’t trust institutions, and every system will have bad actors, the thinking goes, so why not create a decentralized “ledger” where records are distributed and synced among many people—in the case of the blockchain chickens, they include the farmers, the inspectors, and the consumers—ideally making the project impervious to a single effort to sabotage it? But as Wang observes, “technical systems are legible only to a select few,” and judging by the audiences of the bitcoin conferences held in California, these few are overwhelmingly white and male.

A similar hierarchy is evident in a conference for a high-tech drone company that Wang attends in the southern city of Guangzhou; investors and venture capitalists sit at the very front, followed by engineers and bored-looking journalists, with drone operators at the back. This typifies a paradox inherent in many tech circles today: “utopian” projects are undergirded by ideologies that have little faith in people, ushered through by rigidly hierarchical businesses, and they run on systems that are so, complex and esoteric that any avowed commitment to a democratic ideal feels thin. Moreover, the goals they chase, which involve a complete “connection” of the world’s people, optimized control of global supply chains, and the synthetic generation of social trust mediated by a surveillance complex, will always remain mere illusions. The pandemic has shown us how easily the vast sprawling machinery of our lives can collapse in the face of an aberrant threat.

It has also led to a ramping up of tensions between the United States and China. Blockchain Chicken Farm is more interested in seeing what unites the citizens of the two countries than what distinguishes them from each other. A brief visit to a facial recognition company in Beijing, an account that would have benefited from further detail given rising concern about China’s surveillance apparatus, finds Wang expecting to encounter a sinister, Soviet-like den. “[I]nstead, I was met with a total indifferent openness combined with the dry, surgical threat of a nondisclosure agreement. It didn’t remind me of Silicon Valley; it was Silicon Valley.”

And like Silicon Valley, the language of the hustle is everywhere. When visiting Sanqiao village, Wang chances upon a large red banner strewn across a local hospital that announces “Being lazy is a disgrace. Being self-reliant leads to strength,” a slogan that is “eerily reminiscent of several American values: Don’t be lazy. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.” Wang later visits an oyster farm near the coastal province of Zhejiang, where they meet an entrepreneur who runs a global pearl business. The oysters that yield the pearls are packed up and sealed, then flown halfway across the world to America. Their pearls are sold by cheery white women influencers on Instagram via live “unshucking” videos. These influencers often hail from North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, and other places with some of the highest unemployment figures in the United States and are “consultants” for various Multilevel Marketing schemes (MLMs). They have bought the oysters at a hefty price and must offload them quickly to avoid spiraling into debt: “direct selling is not the cheerful respite from life it appears to be in ads, but a kind of desperate grab at survival.” Technology, along with globalization, has evidently helped to connect the world, but such connection feels overwhelmingly like a mutual race to the bottom for ever diminishing profits. It’s unsettling how what looks like joyful self-empowerment can edge so close to its opposite.

Discussions about tech, Wang writes, are often “caught in a long list of binaries: Tech is dehumanizing, tech brings liberation. Tech dragged the world into the mess it’s in, tech frees it from this mess.” Can we ever break out of the binaries? Wang’s cautiously optimistic approach advocates for the messy, imperfect power of being human: that an algorithm or data can never sum up who you are and will become; that technology, when harnessed properly, can one day serve open systems. It is also telling that one of Wang’s last case studies, concerning a group of countercultural nihilist Chinese youth known as shehui ren, those who believe they cannot advance to the “upper-middle-class life promised to them in advertisements” and who reject conventional values of jobs, marriages, and families, turn to live-streaming platforms and lifestyles that valorize the hustle.

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or wanting.”

A similar hierarchy is evident in a conference for a high-tech drone company that Wang attends in the southern city of Guangzhou; investors and venture capitalists sit at the very front, followed by engineers and bored-looking journalists, with drone operators at the back. This typifies a paradox inherent in many tech circles today: “utopian” projects are undergirded by ideologies that have little faith in people, ushered through by rigidly hierarchical businesses, and they run on systems that are so, complex and esoteric that any avowed commitment to a democratic ideal feels thin. Moreover, the goals they chase, which involve a complete “connection” of the world’s people, optimized control of global supply chains, and the synthetic generation of social trust mediated by a surveillance complex, will always remain mere illusions. The pandemic has shown us how easily the vast sprawling machinery of our lives can collapse in the face of an aberrant threat.

It has also led to a ramping up of tensions between the United States and China. Blockchain Chicken Farm is more interested in seeing what unites the citizens of the two countries than what distinguishes them from each other. A brief visit to a facial recognition company in Beijing, an account that would have benefited from further detail given rising concern about China’s surveillance apparatus, finds Wang expecting to encounter a sinister, Soviet-like den. “[I]nstead, I was met with a total indifferent openness combined with the dry, surgical threat of a nondisclosure agreement. It didn’t remind me of Silicon Valley; it was Silicon Valley.”

And like Silicon Valley, the language of the hustle is everywhere. When visiting Sanqiao village, Wang chances upon a large red banner strewn across a local hospital that announces “Being lazy is a disgrace. Being self-reliant leads to strength,” a slogan that is “eerily reminiscent of several American values: Don’t be lazy. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.” Wang later visits an oyster farm near the coastal province of Zhejiang, where they meet an entrepreneur who runs a global pearl business. The oysters that yield the pearls are packed up and sealed, then flown halfway across the world to America. Their pearls are sold by cheery white women influencers on Instagram via live “unshucking” videos. These influencers often hail from North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, and other places with some of the highest unemployment figures in the United States and are “consultants” for various Multilevel Marketing schemes (MLMs). They have bought the oysters at a hefty price and must offload them quickly to avoid spiraling into debt: “direct selling is not the cheerful respite from life it appears to be in ads, but a kind of desperate grab at survival.” Technology, along with globalization, has evidently helped to connect the world, but such connection feels overwhelmingly like a mutual race to the bottom for ever diminishing profits. It’s unsettling how what looks like joyful self-empowerment can edge so close to its opposite.

Discussions about tech, Wang writes, are often “caught in a long list of binaries: Tech is dehumanizing, tech brings liberation. Tech dragged the world into the mess it’s in, tech frees it from this mess.” Can we ever break out of the binaries? Wang’s cautiously optimistic approach advocates for the messy, imperfect power of being human: that an algorithm or data can never sum up who you are and will become; that technology, when harnessed properly, can one day serve open systems. It is also telling that one of Wang’s last case studies, concerning a group of countercultural nihilist Chinese youth known as shehui ren, those who believe they cannot advance to the “upper-middle-class life promised to them in advertisements” and who reject conventional values of jobs, marriages, and families, turn to live-streaming platforms and lifestyles that valorize the hustle.

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or wanting.”

It has also led to a ramping up of tensions between the United States and China. Blockchain Chicken Farm is more interested in seeing what unites the citizens of the two countries than what distinguishes them from each other. A brief visit to a facial recognition company in Beijing, an account that would have benefited from further detail given rising concern about China’s surveillance apparatus, finds Wang expecting to encounter a sinister, Soviet-like den. “[I]nstead, I was met with a total indifferent openness combined with the dry, surgical threat of a nondisclosure agreement. It didn’t remind me of Silicon Valley; it was Silicon Valley.”

And like Silicon Valley, the language of the hustle is everywhere. When visiting Sanqiao village, Wang chances upon a large red banner strewn across a local hospital that announces “Being lazy is a disgrace. Being self-reliant leads to strength,” a slogan that is “eerily reminiscent of several American values: Don’t be lazy. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.” Wang later visits an oyster farm near the coastal province of Zhejiang, where they meet an entrepreneur who runs a global pearl business. The oysters that yield the pearls are packed up and sealed, then flown halfway across the world to America. Their pearls are sold by cheery white women influencers on Instagram via live “unshucking” videos. These influencers often hail from North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, and other places with some of the highest unemployment figures in the United States and are “consultants” for various Multilevel Marketing schemes (MLMs). They have bought the oysters at a hefty price and must offload them quickly to avoid spiraling into debt: “direct selling is not the cheerful respite from life it appears to be in ads, but a kind of desperate grab at survival.” Technology, along with globalization, has evidently helped to connect the world, but such connection feels overwhelmingly like a mutual race to the bottom for ever diminishing profits. It’s unsettling how what looks like joyful self-empowerment can edge so close to its opposite.

Discussions about tech, Wang writes, are often “caught in a long list of binaries: Tech is dehumanizing, tech brings liberation. Tech dragged the world into the mess it’s in, tech frees it from this mess.” Can we ever break out of the binaries? Wang’s cautiously optimistic approach advocates for the messy, imperfect power of being human: that an algorithm or data can never sum up who you are and will become; that technology, when harnessed properly, can one day serve open systems. It is also telling that one of Wang’s last case studies, concerning a group of countercultural nihilist Chinese youth known as shehui ren, those who believe they cannot advance to the “upper-middle-class life promised to them in advertisements” and who reject conventional values of jobs, marriages, and families, turn to live-streaming platforms and lifestyles that valorize the hustle.

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or wanting.”

And like Silicon Valley, the language of the hustle is everywhere. When visiting Sanqiao village, Wang chances upon a large red banner strewn across a local hospital that announces “Being lazy is a disgrace. Being self-reliant leads to strength,” a slogan that is “eerily reminiscent of several American values: Don’t be lazy. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.” Wang later visits an oyster farm near the coastal province of Zhejiang, where they meet an entrepreneur who runs a global pearl business. The oysters that yield the pearls are packed up and sealed, then flown halfway across the world to America. Their pearls are sold by cheery white women influencers on Instagram via live “unshucking” videos. These influencers often hail from North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, and other places with some of the highest unemployment figures in the United States and are “consultants” for various Multilevel Marketing schemes (MLMs). They have bought the oysters at a hefty price and must offload them quickly to avoid spiraling into debt: “direct selling is not the cheerful respite from life it appears to be in ads, but a kind of desperate grab at survival.” Technology, along with globalization, has evidently helped to connect the world, but such connection feels overwhelmingly like a mutual race to the bottom for ever diminishing profits. It’s unsettling how what looks like joyful self-empowerment can edge so close to its opposite.

Discussions about tech, Wang writes, are often “caught in a long list of binaries: Tech is dehumanizing, tech brings liberation. Tech dragged the world into the mess it’s in, tech frees it from this mess.” Can we ever break out of the binaries? Wang’s cautiously optimistic approach advocates for the messy, imperfect power of being human: that an algorithm or data can never sum up who you are and will become; that technology, when harnessed properly, can one day serve open systems. It is also telling that one of Wang’s last case studies, concerning a group of countercultural nihilist Chinese youth known as shehui ren, those who believe they cannot advance to the “upper-middle-class life promised to them in advertisements” and who reject conventional values of jobs, marriages, and families, turn to live-streaming platforms and lifestyles that valorize the hustle.

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or wanting.”

Discussions about tech, Wang writes, are often “caught in a long list of binaries: Tech is dehumanizing, tech brings liberation. Tech dragged the world into the mess it’s in, tech frees it from this mess.” Can we ever break out of the binaries? Wang’s cautiously optimistic approach advocates for the messy, imperfect power of being human: that an algorithm or data can never sum up who you are and will become; that technology, when harnessed properly, can one day serve open systems. It is also telling that one of Wang’s last case studies, concerning a group of countercultural nihilist Chinese youth known as shehui ren, those who believe they cannot advance to the “upper-middle-class life promised to them in advertisements” and who reject conventional values of jobs, marriages, and families, turn to live-streaming platforms and lifestyles that valorize the hustle.

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or wanting.”

One of the shehui ren Wang profiles, a young livestreamer named Nicly, shuns conventional beliefs in the value of education and hard work. School, she says, is lame and boring; besides, only the already wealthy can get rich from the usual paths of social advancement. Instead, she hustles, selling face masks and perfume on her live videos. Counterculturalism, in Nicly’s worldview, is indistinguishable from materialism—an approach that further enriches the wealthy few while occasionally rewarding the lucky striver. You could condemn her personal choices, but the space for a genuine alternative diminishes by the day.

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or wanting.”

Much has been written of the domination that tech giants exact on virtually every aspect of our lives, but increasingly attention is being given to ways we can challenge this, whether through pushing for policy changes or deleting apps and accounts that weigh us down. Wang appeals, counterintuitively, for us to look at the way we relate to ourselves and to others offline, gently exhorting us to continually exercise awareness and care. It’s the sort of work that asks us to set aside the values circulated by technology today—the continual hustle to secure one’s future; the placement of self-image at the center of one’s universe; the glinting promise of easy reward—and sit with indeterminacy, the present, and the unglamorous duties we owe to one another. “The present moment promises nothing—it only demands,” Wang concludes. What’s left is “the tender, honest work of attempting to make meaning, instead of looking, waiting, or wanting.”

announced plans last year to introduce a cryptocurrency called libra, CNBC. In the light of such developments, it is evident that those who view crypto as an engine of freedom are losing control of the narrative. Also read: Why User Experience Is Cryptos True Killer AppThe Narrative That Powers Peer-to-Peer Digital CurrencyThe narrative is an important concept because those who command the narrative are most likely to determine the outcome. Once closely associated with political correctness, the term has gone mainstream in recent years. The narrative is the story of somethingan issue, an ideabut it is more than merely relating the facts of a matter. In postmodern philosophy, from which political correctness draws heavily, the narrative creates reality; it creates the facts. The dominant story becomes the culture and the truth of a society. In other words, the narrative defines reality, not vice versa. This is one reason why the left is so preoccupied with the control of words and ideas; words and ideas control reality itself.Most people use the narrative in a more casual way to mean a story that takes a specific approach or tone. Left-wing and right-wing narratives war with each other on issues, for example. Nevertheless, the term retains some of its original meaning. Giving context and interpretation to an issue does define what people view as true about it. In turn, the general publics perception does influence the events or facts that follow, especially in the absence of a competing narrative. This is why states censor: they want to eliminate competing truths.This process applies to crypto, including the blockchain. The narrative of freedom can define the outcome. When it becomes effective at doing so, censorship is likely; at the moment, there is no need. Again, those to whom crypto is an engine of freedom are losing control of the narrative. Few things are as important to the future of crypto than to reclaim Bitcoins original vision of financial freedom from what is becoming the dominant context and interpretation: statism.Freedom Through DecentralizationHappily, freedom enjoys a distinct advantage. The mechanics of crypto favor it strongly. Cryptos decentralization gives economic power to the average person who transfers wealth around the globe at will, requiring only the protection of solid encryption. And, yet, the state could win; some believe it already has. Crypto needs a powerful competing narrative of freedom. It needs to remember its roots. Much more than financial freedom is at stake: every other freedom rests upon the ability of people to control their own wealth. Every time some aspect of free-market crypto is explored, such a narrative expands and users move closer to independence.Establishing the NarrativeThe first step in establishing a narrative of freedom is to reject the claim that crypto is simply another investment or money-making tool. Certainly, this is one function of crypto. And for some people, it may be the only function. But this is a comment upon their psychology or motives, not upon the inherent nature of crypto which exists as a thing apart. The claim is also dangerous; it opens the door to state control because the vast majority of financial institutions are now under its authority in one form or another and using them tends to legitimize their existence. This is a story that needs to change.By far, the best freedom narrative for crypto is the truth because it withstands scrutiny and has the practical advantage of being backed by reality. The best approach to this narrative is to state the basics of crypto, simply and clearly. And then aggressively build upon them. Crypto is usually discussed in economic, political, or technical terms. But Aristotle claimed that all things are philosophical. That is, the foundation of everything, including technology, is philosophical because philosophy asks the most fundamental questions about a thing.The Philosophy of CryptoPhilosophy is not arcane or elite. Classical Greek philosophy used to serve the same function that psychology does today; it taught the principles of how to live a better life. Philosophy can be broken into three broad categories: metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Metaphysics deals with the first principles or nature of reality and the relationship between what exists, including abstractions. Epistemology is the theory of human knowledge, especially its acquisition, validation, and scope. Ethics is the branch of knowledge that addresses the moral principles governing behavior. Three questions capture the relationship between these categories. What exists? How do I know it? So what?The Philosophy of Crypto is a book-length project but a brief glimpse of it can be garnered by loosely applying the three categories of philosophy to crypto.Metaphysics. Metaphysics arises every time someone accuses crypto of not being real because it is based on nothing. This is a metaphysical attack as much as an economic or political one.These days, the accusation is not generally hurled at the blockchain which has been widely adopted by businesses and states. The blockchains elegant efficiency means that it will continue to spread into every corner of life. And useful things automatically acquire the status of real.The second half of cryptothe coinsis a different matter. Crypto without physical backing, such as gold or a basket of fiat currencies, is often called unreal. Clearly, this claim is untrue. At its root, crypto is an algorithma string of computer commands that produce a result. In this case, the result is a coin that is accepted as a medium of exchange. Whether or not people credit it as valid money, crypto is definitely real. As with fiat, its value is based upon peoples acceptance of it. Unlike fiat, the acceptance does not have to be coerced.Freedom From Mainstream FinanceIn his essay Bitcoin Equals Freedom,Ross Ulbricht pointed to another value upon which the something of crypto is basedfreedom from financial authorities, especially from central banks.It is like magic that Bitcoin could somehow come from nothing, and without prior value or authoritative decree, become money. But Bitcoin did not appear in a vacuum. It was a solution to a problem cryptographers had been struggling with for many years: How to create digital money with no central authority that couldnt be forged and could be trusted.Epistemology. What does truth mean in crypto, and how do human beings know it? The truth of crypto and the blockchain is that they work. The better they function, the truer they become. Human beings know when crypto and the blockchain are true because they work. Every time the blockchain delivers and preserves information, it is akin to a proof of principle.Ethics. The so what? of crypto is contained within its structure. Which is to say, the ethics of crypto is an extension of its reality (metaphysics) and how its truth works (epistemology). Crypto is inherently decentralized and entirely voluntary. More than this, the blockchain cannot be centralized and controlled by a single hand or authority, and no one can be forced to use it. Free-market crypto is controlled by individual users who agree to exchange and co-operate to mutual advantage. It is a pure expression of non-violence. This is its ethical basis.The only way to introduce violence is through crime, such as hacking a wallet. Overwhelmingly, the crime introduced is state control; even then, however, the state cannot impose its will on the blockchain, only on the people who use it. These people need to understand the narrative of freedom. Ulbrichts article concludes, The promise of freedom and the allure of destiny energized the early community. Bitcoin was consciously, yet spontaneously taken up as money while no one was watching, and our world will never be the same.Bitcoin was created to fulfill a promise of freedom and the allure of destiny. It was forged by cryptographers who did not know it would become a popular currency and investment. Its worth as money should never be denigrated, but those who view crypto only as money are missing the point. The narrative of freedom must do a better job of explaining. Op-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the authors own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article.Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see whats happening in the industry.Tags : anarchyfreedomop-edross ulbrichtstatism

fund of funds. We cover prevailing myths around industrial Bitcoin mining and the reality of sourcing energy at competitive prices for mining. In this episode:

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Nic Carter 0:00 Mustafa, welcome to the show. It’s such a pleasure to have you with us today.

Mustafa Yilham 0:07 Yes, thank you so much for having me today, Nic, really appreciate it.

Nic Carter 0:11 I’ve really been looking forward to this conversation. Actually, I think we’re gonna learn a lot about mining in particular. You’re a wealth of knowledge on the topic. So I’m super, super pumped. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your role at Bixin and your responsibilities over there? And also, tell us about Bixin too, because I don’t think Americans are sort of as familiar with it.

Mustafa Yilham 0:41 Sure, sure. So my current role at Bixin is vice president of global business development. And my main task, you know, is to help different subsidiaries on their Bixin group to expand internationally. And to tell you a bit more about Bixin mostly have two different business focus. One of them is Bixin wallet, and another is Bixin finance. We are one of the largest blockchain crypto wallet provider in Asia is I think, currently, 1 million registered users and Bixin wallet offer different services to its retail clients such as custody, escrow, trading, lending, payment, cloud mining, etc as part of its ecosystem. And at Bixin finance, we run two very large operation like Bixin mining and fund of fund. We currently manage around 300 megawatt of power roughly that’s currently equivalent to 2% of global Bitcoin network. We are also very early investor in Whatsminer which is one of the largest mining manufacturer. And on the fund of funds side, which we announced earlier this year. We currently have an asset under management around 7000 Bitcoin with the main purpose of investing in global crypto quant funds. And you know, the fund is completely Bitcoin denominated and also supported by our prop capital. And lastly, we also have $100 million fund that is focused on open finance venture investment. Previously, we invested in companies such as micro bt, whatsminer, nervos, algorand, arweave, etc. And, you know, our newest investment is to a $2 million Asia lead investment to Mina protocol, formerly known as Coda.

Nic Carter 2:40 That’s a lot of separate concerns within one institution. Mustafa.

Mustafa Yilham 2:45 Yes [laughs].

Nic Carter 2:46 I dont know how you manage it all. There’s so many things we can cover, maybe we can start with the Bitcoin denominated quant funds, because that totally blew my mind when I first heard about it. So the objective of that fund is to invest Bitcoin in sort of arbitrage for quant funds. And actually, you’re not targeting fiat returns, you’re targeting returns against your Bitcoin benchmark, right?

Mustafa Yilham 3:14 Yes, so the fund of fund is completely Bitcoin denominated. So we are targeting returns only in BTC. And you know, the main goal is to obviously increase our Bitcoin holding and at the same time hopefully provide liquidity to global Bitcoin network.

Nic Carter 3:37 Have you found that the managers that you approach have been amenable to using Bitcoin as the index and only kind of taking carry if they beat Bitcoin?

Mustafa Yilham 3:49 So I think that have a slight difference between quant fund in the West and Asia. And, you know, we we actually started investing in crypto fund quant funds since last year in China. And after we announced the news this year, we started to build more global presence on the investment side, in US, Europe, Russia, the Singapore. In China, most of the quant managers are very used to Bitcoin denominated terms when investing in crypto funds. And outside of China and most team we spoke to offered USD denominated terms. I think that’s mostly due to regulation and institutional investor preference that these teams are there are potential investors. But I think that’s like rapidly changing now, starting quarter two this year, more team actually have come back to us and told us, you know, they now have a Bitcoin denominated terms on more us teams we spoke to no also have a Bitcoin denominated terms.

Nic Carter 5:06 And so your perspective as an institution as you’re just interested in increasing your stock of bitcoins, as opposed to its value in fiat terms, because I guess in your view, that’s the most important thing is gradually growing your share of bitcoins. Kind of on your balance sheet is that right?

Mustafa Yilham 5:27 Yes. And you know, when we first announced the news, us it was a huge surprise to a lot of people. I think it was May where we put in right 6600 Bitcoin and at the time, you know, people were very surprised because this this portion is all hatched. It’s one zero Fiat 100% Bitcoin denominated, but you know, six months later now, the original value, I believe was around $66 million with 6600 Bitcoin now the asset under management is at 7000. Bitcoin with overall value in fiat value over $130 million at the fund of fund alone. So that’s like two x, then, I think now six months, and, you know, people start to change their view on whether it be a right decision or not,

Nic Carter 6:21 right. So as a as a firm, like bixin, you’re miners, but you’re not trying to actually hedge your exposure and be market neutral, you are sort of directionally long on Bitcoin, generally.

Mustafa Yilham 6:37 Generally, we are Bitcoin denominated. But you know, as a miner, we still have operational costs, such as electricity, labor costs, etc. So, you know, obviously, we do have a risk department that constantly ensure, you know, we are hedged to certain degree, but largely speaking, yes, we are very Bitcoin dominated.

Nic Carter 7:02 So, let’s talk about mining for a little bit. This is an topic of endless fascination for me, I think a lot of traders are paying attention to mining, there’s been a huge amount of chatter recently about miners not being able to sell their coins. So that was the rumor, at least, which I think you helped dispel a little bit on social media.

I think the one big question that people ponder is, you know, what is the effect of miner behavior behavior on Bitcoin cycles? You know, because there’s this one theory that, you know, miners have a pro cyclical effect on Bitcoin in terms of, they sort of hoard the coins that they’re mining during bull phases. And then in bear markets, they are forced to liquidate a lot of their coins. And so that actually adds to the sell pressure and bear market. So it sort of intensifies the price action in both directions. Is that kind of consistent with your experience? I mean, that’s definitely the popular narrative around miners. Is that does that align with what you’ve seen?

Mustafa Yilham 8:11 Yes, most miners are like this. But I think it’s very important to note that it has nothing to do is the situation that’s going on in China right now, it has always been like this, and this for a very similar reason. Because, you know, for most miner, after they invested a lot in purchasing mining machine and setting up operation, they don’t have a lot of extra capital just sitting there to pay for electricity. So they need to sell their Bitcoin to cover that. Now, obviously, during a bull market, you can sell less to cover your cost. So you can hold more Bitcoin and during the bear market, you know, our experiences that electricity cost can be as high as as high as 90%. So for most miners, you know, during the bear market, you would have to sell more to cover your cost. So I think that statement hold true. But again, it I don’t see it have anything to do with what’s going on in the China ecosystem currently.

Nic Carter 9:11 Right, right. Yeah, I didn’t mean to imply they’re related. Would you say just, as far as attitudes go, I mean, the entrepreneurs that set up mining farms, are they doing it because they want to accumulate as much Bitcoin as possible? Or are they doing it because they see an arbitrage and they feel that they can get they can mined Bitcoin more cheaply than the sort of median Bitcoin is mined, and they just want to play that arbitrage and they don’t really care about the asset in the long term.

Mustafa Yilham 9:40 Um, I think that really depends on different miners from our experience in China. Most large scale miners are very firm believers into bitcoin take Bixin as an example the founder actually started mining Bitcoin, I believe in 2009. And since then, himself and the firm have been a very firm believer into bitcoin and we are Bitcoin denominated, and I think there are other miners that hold different view and constantly liquidate their portfolio. So I think it really varies.

Nic Carter 10:25 Yeah. Yeah, that’s fair. So part of your mandate in your role is actually finding suitable electricity for mining. And this is another topic, which really fascinates people, because there’s all this chatter, you know, about, like, you want to have a cold climate and you want cheap electricity, you want sort of geopolitical stability and so on. But I figured I would ask you, you know, what are the traits you look for? In a, an energy, you know, center, you know, when you’re scouting for a suitable place to mine? What are sort of the key considerations for you?

Mustafa Yilham 11:08 Yeah, so when we are looking at different market to source electricity, I think the most important thing to note is that we’re looking for electricity surplus or waste energy. And to give you an example, China has a lot of electricity surplus during summer months, especially in the Sichuan region, which produce a lot of hydro power during the rainy season. So the price of electricity is much cheaper compared to you know, rest of the world. In addition, we also consider costs such as like logistic cost and labor costs. And we have also been paying attention to overseas market and already made some significant investment in Central Asia. And during the due diligence process of mining, farm investment, there are a few key factors we look for, such as energy type, price, voltage, and capacity, and location, geolocation. The price of electricity normally is the most important crucial component in crypto mining. And the voltage, you know, oftentimes determines our potential cost for infrastructure investment. I think in addition, we also pay very close attention to other factors such as local regulation, policy, taxations, governmental support, we also want to pay close attention to reliability of the local energy company, our local partners background. So I think during this initial due diligence, and the sourcing process of electricity, there’s a lot of factors that we normally put in taking place.

Nic Carter 13:00 And so, I mean, your role basically involves scouring the globe and scouting out these locations. I mean, is that are you even during sort of COVID times, are you still sort of trotting around finding cheap electricity sources?

Mustafa Yilham 13:17 Yes, that is part of my role, because, you know, I spend like, like three to six months in Siberia, and this far east of Russia, for example, in end of 2018, and 2019, which was a very fascinating experience. And, but during the COVID time, our overseas expansion was kind of put in halt temporarily, just because labor and logistic are very difficult to arrange at this time.

Nic Carter 13:56 What are the most promising jurisdictions that I mean, you know, he don’t have to give up the full secret sauce, because I’m sure there’s some, some proprietary, you know, information as far as it pertains to your business, but what generally, you know, geographically, what are some interesting locations that you’ve discovered for mining purposes?

Mustafa Yilham 14:21 So I would say like, you know, when we look at a geolocation. So, you know, price, regulation, temperature are like the most important factors. I think Central Asia is great for mining outside of China, speaking in Central Asia is great. Russia, I think have huge potential. North America, I think has the probably most potential in next few years, for a few different reason. But I think those are generally the regions we look at when I sourced electricity?

Nic Carter 15:04 And so with North America, I mean, would it be because I know there is hydro here I actually visited an old aluminum smelting plant in in in Massena New York, which was powered by hydro which had been converted into bitcoin mine. So you know, I’ve certainly seen some of that firsthand what it what is it that makes you bullish on on North America as a potential venue for mining?

Mustafa Yilham 15:33 So, I think based on our conversation with different mining manufacturers, on average, right, like around 60%, of the mining machine sell in past two quarters or so have been outside of China, in recent months, and mostly actually in North America. And I think that there’s few factors that plays into why North America could be huge in mining in future. One of them is price. I think you’ll be surprised to hear that. In fact, the price right now in North America notice are cheaper than the average price in China. And in the past, we used to think, you know, US high labor costs, less mining ecosystem, and, but we can clearly feel that things are changing rapidly, who’s in past one to two years. And I think during the next cycle, you will see a much higher involvement from us and other country into mining. And I think the most important factor also for us miner, is that they have access to cheap capital cost, meaning, you know, they have the ability to go out there and, you know, basically borrow at a much cheaper rate than Chinese miners are able to.

Nic Carter 16:59 Is there an element of political stability that comes in I know, certain jurisdictions in the US, you know, kicked out foreign miners who said they didn’t even want Bitcoin mining to happen at all, but I guess there’s probably slightly less capriciousness in terms of, you know, local regulators changing their minds on mining, as compared with China. That’s sort of just me speculating. Does that political stability come into play at all for you?

Mustafa Yilham 17:30 Um, so I think for the next two to three years, I think you will see more local miners from US increase their hash rate, but I think the cross border geo relocation, we don’t see that happening quite a lot. Just because, at least under the current environment, like you said, there are a lot of uncertainty on political, economical, and overall macro side. And so I think you’ll see Chinese miners continue to grow in China, but a lot of the hash rate will also start to grow in other countries like Russia. And, you know, US and North America excetera.

Nic Carter 18:22 Have you I’m sure you’ve looked at this. Have you looked at the Cambridge center for alternative finance their dashboard on Bitcoin mining? location wise?

Mustafa Yilham 18:32 Yes. And I think most of you are looking at it in China, right?

Nic Carter 18:37 Yeah. Maybe I’ll pull it up right now. They we had Apolline Blandin on the show to talk about it. They partnered up with pools, and did some work on geolocation. I let me see if I can. Yeah, so right now China’s got 65% US 7%, Russia, 7%, Kazakhstan, 7%, Malaysia 4%, around three 3.8%? Do these numbers seem kind of reliable to you? No. You do see these numbers and think, yeah, this is sort of roughly, you know, consistent with my experience, or is it sort of wildly, wildly, you know, different in your experience?

Mustafa Yilham 19:25 Um, I think for now, it is consistent with our experience, but I think within next one or two years, those data will change drastically.

Nic Carter 19:38 What do you make of the kind of significant mining in Iran do does that strike you? Is the state subsidizing Bitcoin mining? I know the Iranian government has recently sort of indicated their desire to be more active with Bitcoin or have you you know, anecdotal Seen, you know, big mining operations kind of locating themselves in Iran?

Mustafa Yilham 20:05 Yeah. So this might come quite surprise to you. But I think even as a Chinese miner where we like, like Bixin, for example, I’m sure they are some miners who does not pay too much attention to, you know, OFAC and other sanction list. But yeah, as we have always avoided Iran, and we I mean, I haven’t even looked at the region or did any due diligence on that. Just because, you know, the, I think it has a Chinese miner, we do not want to, you know, just violate any OFAC regularly. That’s right.

Nic Carter 20:55 Yeah, that strikes me as a good idea. Yeah, I know. I, I, you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but um, what would you say, you know, to someone who’s like thinking of getting into mining, what would you say would be a good electricity price for them to even be competitive in the market today? Would you say it’s sort of in the 5-6 cent per kilowatt hour range?

Mustafa Yilham 21:20 I think it depends on the scale you’re trying to go for. And the price of bitcoin? I think under I mean, right now, if you are you a retail customer, and you’re trying to go into bitcoin, I think it’s very difficult for a few reasons. Number one, you need to purchase mining machine, which I think both what’s Whatsminer and Bitmain are, are booked out until next year, April to June.

Nic Carter 21:49 Right.

Mustafa Yilham 21:49 You need to find mine like investment very large scale investment mining farm. build that out. I mean, that it requires a lot of capital, and it requires a lot of experience to run a mining operation properly. If you are just trying to purchase mining machine, and there is a way for you to purchase a you try to host I think maybe, you know, four to five cents. Five point five could be a competitive price. I think that on the current bitcoin price. And I think that that’s general price we seeing North America for hosting at the moment.

Nic Carter 22:29 Yeah, but so you wouldn’t encourage anyone listening to to get into mining as an individual as a as a profession

Mustafa Yilham 22:38 At this stage of mining cycle, probably wouldn’t.

Nic Carter 22:44 What does it tell you that the hardware from whatsminer in bitmain is sort of spoken for? I mean, that sort of implies that people are like everything about what a an asyik is, it’s like a physical instantiation of future Bitcoin rewards. So it’s kind of like people have bought these forwards or these these physically settled Bitcoin futures in hardware form. I mean, that strikes me is pretty bullish. What’s your interpretation of that?

Mustafa Yilham 23:13 I think, you know, a lot of the purchaser, like we discussed earlier for this round of purchasing are from outside of China. A lot of them are very large institution, some even publicly listed company in United States. I think where you previously worked out fidelity’s, one of the large minor in North America, alone side few others, for institution to mine Bitcoin. You know, I think that’s really due to the fact that for them, you’re right, it’s a very long option, and also, probably better option than to buy bitcoin directly.

Nic Carter 23:55 So there was a huge discussion point earlier this year, I’m sure you saw this hash rate dropped dramatically, a couple of months ago, and a lot of people were speculating that it was due to this seasonal migration, where I believe it’s, you know, the rainy season, this dry season, and the volume of water flowing through hydro in, you know, provinces like Sichuan declines. And so then maybe the miners base their migrate their hardware to other regions in China, with sort of non renewable sources of energy. That was certainly the speculation out here in the west to explain the hash power dynamics. Is that something you’ve noticed, I mean, are you aware of this, this seasonal migration? People talk about it, but, you know, is that something that they you know about?

Mustafa Yilham 24:51 Absolutely. seasonal migration, I think really depends on geolocation, but it does hold true for Chinese minor. So like for Bixin during the summer months in the rainy season, our operation are mostly based in Sichuan. You know, and during the winter, we migrate to Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. We also have mining farm in Kazakhstan, where we deploy some of our mining machine. But in countries like Kazakhstan price are same all year round. So migration is not required within the border. But it definitely holds true for Chinese mining community.

Nic Carter 25:34 Do you think that actually explains the rate the really dramatic drop we saw in hash rate? Or, you know, is it could it just be normal variance?

Mustafa Yilham 25:44 Yeah, I think during I think during the past cycles, each year, during the miners are migrating during the rainy and dry season, you will see a drop in the hash rate. And I think it’s just normal because, you know, see, if you look at China is very huge. And, you know, most of them are going by train and so trying to sit down have quite a distance for them to do that. I’ll just take I set it up locally afterwards.

Nic Carter 26:16 Yeah, it is a long way. Yeah. Besides the country entirely.

Nic Carter 26:23 I’ve so I’m so so curious about mining. This is amazing. It’s amazing. All the information. There’s so many, like myths that were busting or confirming? You wouldn’t believe. I mean, I guess you would the chasm in understanding between kind of east and west. I guess one thing is, you know, you have these withdrawal issues that the major Chinese exchanges, you mentioned on Twitter that you didn’t think that was the cause of the Bitcoin rally. I certainly agree with that. I mean, I had the team at coin metrics, look at this. And they found that miners were able to liquidate their coins as normal. So I guess we can sort of put that one to rest. In your view, the withdrawal issues at various Chinese exchanges did not cause this current rally, correct?

Mustafa Yilham 27:16 Yeah, I think that statement is not true. That’s for several reasons, which, you know, I didn’t- I made that statement

out).As crypto bulls are aware, FOMO was cited as a key driver of the record bitcoin price at the height of the crypto bull market in December 2017.“The most powerful force in the market is fear,” financial commentator James DePorre writes at Real Money.When fear of losing takes hold, it creates powerful downside momentum. And when fear of missing out (FOMO) takes hold, it creates powerful upside. The recent market action is ideal for creating fear of missing out.DePorre pointed to the example of Facebook, whose stock soared this week after it beat analyst estimates for Q4 earnings and revenue. For the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, the social media monopoly earned $2.38 a share on revenue of $16.9 billion.Wall Street analysts had expected Facebook to earn $2.19 a share on revenue of $16.4 billion. Shortly after Facebook beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines, its shares surged on heavy buying action.But James DePorre cautions investors to not impetuously follow the herd, which moves in lockstep based on daily stock fluctuations. This is a trend mirrored in the crypto market, where plunging cryptocurrency prices lead to noisy, premature wails that bitcoin is dead.Despite Facebook’s strong week, keep in mind that it’s still struggling with the ongoing data-breach scandals that tanked its stock just months ago. A good week does not mean the embattled company is out of the woods yet.Facebook Has 1 Billion Fake Accounts, Mark Zuckerberg ‘Greatest Con Man in History’: Researcher https://t.co/3mqsNk4Ux7DePorre explained that FOMO often leads to overly aggressive dip buying, while the fear of losing out triggers irrational selling. Both approaches suck because the animating emotion driving them is primal fear, and not rational analysis.The Fear of Missing Out is the main driving force in this market, but that doesn’t mean that we have to embrace that emotion ourselves. Stick to your methodology and don’t let worry of underperformance push you to shift your approach.So what’s the solution to fear-based investing? A rational reliance on fundamentals, and a steadfast approach to the latest news that’s moving the stock market.For example, right now there are differing opinions about whether a US recession is imminent. Perma-bears like Robert Shiller ― the bitcoin-bashing Yale University professor ― insists that one is around the corner. And what does he base his gloomy outlook on? Why emotions, of course!Shiller ― an academic who has never worked in the private sector ― predicts that a protracted bear market looms on the horizon, based on “psychology” and “narratives” ― not based on market fundamentals.I’m writing a book on ‘narrative economics,’ and think it is stories that drive markets more than fundamentals.So Professor Robert Shiller is predicting a harsh bear market while writing a book about how “bear-market narratives” can trigger them. Let that sink in.Stock Market ‘Deflation’ Could Trigger Bear Market: Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller https://t.co/shRDdrOLJaMeanwhile, economists who have real-world experience with money say concerns over an imminent recession are emotionally-based and overblown.Mohamed El-Erian — the chief economic adviser at German mega-bank Allianz — warned that the breathless media hysteria about an impending recession could actually trigger one. So we should be careful what we put out into the universe, he warns.“I’m stunned by all this talk of recession,” El-Erian told CNBC in December 2018 (video above). “We’ve got to be careful because we can talk ourselves into a recession. That’s how bad technicals become bad economics.Samantha Chang is a politics writer at BizPac Review and a financial editor. She is a law school graduate and an alum of the University of Pennsylvania. You can follow her on Twitter at Samantha_Chang.

out).As crypto bulls are aware, FOMO was cited as a key driver of the record bitcoin price at the height of the crypto bull market in December 2017.“The most powerful force in the market is fear,” financial commentator James DePorre writes at Real Money.When fear of losing takes hold, it creates powerful downside momentum. And when fear of missing out (FOMO) takes hold, it creates powerful upside. The recent market action is ideal for creating fear of missing out.DePorre pointed to the example of Facebook, whose stock soared this week after it beat analyst estimates for Q4 earnings and revenue. For the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, the social media monopoly earned $2.38 a share on revenue of $16.9 billion.Wall Street analysts had expected Facebook to earn $2.19 a share on revenue of $16.4 billion. Shortly after Facebook beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines, its shares surged on heavy buying action.But James DePorre cautions investors to not impetuously follow the herd, which moves in lockstep based on daily stock fluctuations. This is a trend mirrored in the crypto market, where plunging cryptocurrency prices lead to noisy, premature wails that bitcoin is dead.Despite Facebook’s strong week, keep in mind that it’s still struggling with the ongoing data-breach scandals that tanked its stock just months ago. A good week does not mean the embattled company is out of the woods yet.Facebook Has 1 Billion Fake Accounts, Mark Zuckerberg ‘Greatest Con Man in History’: Researcher https://t.co/3mqsNk4Ux7DePorre explained that FOMO often leads to overly aggressive dip buying, while the fear of losing out triggers irrational selling. Both approaches suck because the animating emotion driving them is primal fear, and not rational analysis.The Fear of Missing Out is the main driving force in this market, but that doesn’t mean that we have to embrace that emotion ourselves. Stick to your methodology and don’t let worry of underperformance push you to shift your approach.So what’s the solution to fear-based investing? A rational reliance on fundamentals, and a steadfast approach to the latest news that’s moving the stock market.For example, right now there are differing opinions about whether a US recession is imminent. Perma-bears like Robert Shiller ― the bitcoin-bashing Yale University professor ― insists that one is around the corner. And what does he base his gloomy outlook on? Why emotions, of course!Shiller ― an academic who has never worked in the private sector ― predicts that a protracted bear market looms on the horizon, based on “psychology” and “narratives” ― not based on market fundamentals.I’m writing a book on ‘narrative economics,’ and think it is stories that drive markets more than fundamentals.So Professor Robert Shiller is predicting a harsh bear market while writing a book about how “bear-market narratives” can trigger them. Let that sink in.Stock Market ‘Deflation’ Could Trigger Bear Market: Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller https://t.co/shRDdrOLJaMeanwhile, economists who have real-world experience with money say concerns over an imminent recession are emotionally-based and overblown.Mohamed El-Erian — the chief economic adviser at German mega-bank Allianz — warned that the breathless media hysteria about an impending recession could actually trigger one. So we should be careful what we put out into the universe, he warns.“I’m stunned by all this talk of recession,” El-Erian told CNBC in December 2018 (video above). “We’ve got to be careful because we can talk ourselves into a recession. That’s how bad technicals become bad economics.Samantha Chang is a politics writer at BizPac Review and a financial editor. She is a law school graduate and an alum of the University of Pennsylvania. You can follow her on Twitter at Samantha_Chang.

multi-billion-dollar asset to lose half of its value within a day would normally send consumers running for the hills. But interestingly, data shows that demand for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is truly on the rise. Data shared by Yassine Elmandjra — a crypto-asset analyst at tech investment fund and research firm ARK Invest — shows that the “relative Google search interest” for the term “Bitcoin” is approaching all-time highs (first established at the peak of the 2017-2018 bubble) in “several emerging markets”: Peru, Guatemala, Zambia, Uruguay, Kenya, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso. What’s interesting is that the strong surge in interest in the leading cryptocurrency has transpired over the past week or two, Elmandjra’s chart indicates, counteracting the sentiment that March’s crash deterred investors. https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js It appears the growing demand for Bitcoin and crypto is translating to the rest of the world, too. As reported by CryptoSlate previously, Qiao Wang found that Coinbase Pro’s BTC order book shows that there are six times more buy orders than sell orders (-/+ $6,000 on each side). Furthermore, this outlet has detailed a trend of stablecoin issuers minting literally hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency over recent weeks. But what’s causing this trend, which is antithetical to the reflexivity of the crypto market, which states that lower prices should beget less interest in this asset class. No one, unfortunately, has a concrete answer. But, there have been a number of trends that are seemingly making the fundamental case for investing in Bitcoin and crypto-assets as a whole. Funnily enough, the two trends are the same that my grandfather — no joke — quoted to me when he rung me up last weekend asking how he could purchase some Bitcoin as an investment: Anthony Pompliano, a co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital, dubbed these two trends “rocket fuel” for Bitcoin, referencing how these factors will work in tandem to increase the demand for the crypto in a time when the scarcity of it increases, creating a supply-demand dynamic that greatly favors price appreciation. So with the fundamentals narratives surrounding crypto-investment only growing in potency and popularity, it makes sense why the demand for this asset class is growing. The post Global demand for crypto continues to skyrocket: What’s behind this trend? appeared first on CryptoSlate. source March 25, 2020 Market Analysis GBP price, news and analysis: GBP/USD, along with other assets seen as inherently risky, are bouncing after US Senators and Trump administration officials reached an agreement on a $2 trillion stimulus package to counter the March 6, 2020 Crypto After India’s Supreme Court lifted the ban on crypto trading two days ago, MATIC and WazirX tokens enjoyed significant jumps in price and volume. Supreme Court’s Declaration Changes Indian Crypto Landscape With the Supreme Court October 31, 2019 Trading Strategies The Federal Reserve cut rates as expected and signaled a pause in its easing cycle. At the same time, Powell highlighted that the central bank would need to see a significant move up in inflation April 11, 2020 Regardless of the global economic meltdown, several on-chain metrics estimate that Bitcoin reached a market bottom and could be ready to resume its historic uptrend. Fear reigns the market Over the past few weeks, Bitcoin April 11, 2020 VIP EAP Mentorship Program – https://eaptrainingprogram.com/video-sales-page Time Stamps: What is a pip? – 10:40 What is the value of a pip? 27:00 What is leverage? 45:00 Pro Trader Report – https://protraderreport.com/ptr Free Spreadsheet – FREE April 11, 2020 Poloniex Exchange adds support for Matic Network (Matic Network) as it adds trading pairs w.r.t BTC, USDT  (Tether) and Tron [TRX]. The exchange also announced a bounty program to kick-start the listing. Tweet from Poloniex Copyright © 2020

kidnappers demanded a high ransom from the multi-millionaire – in the cryptocurrency Monero. The drama has not stopped since then and has led to unexpected suspicions. Was it kidnapping – or even a planned murder? It is said that Scandinavians love crime novels, and I like to imagine a tall, pale Norwegian with white hair sitting in front of the fireplace in his wooden house by the fjord and reading his crime story. The current top thriller of the Norwegians was not released as a book. Instead, the newspapers report on it. After a long time, there was another spectacular crime in Norway, and the whole country is closely following all the news. For the media, that’s almost as good as Corona. The case is the kidnapping of Anne-Elisabeth Hagen. This is the wife of Tom Hagen, the country’s 172-th richest individual. In Norwegian krone, the entrepreneur is a billionaire; if you translate it into euros, he is a three-digit millionaire. Anne-Elisabeth was kidnapped on October 31, 2018, in her house in Lørenskog, a small community near Oslo. The kidnappers left a letter in broken Norwegian consisting of five A4 pages. Tom Hagen read in him that he would not go to the police or the press if he wanted to see his wife again and that he had to pay nine million euros in the cryptocurrency Monero. Two days later, Hagen informed the police in Lillestrøm, also near Oslo. Since then, there has been a criminal case that has given the Monero currency an unsightly fame in Norway, and in which the press has eagerly tried to uncover all the details. There is still no trace of Hagen’s wife Anne-Elisabeth. The kidnappers know pretty well about cryptocurrencies. As is well known, kidnappings often fail when the money is handed over. Bank transfers are out of the question, and cash must be deposited in some physical location where the police can often arrest the perpetrators. Cryptocurrencies are a “good” tool here, because they can be received anonymously and without contact. For this reason, it has been feared for around eight years that virtual currencies are making a comeback of kidnapping. Bitcoin, however, leaves a clear transaction trail that has often led to arrests. The tools to disguise bitcoins may be sufficient for minor crimes. However, in the event of a capital crime such as a kidnapping, the police could investigate long enough to break the mixing of coins. That’s why Anne-Elisabeth Hagen’s kidnappers chose Monero, a cryptocurrency that uses various cryptographic methods to achieve the highest possible level of anonymity. This was confusing for Tom Hagen. He told the police that while he had “some knowledge” about cryptocurrencies, he was generally “technically backward”. He wondered if the kidnappers had deliberately given him an almost impossible task. Because it is not easy to change nine million euros in Monero. This was also clear to the kidnappers. You probably know the markets and know that the stock exchanges do not have enough liquidity to buy so many Monero in one go. So they advised Hagen in the letter not to change more than a million crowns a day in Monero. The kidnappers also invented an interesting system for communicating with Hagen. The Norwegian press calls it a “Bitcoin Morse Code”, which they explain in the extortion letter. They gave a bitcoin address, and Hagen should send them messages by sending certain amounts to them. They gave him twelve amounts that represent different messages: “I confirm that I will pay”, “I am currently exchanging money for Monero”, “I will send the Monero in seven days”, “I need more time”, “I sent the Monero” and so on. In the same way, the kidnappers can send messages to Hagen. Amounts that you send to this – or to another – address represent different messages, such as “too late, she is dead”, “quickly, or she dies”, “the police are involved, she is dead”, ” The Monero went to the wrong address ”or“ Thank you, Anne Elisabeth will be released in the next 24 hours. ” Over the course of November, the two sides exchanged several messages using this Bitcoin morse code. However, the method was too clumsy to actually negotiate. Apparently, the kidnappers’ knowledge of Bitcoin has limits, because otherwise they might have suggested OP_Return outputs, through which you can insert up to 140 bytes of free text in a transaction. The police advised Hagen to ask for evidence that his wife was still alive. But there was no code for it, and there was no other option to contact them. So what to do? The police suggested a bold approach: On January 24, police officer Sven Holden would like to hold a press conference to inform the public about the kidnapping and the progress of the investigation. Hagen and his family agree, the kidnappers react promptly. A few days later, they write an encrypted email to Holden, in which they contact Hagen. Linguists compare the email to the original ransom note and confirm that they are the same person. In the email, the kidnappers are ready to provide evidence that Anne-Elisabeth is still alive – when Hagen pays a quarter of the money, i.e. pays them 2.25 million euros or 24 million crowns in Monero. Hagen bought Monero for 30 million crowns on an exchange shortly thereafter. However, the deadline set by the kidnappers lapses without payment. Over the course of April, the police proposed that Hagen send an email to the kidnappers and then explain at a press conference that the money would be sent. Hagen is dissatisfied with the idea. He wanted to negotiate in peace and not endanger his wife’s life through press conferences. Therefore the idea is not implemented. In May, Hagen made independent contact with the kidnappers without consulting the police. He offers them to pay the subtotal if they give him proof within a certain period that his wife is still alive. These negotiations drag on until the police are turned on again in July. The kidnappers are now threatened more violently. Anne-Elisabeth was sick and they could not provide the necessary health care. They offer proof of life for 1.35 million euros in Monero. Hagen agrees to pay the full amount – if he only receives proof of his life. But this also seems to be drying up, so that the year passes. Hagen may have paid part of the money, but still no proof that his wife is still alive. In February 2020, the businessman continues to try to contact the kidnappers. In the meantime, the relationship between Hagen and the police has cooled down. Both sides often disagree on how to proceed, and just as Hagen acts independently, the police also sent a message to the kidnappers without his consent using the Bitcoin code. At this point, the police’s investigation is already moving in a different direction: against Tom Hagen himself. He is now considered the main suspect. The charge is no longer kidnapping but murder. The police arrested and interrogated Hagen on April 28, 2020. Hagen vehemently denies the allegations and has since been released. Tom Hagen is suspected of an almost classic motif: Things weren’t going well in marriage. Anne-Elisabeth has already asked how she can end the partnership without risking too negative financial consequences. Because between the two there is a somewhat idiosyncratic marriage contract, which says that in the event of a divorce she gets next to nothing. However, Anne-Elisabeth had a lawyer check whether the contract did not violate Norwegian law. In this case, she would have received half of the now common property in the event of a divorce. Is this enough evidence to suspect Hagen of murdering his wife? The police may have found this because the negotiations were so slow. Perhaps it seemed to her that Hagen was deliberately hesitating to put stones in the way of the police. However, the Hagen family seems to blame the police for putting Anne-Elisabeth at risk through the aggressive negotiation. The Hagens’ children deny the suspicion of their father. They think the couple’s marriage went well. Other family members confirm this. In addition, the police also find swords that confirm that the marriage was about to end. The police are currently trying to enforce the search of Hagen’s houses. However, the process still depends. The competent court in Oslo also believes that there is insufficient evidence against Hagen to detain him. The case changes with another arrest on May 7. The police arrest a man in his thirties. She suspects that he murdered Anne-Elisabeth or that she was partly responsible for the murder. The man had met Tom Hagen repeatedly in the past, even in his house, perhaps even exactly in the one where Ms. Hagen was kidnapped. It was about a business collaboration in the recovery of cryptocurrencies. After at least ten meetings there was no further collaboration; the meetings ended in autumn 2018 – shortly before Ms. Hagen’s kidnapping. That is already suspicious. Did Hagen inquire with the man about how he uses cryptocurrencies for a kidnapping? Or did he take advantage of the moment to kidnap Hagen’s wife after gaining access to his property as a consultant? The profound knowledge that the kidnappers have about cryptocurrencies and the markets could speak for this. But it remains, like the suspicion against Hagen, pure speculation. Therefore, this crime thriller will continue to occupy the Norwegian police and public for a while. Anne-Elisabeth Hagen is probably already dead.

in undefined…00:001:00:291xEpisode 25: Stephan Livera, Sydney (Australia)Stephan Livera (@stephanlivera) is the host of the (you guessed it) Stephan Livera Podcast. He lives in Sydney, Australia, which is in lockdown like much of the world. We discuss the potential consequences of this lockdown for the economy, how we've gotten ourselves into this economic stranglehold, and why all of this may have played out very differently in a world where the Austrian school of economics would have more prevalence. Recorded: April 15, 2020 Donations: bc1qvqv4d9aqmr07ncmldy0umtr9vuflemglc4xrlf57:29April 17, 2020Episode 24: Jameson Lopp, Mystery Location (USA)Jameson Lopp is the co-founder and CTO of Casa, and lives in a mystery location somewhere in the USA. We discuss how the coronavirus interplays with the non-aggression principle (NAP), why (or whether) it's a good idea to get a gun, how bitcoin will perform in this economic crisis, and more. Recorded: April 14, 2020 Donations: bc1qwkztzahhclkah39d00cgxhppat0jhyeyslzfn258:02April 16, 2020Episode 23: Kain_niaK, Inside The SimulationWas the virus a Chinese bioweapon? Is the Book of Revelations predicting what's coming next? Are we living in a simulation? Three weeks ago, I got a message from prominent r/btc poster Kain_niaK (pseudonym, obviously) telling me that I was right about Bitcoin Cash, that I should read the bible, and survive.  I invited him onto The Honey Badger Diaries to tell me more. Recorded: April 14, 2020. Donations: bc1qpexrhqatye3srph0xdhlrr2haydnpqscduul201:15:20April 15, 2020Episode 22: Albert Buu, Saigon (Vietnam)Albert Buu (@subnetmask) is the founder and CEO of Neutronpay. He lives in Saigon, Vietnam, a country that appears to be relatively successful at suppressing the cornavirus so far. We discuss how the Southeast Asian country is doing that, the economic prospects in the region, and Bitcoin's potential there. Recorded: April 13, 2020. Donations: bc1qdwpvhcmcldp7nrr9dzr5vjn0mrsa3wpdx8zg2533:14April 14, 2020Episode 21: Adam Back, Silema (Malta)In case you're new to Bitcoin... Adam Back (@adam3us) is a legendary cypherpunk, the inventor of Hashcash (the technology used for Bitcoin mining and cited by Satoshi Nakamoto in the Bitcoin white paper), and the CEO of Blockstream. We discuss the coronacrisis in Malta, where he lives, as well as the economic situation in light of the upcoming Bitcoin halvening, airline bailouts, basic income, GPS tracking, and more. Recorded: April 12, 2020 Donations: bc1qgmdxpkjzda4g04jznchkpxecwn0eywradqwq9u1:03:00April 12, 2020Episode 20: Joshua Scigala, Berlin (Germany)Joshua Scigala (@JScigala), from Berlin, Germany, is the CEO of bitcoin-to-gold exchange Vaultoro. Joshua was a goldbug even before Bitcoin, and a prepper even before corona. We discuss the events in Germany over the past couple of weeks, the economic consequences, the viability of banks and the monetary system, and how we're supposed to get out of this. Recorded: April 11, 2020. Donations: bc1q598jml7jwzfclqhqspmekcjfgka9adqnrtpsvd1:00:29April 11, 2020Episode 19: Marcel Pechman, Campo Grande (Brazil)Marcel Pechman (@noshitcoins) is a former equities trader turned Bitcoin Maximalist who writes for CoinTelegraph and several other publications. He lives in Campo Grande, Brazil. I chat with Marcel about the coronacrisis in Brazil, and the expected economic consequences from the crisis in his homecountry and abroad. Recorded: April 10, 2020 Donations: bc1qud9he8kwgygjyw2nnnjmalfq28drfp4zk54m8f59:06April 10, 2020Episode 18: Harmat Bálint, Budapest (Hungary)Harmat Bálint (@bharmat84) is the CEO of zkSnacks, the company behind Wasabi Wallet. He lives in Budapest, Hungary, where president Viktor Orbán has used the coronacrisis to seize emergency powers to essentially give himself unlimited power. We discuss this, as well as the coronacrisis in Hungary and beyond more generally. Recorded: April 9, 2020 Donations: bc1qyc2wqrl4c85kdzu9pj6ggmam3xganplyr3208j35:01April 9, 2020Episode 17: Sergi Delgado, Barcelona (Catalunya/Spain)Spain is now the country with the second highest number of confirmed cases in the world. Sergi Delgado (@sr_gi), a developer working on Eye of Satoshi Watchtowers for the Lightning Network, has been in lockdown near Barcelona for almost a month. We discuss how the country is being hit, the new tensions between Madrid and Catalunya (the region that wants independence from Spain), and a potential upcoming contact tracing app which might track Spanish citizens. Recorded: April 8, 2020. Donations: bc1q0wszrt9te8z65q7p6l32a3hjhvm8v2m2zupntq29:19April 8, 2020Episode 16: Steven Ettinger, Quito (Ecuador)Hospitals full of body bags, police enforcing lockdown with paintball guns, bodies in the streets... the coronacrisis is hitting Ecuador hard. Steven Ettinger (@otoluxla) was on his way to a beach town in the Latin American country, when instead he was put into quarantine on arrival, and he is currently in lockdown in the country's capital of Quito. Recorded: April 6, 2020 Donations: bc1qe7uaqn9ev8um3lwhv0cxmwvtzm49vtrvaz5wch22:21April 6, 2020Episode 15: Sergej Kotliar, Stockholm (Sweden)Sergej Kotliar is the CEO of Bitrefill. He's in Stockholm, Sweden, a country that has made a name for itself in recent weeks for taking very light touch on the coronavirus. We discuss what that looks like, and what the crisis means for Bitrefill and Bitcoin. Recorded: April 4, 2020. Donations: bc1q0d2ew49ht6zdquhucvmznuady89qr7eqx04v5n33:18April 5, 2020Episode 14: Kristjan Mikaelsson, Reykjavík (Iceland)Iceland is high on the charts of both coronavirus tests per capita and number of confirmed COVID-19 cases per capita. Kristjan Mikaelsson is the managing director of the Icelandic Blockchain Foundation and a miner on the island country. We discuss Iceland's corona-response, and also touch on the faith of auroracoin and the local mining industry. Recorded: April 3, 2020 Donations: bc1q3yd6xg8kuq2qa7n8vnya24pumt4uueap4du8aq45:44April 4, 2020Episode 13: Junseth, Fort Lauderdale (USA)The 13th episode, so I wanted to make sure it was the worst one. I figured that having Junseth of Bitcoin Uncensored and Junseth's World fame on would do the trick, but he disappointed: the episode actually turned out to be quite interesting. Recorded: April 2, 2020. Donations: bc1q73q4d9ds0w5ef6xmstfm2xrf4hnljmdsac7zxl55:47April 3, 2020Episode 12: Greg Slepak, California (USA)Am I causing panic? Are we being manipulated? Which narratives around and solutions for the coronavirus should we caution for? Greg Slepak (@taoeffect) joins me from the Bay Area to discuss what he thinks is and isn't going on. Recorded: Tuesday the 31st of March, 2020. Donations: bc1qjgzcdsm8lq5t7gsj47veqgfuwf0rmx6zn9z3ar45:12April 1, 2020Episode 11: Giacomo Zucco, Milan (Italy)Writing these intro texts is definitely the most boring part about podcasting. Giacomo Zucco is the cofounder of Bcademy. Everyone knows him. Giacomo gives me an update on the coronavirus situation in Italy, and explains how he thinks a libertarian society would deal with the situation. Recorded: Tuesday the 31st of March, 2020. Donations: bc1qxq4d89306qykx3m6e7jc0qwvfp3tmdkcx3209x1:03:01March 31, 2020Episode 10: Shinobi, Chicago (USA)Shinobi is the cohost of the Block Digest podcast, and a well-known Twitter troll. He was the first person that I knew that was prepping and warning others to prep. I ask him why, which brings us to a conversation about the potential shift in geopolitics that the coronacrisis might just result in. Recorded: Sunday the 29th of March, 2020. Donations: bc1qal9apw4nh8mf3jcp84nqu5us5jnk65n4ya8qxh33:07March 30, 2020Episode 9: Michael Folkson, London (United Kingdom)Michael Folkson is the organizer of London Bitdevs, and a freelance contributor to Bitcoin Magazine. We discuss the United Kingdom's original herd immunity strategy, the precautionary principle, and what bitcoiners can do while in lockdown. Recorded: Saturday the 29th of March, 2020. Donations: bc1qhlqcjm0kreuj7nkth5rwcj0zw6hxasuveq295533:11March 29, 2020Episode 8: Kenrick Drijkoningen, SingaporeSingapore is one of the Asian countries that has been able to keep the coronavirus under control relatively well. Kenrick is a founding partner of Lune X, a Singapore-based venture capital firm for cryptocurrencies and blockchain companies. While originally from The Netherlands, Kenrick has been living in Singapore for the past ten years. I speak with him on the Singaporean approach, and the difference with the Dutch approach. Recorded: Saturday March 27, 2020 Donations: bc1qlrz6wlyv8cxcv7q4ggw4zp7pvsq655llnf22w4 Eye witness report mentioned by Kenrick: https://www.facebook.com/mikedavie/posts/1015680571674145632:02March 28, 2020Episode 7: Samson Mow, Shanghai/Victoria (China/Canada)Samson Mow is the CSO of Blockstream and the CEO of Pixelmatic. Spending his time between China and Canada, he gives his perspective on the coronacrisis in these two countries, and the differences between the eastern and western approach. Recorded: March 26th, 2020. Donations: bc1qmarxjr4y8tk2ae28fctdckak6v5pwu2mk4cgh532:31March 27, 2020Episode 6: David Hsiao AKA Crypto Godfather, Taipei (Taiwan)Taiwan is only 100 miles of the Chinese coast, yet it has remained relatively clear of the coronavirus. David Hsiao AKA Crypto Godfather is the CEO of Block Journal. He grew up in the United States and is based in Beijing, but has been in Taipei for the past couple of months, where he witnessed the local response to the outbreak. Recorded: Thursday the 26th of March, 2020. Donations: bc1q09kuuxd3z7m96822xh09nhz725ee07dde8y8e723:55March 26, 2020Episode 5: Sjors Provoost, Utrecht (The Netherlands)Sjors Provoost is a Bitcoin Core contributor from Utrecht, The Netherlands. (That's where I live as well.) He's been keeping track of the Dutch coronacrisis developments and the government's coronavirus policy. Recorded: March 24th, 2020. Donations: bc1qefqsq0c3rfpaz58py6h5vpyyznsca9j73ejx6e42:08March 25, 2020Episode 4: Maya Zehavi, Tel Aviv (Israel)In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the #coronavirus crisis to shut down courts and incapacitate the nation’s parliament, while the secret service is now using GPS tracking to follow every movement of Israeli citizens. Blockchain consultant Maya Zehavi from Tel Aviv shares her perspective on the local situation. Recorded: Monday 23d of March, 2020. Donations: bc1qgwwp432xqxyc0fhq5fx5zf69pxcf3kngyn76g429:11March 24, 2020Episode 3: Mir Liponi, Milan (Italy)Northern Italy is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Europe. Mir is the CEO of Satoshi Design and a well-known Bitcoin cheerleader. Based in Milan, Mir has been right smack in the middle of the outbreak, and has been in lockdown for the past two weeks. We talk about how the situation in her region escalated, how Italians are dealing with the crisis, and if bitcoin serve a purpose in this environment. Recorded: Sunday March 22nd, 2020. Donations: bc1qg6qn2xrj79wyynxgaryay3js3upg8md86ee03d41:47March 23, 2020Episode 2: Bruce Fenton, New Hampshire (USA)Bruce Fenton is the CEO of Chainstone Labs, and currently volunteers for EndCoronaVirus.org. I speak with him on the situation in New Hampshire and the USA in general, his volunteer work to help get more ventilators to hospitals, and how bitcoin will perform in these circumstances. Recorded: Friday March 20th, 2019 Donations: bc1qkhfqywuczlehrw9cnt67kz98y2pgzcxeqnneyx29:02March 23, 2020Episode 1: Leo Weese, Hong KongLeo Weese is the cofounder of the Bitcoin Association Hong Kong. I speak with him on how the people of Hong Kong seemed to have gotten the virus under control in an early stage, and on how the situation has been developing since. Leo also has Italian roots, and offered a perspective on the very different situations in both countries.22:00March 23, 2020

didn’t say it out of any ill will towards faculty, or a desire to malign the hard work of students. It’s not a sentiment rolled out to denigrate the many moving parts of a higher education institute or imply their superfluity. Instead, it emphasizes a simple truth about libraries: that they are not just places where information is stored and categorized, but sites where new knowledge is produced.Mark Hakkarinen is a man who understands this. As the founder of the Blockchain Library, since 2017 he has been assembling a comprehensive bank of resources on blockchain and cryptocurrency, targeted at scholars working in the field around the world. The website groups material by topic, linking to academic papers in key subject areas (“Bitcoin”, “Blockchain”, “Cryptocurrency”, “Ethereum”, “Proof-of-Work”), and showcases a small curated book collection, featuring How Money Got Free by BREAKER’s own Brian Patrick Eha, among others.Uniquely, it also publishes lists of the most cited publications across a range of blockchain-adjacent topics. These citation lists are so valuable because, while online searches for the same topics will return an enormous trove of information, it can be hard to assess how much of it truly represents knowledge. For example: Imagine you are researching Byzantine fault tolerance, the ability of decentralized computer systems being able to reach consensus about shared data even when communicating over an unreliable network. Searching for the phrase through Google will return 414,000 results, the first of which is the Wikipedia page. Other results include explainer-type articles published on Medium—useful, although difficult to verify—and a short description from the website of Lisk Academy, a blockchain education project. These results skew towards recently published, easily accessible media: a function of the preferential weighting for newness in Google’s search results. But on Blockchain Library’s citation page for Byzantine consensus, we can see that the most highly cited work on the subject is Concurrency Control And Recovery In Database Systems, a book published in 1987 by research scientists at the Computer Corporation of America—a company founded in the 1960s to provide database management systems for IBM mainframe computers. And so, besides guiding us to a valuable resource, the ranking of this information by citation count ends up situating the development of blockchain technology within a decades-old paradigm of computer science, as opposed to within Google’s eternal present.This is exactly the kind of perspective that users of the library appreciate. “We’re always looking for information and academic articles of one kind or another,” says Samson Williams, partner at blockchain think tank Axes and Eggs. “We’re trying to build a part of the future, but to do that we need to look back at the past and see where we’ve been, what’s been tried before. That’s where the library comes in. You need that historical context.” "We're trying to build a part of the future, but to do that we need to look back at the past and see where we've been." "We're trying to build a part of the future, but to do that we need to look back at the past and see where we've been."The academic rigor of the Blockchain Library’s approach is driven by Mark Hakkarinen’s background in library science. After taking a masters in communication, culture and technology at Georgetown University, during which he studied digital payment systems, Hakkarinen took a job in the university’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics, and eventually became head of the bioethics research library. In fact, while a member of the institute Hakkarinen co-authored a paper on citation analysis in bioethics which was published in the British Medical Journal.With a growing interest in cryptocurrency, he decided to leave Georgetown in 2017 to set up the library, driven by the idea of applying his skills to a new field. “At the time I saw that there was a lot of interest globally in blockchain projects, but that interest didn’t necessarily correlate with the quality of resources around research and education,” he says. “I could see that there needed to be something developed around this, so I thought that if no one else was doing it then I would.”Initially self-funding the project, Hakkarinen began to approach cryptocurrency projects with a proposal: donate to the library, and in return see a section of the website constructed with resources tailored to your target audience. A few projects declined—Dash was among them, in Hakkarinen’s words “too busy pumping Venezuela”—but eventually the community of merchant-oriented cryptocurrency SmartCash voted “yes” on a proposal to support the library. As a result, there is now a dedicated subdomain of the Blockchain Library for articles about SmartCash, and a rolling newsfeed for the project. (The one-time sponsorship deal ultimately became a more direct relationship, with Hakkarinen now working for the SmartCash outreach team part-time along with other cryptocurrency consulting jobs.) "In the U.S., physical libraries have special status, but digital libraries are more contested." "In the U.S., physical libraries have special status, but digital libraries are more contested."For all the wealth of resources that are categorized and linked to by the Blockchain Library, the website does not host any files for direct download. It’s a notable omission, especially when so much of the material relating to cryptocurrency exists only in digital form, and can be stored and transmitted at minimal cost. A prime example of this are white papers, the origin documents of almost every cryptocurrency. Although white papers are easy to find, and intended to be distributed widely, Hakkarinen doesn’t host any of them out of concerns over possible copyright infringements.“In terms of archival practice there are certain copyright laws that you have to be aware of,” he says. “In the US, physical libraries have special status around that, but digital libraries are more contested. So until I have a physical branch I’m not going to be sharing a downloadable link to things like that. In my own work I’ve collected more than 1000 white papers, and I have them on a private repository because I can’t share them.”Navigating copyright presents an issue for digital libraries simply because of the ease with which materials can be duplicated. While a physical book is purchased by a library, loaned out, tracked and (usually) returned, digital documents can simply be copied again and again.“Different copyright laws around the world have different approaches to the sets of uses that copyright holders control, but typically they include at least two rights,” explains David Hansen, a librarian at Duke University with responsibility for copyright and scholarly communications. “One of these is the right for the copyright holder to control the making of copies, and the other is the right to control how the original copy is distributed.”For digital documents, it’s hard for a lender to guarantee these rights are not being breached—although Hansen himself has co-authored a white paper on techniques for controlled digital lending, which he proposes as a way for libraries to harness the full potential of digital books.With so many proposed use cases for blockchain involving intellectual property and copyright enforcement, there’s a distinct irony to the fact that digital copyright law has been the main stumbling block for the development of a comprehensive resource on the technology itself. For now it looks like Hakkarinen’s thousand white papers will remain in his private archive, but he is far from discouraged. In terms of his forthcoming plans for the library, he envisions a shift towards a more active approach, intentionally spreading information that he judges to be important rather than leaving its discovery to chance.“The first pass of the Blockchain Library was saying, here are a lot of resources that exist,” he says. “Now it’s time to dive in and do a bit more advocacy, to say: here’s something important, and you should be informed about it.”

Analysis Top 10 CryptocurrenciesWeekly OverviewMarket Analysis Market Tools Price IndexesICO CalendarHeatmap Cryptopedia ExplainedPeopleBitcoin101Ethereum101Bitcoin Cash101ICO101Ripple101Lightning Network101BTC Anniversary Industry DApplistEventsPress ReleasesJobs Store BlockShow 9 HOURS AGOBy How Tyler Winklevoss Converted His Biographer Into a Bitcoin Believer Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are portrayed as the good guys this time in Ben Mezrichs new book.Cointelegraph speaks with Tyler Winklevoss and author Ben Mezrich about Mezrichs new book, Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption2196Total views172Total sharesThis interview has been edited and condensed.I dont normally write the stories here at Cointelegraph I edit them. But when I got an email from a publicist asking if I was interested in speaking with Ben Mezrich, author of Bitcoin Billionaires, and oh, did I want the Winklevoss twins to jump in on the interview? I couldnt say no.Ben had the lucky chance as he calls it to already have an in with , as they had been portrayed as the Men of Harvard, slightly bad guys in his book that ended up being adapted into the film The Social Network. As Ben tells it, after he saw about their bitcoin billionaire success, a book about their crypto escapades that picks up right as their court battle with Mark Zuckerberg ends seemed to be an obvious next step.The timing for the publication of Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption couldnt be better or more ironic. The book spends almost 300 pages detailing the journey of how the Winklevoss twins have succeeded in crypto to the extent that it has wiped away the stain left by their battle over Facebooks origin with Zuckerberg, only to then coincide with Facebooks of the Libra cryptocurrency project.However, Bens latest book involving both the Winklevii and Zuckerberg which was by Cointelegraph this week reverses his previous narrative of Zuckerberg as the good guy and the Winklevii as his opponents. But, as Ben explained, it wasnt the writing that got it initially wrong, but the reality that changed the perspective over time. He told me:I think reality flipped everything on its head, not just in the writing of it, but Facebook went from being something that everyone saw as this revolution and Zuckerberg as this revolutionary that was going to free the internet and make us all happy, into something much more nefarious, and Zuckerberg is now somewhat reviled.And Zuckerbergs cryptocurrency project has not been without criticism from those that align themselves more with the cypherpunks of the 1990s than with the Winklevii of today. That is an important distinction that Ben makes in his book, shown through the twins highly skeptical attitudes toward the manic bitcoin passion of and the slightly dangerous libertarianism of. The twins, albeit very sincere bitcoin believers, could kind of care less about the sacredness of decentralization.When asking Tyler Winklevoss about Facebooks Libra project, I expected potential scorn, derision, maybe even thinly veiled frustration about losing some crypto limelight to a past adversary. But Tyler surprised me with his even keel:So, first off, I think that Facebook being in this space is huge validation for it.I waited for him to continue.I think that if you are a company in 2019, and you don't have a crypto story or game plan, it's kind of crazy. And if you don't, I'm sure youre scrambling around to get one.Ultimately we think it's great validation in the space. I've read some of the technical papers and whatnot and it looks like it is evolving and they're still figuring out exactly all the details. But there's a plan to start, in some way move it to more decentralization.It's still really early, and this is all one big experiment and iteration on the evolution of money. And I think it's really healthy that people are trying different approaches. It's not necessarily one size fits all.If you're trying to be digital gold, decentralization may be the most important thing. If you're trying to be more like a currency, then perhaps you can give on decentralization for speed. So I think it is really good. All approaches are very valid and we'll sort of see how it plays out.On the straight and narrowThe main takeaway from Tylers comments throughout our entire conversation was regulation, regulation, regulation. Once you got past the bitcoin does gold better than gold standard line, he was ready to explain his somewhat unusual (what I would dub hodler traditionalist) views.For starters, he was not onboard with my joking idea about selling Bitcoin Billionaires for actual bitcoin:Maybe you shouldn't buy it with bitcoin, because if you believe in bitcoin, it is going to only appreciate in value.According to Tyler, there is no reason for bitcoin to even become a medium of exchange or a good currency because of how regulation is allowing that to play out, at least in the U.S.And now that hes started speaking about regulation, he gets on a roll that is nevertheless persuasive despite being well-practiced.We need to speak the same language as the largest funds and players in capital markets today, Tyler said over the phone, in as far a cry from a cypherpunk as can be found. I think it's just really important to do things the right way. And that may not be the fastest way in the short term, but I think in the long term, it's the one that ultimately will bring in the right audience and be the pay-off in the long term. Our sort of motto is: Look, we're just trying to be the fastest tortoise in the race. And we're playing on a game board that not everybody else is necessarily playing on.We're playing chess and, you know, there is checkers, but that's a different game and were not playing that.What bitcoin lacksWhen asked about the upcoming physically-backed bitcoin futures , as well as the seemingly never-ending process of the United States s on a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (), Tyler continued to play the role of the tortoise in it for the long haul:I think that people, traders, investors and consumers will ultimately want to see the same opportunities to express opinions through financial instruments in bitcoin as they see in gold. But because we live in the world of cryptocurrency, there may be much more, too. There may be decentralized exchanges and more decentralized finance applications that you can't create outside of the crypto world.I think you'd expect to see what exists in gold but also much more in crypto.This attitude toward regulation, compliance and doing things the right way came from the twins negative experience with now defunct crypto exchange , when they first started acquiring their bitcoin hoard. This is the main goal of the Winklevoss cryptocurrency exchange, the New York-based to do everything the opposite of Mt. Gox.And according to Tyler, doing things the right way is really the only way:We don't believe in hacking our way around regulation or being too clever about it. We are transparent. We go into the front door, not the side door or in the back door. And that's been our strategy and our DNA from day one.Ben Mezrichs interest is piquedAccording to Ben, Tylers passion for crypto and its regulation, obvious even over the phone on a group call, was one of the things that got him interested in the story and kept him interested:If there is a really, really smart person who gets incredibly passionate about something and everyone else is telling him that he's wrong, that often leads to that thing that changes the world. People who are very smart get truly passionate about something, and you have to wonder why. How did they get so into this? Thats sort of rabbit hole that you go down.In fact, Ben who admits that he knew almost nothing about cryptocurrency before he began this book has become a bitcoin evangelist in a way that is abundantly clear both in the book and in our conversation. He tells me this on the phone with the conviction of a true believer:There's no question that cryptocurrency is the future. That's the way we're going. It's the science fiction money that we read about. And now, suddenly, it's going to be adopted by everybody in the next couple of years.And Ben underlines that he was inspired specifically by the Winklevii, compliant, right path way:If you just talked to the Charlie Shrems and the Rogers of the world, it would frighten me, because it comes from this kind of crazy libertarian, anarchistic, Silk Road world, which is not something that would appeal to me, necessarily. But the way I think the twins came at it was completely different, and that perspective really won me over and it just made sense.The idea of digital money and the idea of digital gold and something that you trust because it's math and not people just made a lot of sense to me.Bens goal in writing the book may have originally been to chase down his next interesting story, but his conversation with me sounds a lot like the Winklevoss twins in their early circuits of the crypto conferences back when bitcoin was still in its nascency.And according to Ben, people have seemed to take his past books to heart as he noted that Accidental Billionaires and The Social Network actually launched many people toward Silicon Valley which could spread the bitcoin gospel even further.He told me confidently:I think this will launch all these people into this whole new world of money, and not just that, but the whole philosophy behind it.Tyler agreed with Bens assessment of the previous past influence of his books, noting that if someone invested behind what Ben Mezrich found interesting, theyd probably have done pretty well.Ben concurred, joking that a hedge fund had once even wanted to rent him an office so that it could pick his brain as he searched for a new book topic. He didnt end up taking the fund up on its offer.Ben did add the caveat that I foolishly never invest in anything I write about for a couple of reasons, stating that he didnt want to own bitcoin while also promoting his book, a highly moral stance for someone that also admitted he didnt buy Facebook stock when writing Accidental Billionaires almost a decade ago.Friend or foe?I was curious how the characters that were portrayed in a more negative light viewed the book. After all, Ben had obviously gotten close to them in order to write a book that detailed all the various ways that BitInstants could be sweaty.His answer also surprised me:Charlie loves it. Charlie read the book and the first thing he did was he texted me and said he cried, and thank you, thank you, thank you.I think Charlie's a complicated character. So, even though you saw him warts and all, it really was his story. So, he liked it.Tyler chimed in to say, very seriously, that he and his brother Cameron are cordial with everyone in the book. Im friends with Eric [Vorhees], cordial with Roger [Ver], weve exchanged emails, obviously it's no secret that we've had our differences with Charlie, but that's all behind us now. He went on, saying:I feel like we're all cordial and respectful of the different viewpoints and opinions we have and paths weve taken.Everybody's entitled to their different views and philosophies, and you know we don't always have to agree, but we can respectfully have our differences.When I noted that his speech was more respectful than what goes on in crypto Twitter, he replied someones got to set the example, you know?As for speaking with Zuckerberg for the second iteration of the Facebook-turned-crypto saga, Ben seemed doubtful, but as he said, you never know, you never know.I like to think of it like The Avengers. You have The Avengers as The Social Network, and like the Marvel Universe, we go off into each character. Now, we're talking about Wolverine, and next we'll be talking about whatever. But it is really an incredible story that just keeps on going. And it's definitely not finished yet. Editors Choice

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/HectorRosekrans WEBSITE: https://hectorrosekrans.com/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:21:01November 12, 2019Rapid-Fire: Hector RosekransOver the last few months I had been enjoying Hector's output on Twitter, as well as on his blog, so I invited him to come on for a chat about Bitcoin, his time in the Navy, his work at Casa, and lots more. Enjoy! More from Hector: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/HectorRosekrans WEBSITE: https://hectorrosekrans.com/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex17:10November 12, 2019Mauricio & Adam: Venezuela, Bitcoin and Ledn.ioMauricio Di Bartolomeo and Adam Reeds are the co-founders of Ledn.io, a Canadian-based financial services firm that currently offers bitcoin savings accounts and bitcoin-backed loans. Mauricio is also originally from Venezuela, and I recently heard him share his insights on what was going on there on the 'Tales from the Crypt' podcast. After hearing this, I really wanted to pick his brain more and ask him about how socialism got started there, what life is like now, and how the Maduro government was (reportedly) using Bitcoin to circumvent sanctions. So, the first 50 mins or so is mainly speaking about Venezuela with Mauricio, and the second half Adam re-joins the conversation to get into all the details about why they started Ledn and how it all works. Enjoy! More from Mauricio and Adam: TWITTER (Mauricio): https://twitter.com/cryptonomista TWITTER (Adam): https://twitter.com/adamreeds TWITTER (Ledn): https://twitter.com/hodlwithledn WEBSITE: https://ledn.io/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:55:42November 1, 2019Brady, Citizen Bitcoin: Journeying Towards a Bitcoin FutureBrady is the host and creator of Citizen Bitcoin, which in my opinion is one of the best podcasts in the bitcoin space. He has a very accessible style, is very well informed, and is always able to extract great insights from some of the top experts and entrepreneurs in the industry.  I thought it would be fun to connect with Brady, hear how he got started with the pod, and of course, have some fun talking about bitcoin:)  Enjoy! - More from Brady:  TWITTER: https://twitter.com/CitizenBitcoin  WEBSITE: https://citizenbitcoin.world/  More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:16:15October 30, 2019Rapid-Fire: Brady, Citizen Bitcoin PodcastBrady is the host and creator of Citizen Bitcoin, which in my opinion is one of the best podcasts in the bitcoin space. He has a very accessible style, is very well informed, and is always able to extract great insights from some of the top experts and entrepreneurs in the industry. I thought it would be fun to connect with Brady, hear how he got started with the pod, and of course, have some fun talking about bitcoin:) Enjoy! - More from Brady: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/CitizenBitcoin WEBSITE: https://citizenbitcoin.world/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex24:33October 30, 2019Rapid-Fire: Young NikI came across Nik (@nikcantmine) on twitter and just loved his attitude and approach to bitcoin. I then somehow found out that he was only 20 years old (he probably referenced school or something), and I thought it would be interesting to pick his brain and get the ’20 year old’ perspective’ on bitcoin. This was an awesome chat, and Nik really appears to be a young dude with his head screwed on right - the embodiment of 'Stay Humble, Stack Sats'. Enjoy! -- More from Nik: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nikcantmine YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-DKTGFuJTY55sBYnQaJSQw More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex23:15October 28, 2019Young Nik: 20 Years Old, Staying Humble, Stacking SatsI came across Nik (@nikcantmine) on twitter and just loved his attitude and approach to bitcoin. I then somehow found out that he was only 20 years old (he probably referenced school or something), and I thought it would be interesting to pick his brain and get the ’20 year old’ perspective’ on bitcoin. This was an awesome chat, and Nik really appears to be a young dude with his head screwed on right - the embodiment of 'Stay Humble, Stack Sats'. Enjoy! -- More from Nik: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nikcantmine YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-DKTGFuJTY55sBYnQaJSQw More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex50:03October 28, 2019Rapid-Fire: Jean Amiouny, ShakepayIn this interview I speak with Jean Amiouny, Co-Founder and CEO of Canadian bitcoin wallet/exchange, Shakepay. I came across Shakepay, tried it out, and was blown away by how easy and fast it was to fund, buy bitcoin, and withdraw. As a result, I thought it would be fun to speak with Jean to learn about how they do this and discuss the bitcoin scene in Canada. Enjoy! - More from Jean: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/aiouy WEBSITE: https://shakepay.co/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex27:17October 26, 2019Jean Amiouny, Shakepay: The Easiest Way to Buy Bitcoin in CanadaIn this interview I speak with Jean Amiouny, Co-Founder and CEO of Canadian bitcoin wallet/exchange, Shakepay. I came across Shakepay, tried it out, and was blown away by how easy and fast it was to fund, buy bitcoin, and withdraw to cold storage. As a result, I thought it would be fun to speak with Jean to learn about how they do this and discuss the bitcoin scene in Canada. Enjoy! More from Jean: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/aiouy WEBSITE: https://shakepay.co/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex47:44October 26, 2019Rapid-Fire: Ben PrenticeBen Prentice is the co-creator of the website WTFhappenedin1971.com, which is a simple, one page website, which showcases a variety of graphical data, that reveal 1971 to be a pivotal year in many different domains. This begs the question, why? We explore this and more in our chat. Enjoy! More from Ben: TWITTER: https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/ WEBSITE: https://twitter.com/mrcoolbp More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex12:03October 23, 2019Ben Prentice: WTF Happened in 1971?Ben Prentice is the co-creator of the website WTFhappenedin1971.com, which is a simple, one page website, which showcases a variety of graphical data, that reveal 1971 to be a pivotal year in many different domains. This begs the question, why? We explore this and more in our chat. Enjoy! More from Ben: TWITTER: https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/ WEBSITE: https://twitter.com/mrcoolbp More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 1:24:44October 23, 2019Vortex: Bitcoin Broadcaster, Educator & Hyper-BullVortex is an OG bitcoiner, host/creator of the 'Crypto Cast Network', and a very passionate, articulate and vocal supporter of bitcoin. For these reasons, I thought it would be fun to sit down for a jam. Enjoy! More from Vortex: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/theonevortex WEBSITE: http://www.cryptocast.network/ PERSONAL WEBSITE: http://theonevortex.com/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:06:58October 21, 2019Rapid-Fire: Robert BreedloveRobert Breedlove is the Co-Founder and CEO of Parallax Digital, a digital asset hedge fund and digital securities advisory firm. He also writes about Bitcoin, and has some AMAZING articles on his Medium page which address some of bitcoin's most fundamental concepts in a very wholistic yet concise way (Recommendation: Money, Bitcoin and Time). Robert's articles have been VERY well received by the bitcoin community, and ever since I read them I've been eager to have Robert on the pod for a chat. Robert was also invterviewed for the current Gold vs. Bitcoin series on Real Vision, which was great (Real Vision has a deal on now, $1/month for 3 months, for full access to their video library). Enjoy! More from Robert: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Breedlove22 WEBSITE: https://www.parallaxdigital.io/ MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@breedlove22 More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex17:04October 17, 2019Robert Breedlove: Why Bitcoin is ImportantRobert Breedlove is the Co-Founder and CEO of Parallax Digital, a digital asset hedge fund and digital securities advisory firm. He also writes about Bitcoin, and has some AMAZING articles on his Medium page which address some of bitcoin's most fundamental concepts in a very wholistic yet concise way (Recommendation: Money, Bitcoin and Time). Robert's articles have been VERY well received by the bitcoin community, and ever since I read them I've been eager to have Robert on the pod for a chat. Robert was also invterviewed for the current Gold vs. Bitcoin series on Real Vision, which was great (Real Vision has a deal on now, $1/month for 3 months, for full access to their video library). Enjoy! More from Robert: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Breedlove22 WEBSITE: https://www.parallaxdigital.io/ MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@breedlove22 More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:04:17October 17, 2019Further Discussion: Stephan LiveraStephan Livera is the host of the popular 'Stephan Livera Podcast' and a highly-regarded educator in the bitcoin space. He's interviewed some of the top people in the industry, and has recently transitioned to working on bitcoin full-time. I thought it would be fun to speak with him about his experience as a podcaster and what it felt like to leave his 'normal job' and dive head-first into his true passion. Enjoy! More from Stephan: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/stephanlivera WEBSITE: https://stephanlivera.com/ YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/StephanLivera More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:09:31October 15, 2019Stephan Livera: All-In On Bitcoin EducationStephan Livera is the host of the popular 'Stephan Livera Podcast' and a highly-regarded educator in the bitcoin space. He's interviewed some of the top people in the industry, and has recently transitioned to working on bitcoin full-time. I thought it would be fun to speak with him about his experience as a podcaster and what it felt like to leave his 'normal job' and dive head-first into his true passion. Enjoy! More from Stephan: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/stephanlivera WEBSITE: https://stephanlivera.com/ YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/StephanLivera More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 11:33October 15, 2019Eric Voskuil: Money, The State, and the Future of BitcoinEric Voskuil is the lead developer on Libbitcoin, a prolific writer on Austrian Economics and what he calls the 'Principles of Cryptodynamics', former Navy fighter pilot, world traveller and highly regarded voice amongst many bitcoiners. After hearing Eric appear on some other podcasts, I was both intrigued and somewhat confused, and decided to reach out to him to try and get some further clarity on his opinions. This is a MONSTER 3.5 hour episode, so I've included some time/topic references below. Enjoy! - 0-30: Libbitcoin 30: Bitcoin's security model 1.20: How debt and the current monetary system work + Tax rules everything 1.55: Anarchy + Military Service 2.18: Approach to life + Importance of Trade 2.43: Lightning + Full monetization of BTC chain and implications - More from Eric: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/evoskuil GITHUB: https://github.com/evoskuil More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 3:23:37October 11, 2019Further Discussion: Rui GomesRui Gomes is the lead software engineer at OpenNode, a bitcoin payment processor with lightning integration. Flexible and easy-to-use payment processors are essential for growing the bitcoin economy, and bringing traditional businesses into the space. Combined with lightning, they represent the possibility for payment solutions that are orders of magnitude better than what is available from the incumbent players. As a result, I thought it would be interesting to speak with Rui to pick his brain, learn more about developments in the space, and ask him about the difference between what he and the team at OpenNode are building, in comparison to something like BTCPay Server (Spoiler: They are different). Enjoy! -- More from Hui: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitgomes OPENNODE: https://www.opennode.com/ LAPPS.CO: https://www.lapps.co/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:08:20October 9, 2019Rui Gomes: OpenNode and Lightning PaymentsRui Gomes is the lead software engineer at OpenNode, a bitcoin payment processor with lightning integration. Flexible and easy-to-use payment processors are essential for growing the bitcoin economy, and bringing traditional businesses into the space. Combined with lightning, they represent the possibility for payment solutions that are orders of magnitude better than what is available from the incumbent players.  As a result, I thought it would be interesting to speak with Rui to pick his brain, learn more about developments in the space, and ask him about the difference between what he and the team at OpenNode are building, in comparison to something like BTCPay Server (Spoiler: They are different). Enjoy! -- More from Hui: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitgomes OPENNODE: https://www.opennode.com/ LAPPS.CO: https://www.lapps.co/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 21:12October 9, 2019Further Discussion: Hass McCookHass McCook is a civil engineer who has become a valuable resource in bringing clarity to the issue of Bitcoin's impact on the environment. This issue is often misrepresented in the mainstream media, so it is very important that objective analysis is use to understand it, and that it is considered in the proper context. Hass is also a very 'devout' bitcoiner with lots of interesting views, so I thought it would be fun to get together for a chat. Enjoy. More from Hass: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/HassMcCook YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeT4hBUtD461X3xXsaYDNGg/videos More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:19:33October 7, 2019Hass McCook: Energy, The Environment, and ExaltationHass McCook is a civil engineer who has become a valuable resource in bringing clarity to the issue of Bitcoin's impact on the environment. This issue is often misrepresented in the mainstream media, so it is very important that objective analysis is use to understand it, and that it is considered in the proper context.  Hass is also a very 'devout' bitcoiner with lots of interesting views, so I thought it would be fun to get together for a chat. Enjoy. More from Hass: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/HassMcCook YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeT4hBUtD461X3xXsaYDNGg/videos More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 15:26October 7, 2019Further Discussion: Bitcoin Sign Guy'Bitcoin Sign Guy' became famous for holding up a notepad with 'Buy Bitcoin' scribbled on it, directly behind then Chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, during a congressional hearing. Of course, this was loved by bitcoiners the world over, and thus, the legend of 'Bitcoin Sign Guy' was born:) Enjoy! More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex56:30October 5, 2019Bitcoin Sign Guy: The man, the myth, the meme'Bitcoin Sign Guy' became famous for holding up a notepad with 'Buy Bitcoin' scribbled on it, directly behind then Chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, during a congressional hearing. Of course, this was loved by bitcoiners the world over, and thus, the legend of 'Bitcoin Sign Guy' was born:) Enjoy! More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex58:27October 5, 2019Dr Shawn Baker MD: The Carnivore DietDr. Shawn Baker is a bad motherfucker. Orthopedic surgeon, Air Force vet, World Record holder, Strongman Champion, and most recently, outspoken advocate of a diet based primarily on red meat, also known as ‘The Carnivore Diet’, which also happens to be the title of his upcoming book (November 2019). I’ve had a life-long interest in nutrition, fitness and health, and have been wanting to speak with Shawn since I saw his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Interestingly, there is also a large contingent of people in the Bitcoin community who follow and advocate for the Carnivore Diet, so I thought some of them may be interested in hearing from Shawn also. Enjoy! More from Shawn: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/SBakerMD INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/shawnbaker1967/ WEBSITE: https://www.shawn-baker.com/ BOOK: https://amzn.to/2mR2fuX More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 1:36:40October 2, 2019Further Discussion: PavlenexPavlenex is the man behind the great how-to videos and documentation helping us all learn how to use the amazing, free, private, censorship-resistant, open-source payment processing project, BTCPay Server. I wanted to speak with Pavlenex to learn more about this very important project, and also to hear more about his personal motivations in volunteering so much of his time to it. Enjoy! More from Pavlenex: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/pavlenex WEBSITE: https://bitcoinshirt.co/ BTCPAY SERVER: https://btcpayserver.org/ More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:04:28October 1, 2019Pavlenex: BTCPay Server Contributor Pavlenex is the man behind the great how-to videos and documentation helping us all learn how to use the amazing, free, private, censorship-resistant, open-source payment processing project, BTCPay Server. I wanted to speak with Pavlenex to learn more about this very important project, and also to hear more about his personal motivations in volunteering so much of his time to it. Enjoy! More from Pavlenex: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/pavlenex WEBSITE: https://bitcoinshirt.co/ BTCPAY SERVER: https://btcpayserver.org/ More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 23:20October 1, 2019Further Discussion: Yan PritzkerYan Pritzker represents another classic case of someone who has re-directed their entire career as a result of catching the bitcoin bug. Specifically, Yan left his position as co-founder and CTO of reverb.com, the popular open marketplace for music equipment, to devote himself to educating people about bitcoin. His first effort in this new career has culminated in ‘Inventing Bitcoin’, a book he authored to try and make understanding bitcoin more accessible to a mainstream audience. For those people in your life that you’re trying to ‘red pill’, I think this book could be a very useful tool:) Enjoy! More from Yan: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/skwp WEBSITE: https://www.inventingbitcoin.com/ AMAZON: https://amzn.to/2mbROls More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 1:27:24September 27, 2019Yan Pritzker: Inventing Bitcoin (Book)Yan Pritzker represents another classic case of someone who has re-directed their entire career as a result of catching the bitcoin bug. Specifically, Yan left his position as co-founder and CTO of reverb.com, the popular open marketplace for music equipment, to devote himself to educating people about bitcoin. His first effort in this new career has culminated in ‘Inventing Bitcoin’, a book he authored to try and make understanding bitcoin more accessible to a mainstream audience. For those people in your life that you’re trying to ‘red pill’, I think this book could be a very useful tool:) Enjoy! More from Yan: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/skwp WEBSITE: https://www.inventingbitcoin.com/ AMAZON: https://amzn.to/2mbROls More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex27:43September 27, 2019Further Discussion: Brandon QuittemBrandon Quittem is the author of a series of articles on Medium that has grabbed the attention and expanded the perspective of bitcoiners everywhere. In his 4-part series, Brandon explores the similarities shared between bitcoin and mycelium (the underground fungal network from which mushrooms emerge), referring to bitcoin as a ‘decentralized organism’. Analogies between bitcoin and other natural processes and phenomena have been made before, however none appear to be more apt than the one Brandon makes with mycelium. In my view, such analogies are important, and garner so much interest, because the degree to which an analogy is apt or appropriate, represents the degree of use we may derive from transferring known understandings or insights from it, to the the subject of the analogy, which we are all desperately trying to understand more. Anyways, this was a super fun chat for me. Hope you enjoy it! More from Brandon: MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@BrandonQuittem TWITTER: https://twitter.com/bquittem More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:08:14September 24, 2019Brandon Quittem: Bitcoin is a Decentralized OrganismBrandon Quittem is the author of a series of articles on Medium that has grabbed the attention and expanded the perspective of bitcoiners everywhere. In his 4-part series, Brandon explores the similarities shared between bitcoin and mycelium (the underground fungal network from which mushrooms emerge), referring to bitcoin as a ‘decentralized organism’. Analogies between bitcoin and other natural processes and phenomena have been made before, however none appear to be more apt than the one Brandon makes with mycelium. In my view, such analogies are important, and garner so much interest, because the degree to which an analogy is apt or appropriate, represents the degree of use we may derive from transferring known understandings or insights from it, to the the subject of the analogy, which we are all desperately trying to understand more. Anyways, this was a super fun chat for me. Hope you enjoy it! More from Brandon: MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@BrandonQuittem TWITTER: https://twitter.com/bquittem More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 18:01September 24, 2019Further Discussion: Ragnar LifthrasirRagnar Lifthrasir is the Co-Founder and CEO of gunsnbitcoin.com, and an outspoken advocate of the responsible ownership of firearms. I’ve noticed that my perspective on guns has changed quite a lot over the past decade or so, and obviously it is a polarizing topic in our culture. I feel that almost all the dialogue on this issue is guided by emotion rather than logic, reason, data, or an understanding of historical context. As a result, I was eager to speak with Ragnar to understand his perspective further and have a calm and rational dialogue on this subject. Enjoy! More from Ragnar: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Ragnarly WEBSITE: https://gunsnbitcoin.com/ More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:10:49September 23, 2019Ragnar Lifthrasir: Guns N' BitcoinRagnar Lifthrasir is the Co-Founder and CEO of gunsnbitcoin.com, and an outspoken advocate of the responsible ownership of firearms. I’ve noticed that my perspective on guns has changed quite a lot over the past decade or so, and obviously it is a polarizing topic in our culture. I feel that almost all the dialogue on this issue is guided by emotion rather than logic, reason, data, or an understanding of historical context. As a result, I was eager to speak with Ragnar to understand his perspective further and have a calm and rational dialogue on this subject. Enjoy! More from Ragnar: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Ragnarly WEBSITE: https://gunsnbitcoin.com/ More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex14:24September 23, 2019Further Discussion: Guy SwannGuy Swann is an OG bitcoiner and the creator, host, and captivating voice behind 'The Cryptoconomy' podcast. With so many great bitcoin-related articles and other written content coming out these days, it can be diificult to keep up. However, we all recognize the importance of expanding our view of this revolutionary technology, Guy makes this process super easy, by taking the best written content in the space and turning it into an audio format. He's excellent at what he does, an his podcast has been a huge 'time hack' for me personally. Guy also conducts interviews and publishes his solo rants, which are incredibly informative, thought-provoking and enjoyable. He's a gem in the space in my opinion, and so I thought it might be fun to have a chat. Enjoy! More from Guy: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/TheCryptoconomy WEBSITE: http://thecryptoconomy.com/ PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/thecryptoconomy More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:26:17September 16, 2019Guy Swann: The Audible of BitcoinGuy Swann is an OG bitcoiner and the creator, host, and captivating voice behind 'The Cryptoconomy' podcast. With so many great bitcoin-related articles and other written content coming out these days, it can be diificult to keep up. However, we all recognize the importance of expanding our view of this revolutionary technology, Guy makes this process super easy, by taking the best written content in the space and turning it into an audio format. He's excellent at what he does, an his podcast has been a huge 'time hack' for me personally. Guy also conducts interviews and publishes his solo rants, which are incredibly informative, thought-provoking and enjoyable. He's a gem in the space in my opinion, and so I thought it might be fun to have a chat. Enjoy! More from Guy: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/TheCryptoconomy WEBSITE: http://thecryptoconomy.com/ PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/thecryptoconomy More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex35:55September 16, 2019Further Discussion: Aleks SvetskiAleks is the Co-Founder and CEO of amber, a bitcoin wallet/exchange that allows you to automate bitcoin purchases over time (dollar-cost averaging) and avoid making investment decisions (Read: mistakes!) based on market movements. Aleks is also a vocal supporter and educator of bitcoin in Australia through his writing, speaking and podcasting. Aleks has a no-nonsense approach to bitcoin and doesn't mince words when it comes to explaining how important this technology is and why it's important to be involved. Naturally, I was interested in speaking with such a person:) Enjoy! -- More from Aleks: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/AleksSvetski WEBSITE: https://getamber.io/ More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 1:17:48September 12, 2019Aleks Svetski: Don't Invest in Bitcoin, 'Collect' BitcoinAleks is the Co-Founder and CEO of getamber.io, a bitcoin wallet/exchange that allows you to automate bitcoin purchases over time (dollar-cost averaging) and avoid making investment decisions (Read: mistakes!) based on market movements. Aleks is also a vocal supporter and educator of bitcoin in Australia through his writing, speaking and podcasting. Aleks has a no-nonsense approach to bitcoin and doesn't mince words when it comes to explaining how important this technology is and why it's important to be involved. Naturally, I was interested in speaking with such a person:) Enjoy! -- More from Aleks: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/AleksSvetski WEBSITE: https://getamber.io/ More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex24:17September 12, 2019Further Discussion: Marty BentMarty is the author of the daily newsletter 'Marty's Bent', as well as the host of the popular bitcoin podcast, 'Tales from the Crypt'. Through these two publications, Marty has garnered a large and loyal audience who value his deep understanding of bitcoin and down-to-earth style of communication. Enjoy! More from Marty: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/MartyBent WEBSITE: https://tftc.io/ PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/tales-from-the-crypt More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:05:22September 10, 2019Marty Bent: Tales from the CryptMarty is the author of the daily newsletter 'Marty's Bent', as well as the host of the popular bitcoin podcast, 'Tales from the Crypt'. Through these two publications, Marty has garnered a large and loyal audience who value his deep understanding of bitcoin and down-to-earth style of communication. Enjoy! More from Marty: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/MartyBent WEBSITE: https://tftc.io/ PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/tales-from-the-crypt More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex34:12September 10, 2019Further Discussion: Gigi**Apologies for the audio on this one, new set-up didn't go so well, lol. It's worst at the beginning.** Gigi is another guest which I first came accross on Twitter. I thought he was putting out some well-articulated and insightful tweets, so I checked him out a little bit further. I then came across two great resources which he has put together: 21lessons.com and bitcoin-resources.com. In the first, Gigi grafts his own journey learning about bitcoin, onto the classic tale of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, in an informative and entertaining way, available in both written and audio format. It's a very convenient way to get caught up on bitcoin. In the second, he provides a collection of great content for those who want to dive deeper, it too is a great resource full of useful information. No particular angle in this chat, just thought it might be fun to connect and geek-out about bitcoin for a while. We touched on some of the important narratives around bitcoin, and how more are emerging all of the time, drawing ever-more diverse people into the space. Of course, we got a little cosmic too, because, well, it's fun:) Enjoy! More from Gigi: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/dergigi WEBSITES: https://21lessons.com/ , https://bitcoin-resources.com/ , https://dergigi.com/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:26:14September 4, 2019Gigi: Down the Bitcoin Rabbit Hole**Apologies for the audio on this one, new set-up didn't go so well, lol. It's worst at the beginning** Gigi is another guest which I first came accross on Twitter. I thought he was putting out some well-articulated and insightful tweets, so I checked him out a little bit further. I then came across two great resources which he has put together: 21lessons.com and bitcoin-resources.com. In the first, Gigi grafts his own journey learning about bitcoin, onto the classic tale of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, in an informative and entertaining way, available in both written and audio format. It's a very convenient way to get caught up on bitcoin. In the second, he provides a collection of great content for those who want to dive deeper, it too is a great resource full of useful information. No particular angle in this chat, just thought it might be fun to connect and geek-out about bitcoin for a while. We touched on some of the important narratives around bitcoin, and how more are emerging all of the time, drawing ever-more diverse people into the space.  Of course, we got a little cosmic too, because, well, it's fun:) Enjoy! More from Gigi: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/dergigi WEBSITES: https://21lessons.com/ , https://bitcoin-resources.com/ , https://dergigi.com/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex23:57September 4, 2019Dictation: Bitcoin & Fire - Forces of NatureI was wroking on my computer the other day and somehow started thinking about the similarities between the emergence of fire, and the emergence of bitcoin. I started writing and later that day published it to Medium. I then thought, why restrict it to only the written/readable realm?  So I recorded a reading of it, and published it here:) I enjoy experimenting with the opoorunities that the new media/publishing landscape enables. If you like it, or have any other ideas for me to try out, feel free to hit me up and let me know!  Enjoy!  - More from me:  TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex08:29September 2, 2019Further Discussion: Matt OdellMatt is considered an OG in the Bitcoin space. His informed, no-nonsense style of sharing his learning process on Twitter and through his 'Rabbit Hole Recap' episodes on the Tales from the Crypt podcast, has been very well-received by the Bitcoin community and by many people who are trying to learn more about this revolutionary technology. It was awesome to have the chance to speak with someone who is so knowledgeable and who is contributing so much to the development of the space in general. Enjoy Check him out: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/matt_odell PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/tales-from-the-crypt PODCAST WEBSITE: https://tftc.io/ BIZ WEBSITE: https://finalmessage.io/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:13:26August 31, 2019Matt Odell: Stay Humble, Stack SatsMatt is considered an OG in the Bitcoin space. His informed, no-nonsense style of sharing his learning process on Twitter and through his 'Rabbit Hole Recap' episodes on the Tales from the Crypt podcast, has been very well-received by the Bitcoin community and by many people who are trying to learn more about this revolutionary technology. It was awesome to have the chance to speak with someone who is so knowledgeable and who is contributing so much to the development of the space in general. Enjoy! Check him out: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/matt_odell PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/tales-from-the-crypt PODCAST WEBSITE: https://tftc.io/ BIZ WEBSITE: https://finalmessage.io/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 10:22August 31, 2019From the Archive: Bobby Lee (2015)I thought it would be fun to publish some of the bitcoin interviews I conducted prior to launching the new podcast. This was my very first one, done with Bobby Lee in Shanghai in the fall of 2015. At the time Bobby was the CEO and Co-Founder of BTC China (now BTCC), a prominent bitcoin exchange based in China. This is a great episode for beginngers, as it really digs into the basics of what makes bitcoin special. However, it may also be cool for people at any stage in their bitcoin journey to listen in on what the conversation around bitcoin was like when it was at just $250. Enjoy! More from Bobby: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/bobbyclee NEW PROJECT: https://twitter.com/BalletCrypto More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:26:31August 30, 2019Further Discussion: Alex Adelman, lolliIn the bitcoin community, the subject of adoption is often discussed. How can we get more people to start learning about and interacting with bitcoin? Many people are hesitant to invest in such a volatile asset, and are intimidated by the learning curve required to get involved, and this has slowed adoption. What if you could tell people that all they had to do to start playing with (read: accumulating) bitcoin was to install a browser extension, and shop online as they already do? Nothing to read. No money to loose. Just spend regularly, and earn bitcoin back. Game = Changed. I'm extremely confident that lolli will be a huge catalyst for the more rapid adoption of bitcoin, and as such, I thought it would be awesome to speak with the CEO and Co-Founder, Alex Adelman. Alex is a very open and genuine guy, and clearly passionate about his company and contribution to the bitcoin ecosystem. It was my pleasure to get the chance to speak with him. Remember, the 'Rapid-Fire' episodes are where I ask guests a series of standard questions around bitcoin, money and some other fun stuff. The 'Further Discussion' episodes are a chance to have an open conversation with them and go a little deeper on some of these super interesting topics. Enjoy! More from Alex/lolli: WEBSITE: https://www.lolli.com/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/trylolli TWITTER (ALEX): https://twitter.com/alexadelman More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:00:56August 24, 2019Alex Adelman, lolli: Get Free Bitcoin When You Shop! In the bitcoin community, the subject of adoption is often discussed. How can we get more people to start learning about and interacting with bitcoin? Many people are hesitant to invest in such a volatile asset, and are intimidated by the learning curve required to get involved, and this has slowed adoption. What if you could tell people that all they had to do to start playing with (read: accumulating) bitcoin was to install a browser extension, and shop online as they already do? Nothing to read. No money to loose. Just spend regularly, and earn bitcoin back. Game = Changed. I'm extremely confident that lolli will be a huge catalyst for the more rapid adoption of bitcoin, and as such, I thought it would be awesome to speak with the CEO and Co-Founder, Alex Adelman.  Alex is a very open and genuine guy, and clearly passionate about his company and contribution to the bitcoin ecosystem. It was my pleasure to get the chance to speak with him. Remember, the 'Rapid-Fire' episodes are where I ask guests a series of standard questions around bitcoin, money and some other fun stuff. The 'Further Discussion' episodes are a chance to have an open conversation with them and go a little deeper on some of these super interesting topics. Enjoy! More from Alex/lolli: WEBSITE: https://www.lolli.com/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/trylolli  TWITTER (ALEX): https://twitter.com/alexadelman More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex27:29August 23, 2019Further Discussion: Raoul PalBefore the rapid-fire portion of our conversation, I asked Raoul to elaborate on a recent thread on Twitter in which he made his case that the probability was high that the world was on the precipice of a substantial recession. We also had a more general discussion about Bitcoin, how he's approaching it, and his thoughts on its Future. Check him out: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/RaoulGMI YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBH5VZE_Y4F3CMcPIzPEB5A LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raoul-pal-1b681b1/ More from John: Twitter: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA Facebook: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB Insta: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YouTube: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 Medium: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 57:24August 16, 2019Raoul Pal, Macro Investor: Global Markets on the Edge, the Bitcoin Hedge, and the 'Netflix of Finance'Raoul Pal is a former hedge fund manager, the publisher of the Global Macro Investor (a macro-economic and investment strategy research service), and the co-founder and CEO of Real Vision, which he describes as the 'Netflix of Finance' (Long-form interviews with the top investment and financial people in the world). Prior to this interview, I had recently seen a thread Raoul made on twitter, in which he shared several charts which depicted an alarming state of affairs in the global financial system. I wanted to get Raoul on so I could pick his brain a bit about what he was seeing, how to 'play' this market, and what Bitcoin's role will be in this rapidly changing environment. Check him out: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/RaoulGMI YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBH5VZE_Y4F3CMcPIzPEB5A LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raoul-pal-1b681b1/ More from John: YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2MmkDHr TWITTER: https://twitter.com/johnkvallis  INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/johnkvallis/  FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/johnkvallis  MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@johnkvallis 25:13August 15, 2019Further Discussion: American HodlPrior to the rapid-fire segment, we spoke for about 90 minutes on a variety of subjects, and shared our respective stories on how we originally came to Bitcoin. As it turns out, they were EXACTLY the same. (Hint: It involves DMT). He has an amazing twitter account. Follow him, now: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/americanhodl4 More from John: YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2MmkDHr TWITTER: https://twitter.com/johnkvallis  INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com / johnkvallis /  FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/johnkvallis  MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@johnkvallis1:28:20August 14, 2019American Hodl: Bitcoin Twitter Gangster and Relentless Stacker of SatsAmerican Hodl is the pseudonym for a guy on 'Bitcoin Twitter' (people on twitter that pretty much only tweet about Bitcoin). I came across his tweets somehow, and just kinda liked how he got down, so I asked him if he wanted to record a chat. He agreed, so we did, and it was awesome. P.S. He's also the most relentless stacker of sats (translation: constant buyer of fractions of a bitcoin, known as 'Saotshi's' or 'sats') on Bitcoin twitter, and always boldly broadcasts his purchases. This may seem weird from an outside perspective, but I can assure you everyone in the community loves it, as do I. Follow him, now: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/americanhodl4 More from John: YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2MmkDHr TWITTER: https://twitter.com/johnkvallis  INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com / johnkvallis /  FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/johnkvallis  MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@johnkvallis22:44August 14, 2019Further Discussion: Ben Perrin (aka BTC Sessions)After the 'rapid-fire' portion of the show, Ben and I had a short discussion about his work, how he got started and what it was like being a content creator / educator in the Bitcoin space. Check him out: WEBSITE: https://www.btcsessions.ca/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/BTCsessions YOUTUBE: ion=1 More from John: YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2MmkDHr TWITTER: https://twitter.com/johnkvallis  INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/johnkvallis/  FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/johnkvallis  MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@johnkvallis12:51August 14, 2019Ben Perrin (aka BTC Sessions): Bitcoin EducatorVia his popular YouTube Channel, Ben provides a ton of great information on many facets of Bitcoin, including best practices for buying and securing it, industry news and commentary, and some of the deeper philosophical considerations around Bitcoin. Check him out: WEBSITE: https://www.btcsessions.ca/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/BTCsessions YOUTUBE: ion=1 More from John: YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2MmkDHr TWITTER: https://twitter.com/johnkvallis  INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/johnkvallis/  FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/johnkvallis  MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@johnkvallis 1:09:42August 14, 2019Bitcoin Rapid-FireBy John VallisBitcoin is the future of money, that is my firm belief. In this show, I speak with the amazing people who are building and contributing to this revolutionary new industry. The 'rapid-fire' episodes give you some concise info and insights, the 'further discussion' episodes let you listen in on a more casual and open dialogue with each guest. Hey hey hey, stack sats everyday:)Starting in undefined…00:0055:531xElisabeth Préfontaine: From BlackRock to BitcoinElisabeth Préfontaine is the founder of Octonomics, an independent research and consulting firm focused on bitcoin. She has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, most recently working as the Head of Wealth Sales for BlackRock Canada. In 2016 Elisabeth discovered bitcoin, and has since been consumed with researching every aspect of this emerging technological, monetary and social phenomenon, and passing what she has learned on to her clients. Enjoy! -- More from Elisabeth: WEBSITE: https://www.octonomics.com/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/eprefon More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY1:25:34March 31, 2020Rapid-Fire: Jeff BoothJeff Booth is the author of the book ‘The Price of Tomorrow: Why Deflation is the Key to an Abundant Future’. His book was published in January 2020, and is incredibly prescient, with many of his predictions being revealed or confirmed during the current crisis over Covid-19. He is also a successful technology entrepreneur, having founded or sitting on the board of several tech companies such as BuildDirect, OtioLabs, addyinvest,com, NocNoc, Terramera, Cubic Farms, LlamaZOO and Synthiam. He is also incredibly bullish on bitcoin, and believes it represents a lifeboat in a time when the legacy financial system appears to be under extreme stress and possibly collapse. I couldn’t agree more:) Enjoy! -- More from Jeff: WEBSITE: https://www.jeffreybooth.com/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/JeffBooth BOOK: HC&pf_rd_p=05326fd5-c43e-4948-99b1-a65b129fdd73 LINKED IN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffdbooth/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY13:18March 30, 2020Jeff Booth: Why Deflation Is The Key To An Abundant FutureJeff Booth is the author of the book ‘The Price of Tomorrow: Why Deflation is the Key to an Abundant Future’. His book was published in January 2020, and is incredibly prescient, with many of his predictions being revealed or confirmed during the current crisis over Covid-19. He is also a successful technology entrepreneur, having founded or sitting on the board of several tech companies such as BuildDirect, OtioLabs, addyinvest,com, NocNoc, Terramera, Cubic Farms, LlamaZOO and Synthiam. He is also incredibly bullish on bitcoin, and believes it represents a lifeboat in a time when the legacy financial system appears to be under extreme stress and possibly collapse. I couldn’t agree more:) Enjoy! -- More from Jeff: WEBSITE: https://www.jeffreybooth.com/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/JeffBooth BOOK: HC&pf_rd_p=05326fd5-c43e-4948-99b1-a65b129fdd73 LINKED IN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffdbooth/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY55:53March 27, 2020Rapid-Fire: Preston PyshWell it’s been a hell of a couple weeks. Definitely one for the history books in both the bitcoin and traditional markets. Coronavirus is causing major disruptions all over the world, and the knock-on economic effects are causing large sell-offs everywhere. The virus may very well be the catalyst that exposes the fragility of the existing economic paradigm. If that is the case, there is a lot of very difficult change on the horizon. Only time will tell. Preston Pysh is the host of the ‘We Study Billionaires’ podcast, and is a frequent guest on several investing and bitcoin podcasts, discussing macro events and circumstances, and providing his opinions on how best to navigate uncertain times. These are interesting times to say the least, and I was delighted to have Preston come on and share his perspective. Enjoy! -- Show notes: https://www.lopp.net/ https://bitcoin-resources.com/ More from Preston: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/PrestonPysh WEBSITE: https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY12:56March 20, 2020Preston Pysh: Market Crash, Macro Drivers, and Why Bitcoin May Soon Explode Well it’s been a hell of a week. Definitely one for the history books in both the bitcoin and traditional markets. Coronavirus is causing major disruptions all over the world, and the knock-on economic effects are causing large sell-offs everywhere. The virus may very well be the catalyst that exposes the fragility of the existing economic paradigm. If that is the case, there is a lot of very difficult change on the horizon. Only time will tell. Preston Pysh is the host of the ‘We Study Billionaires’ podcast, and is a frequent guest on several investing and bitcoin podcasts, discussing macro events and circumstances, and providing his opinions on how best to navigate uncertain times. This conversation took place on Monday, March 9th, after an historic global financial market route, and is being released on Friday the 13th of March, a day after a massive ~50% draw-down in bitcoin. These are interesting times to say the least, and I was delighted to have Preston come on and share his perspective. Enjoy! Show notes: https://www.lopp.net/ https://bitcoin-resources.com/ More from Preston: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/PrestonPysh WEBSITE: https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY1:32:23March 13, 2020Andy Edstrom: Why Buy Bitcoin (The Book)Andy Edstrom CF!, CFP, is a financial advisor at the registered investment advisory firm, WESCAP group. Prior to this, Andy has held positions at Ewing Management Group, Tennenbaum Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs. Some time ago he came across bitcoin and believed the upside it represented necessitated brining it to his clients to consider as a valuable addition to their portfolios. However, making the investment case for bitcoin to people who have yet to ‘go down the rabbit hole’ was a difficult task. Feeling that bitcoin was an investment that many of his clients absolutely must at least consider, but finding it difficult to explain in one sitting, Andy decided to write a book. That book is ‘Why Buy Bitcoin: Investing Today in the Money of Tomorrow’. I invited Andy to come on the show and discuss. Enjoy! -- More from Andy: WEBSITE: http://www.andyedstrom.com/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/edstromandrew AMAZON 33219609/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1580413817&sr=8-2 More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY 1:49:05March 7, 2020Guest on Keyvan Davani's 'Total Bitcoin' PodcastI was recently invited on to Keyvan Danvani's 'Total bitcoin' Podcast for a chat. Keyvan has been putting out some awesome content with great guests and an interesting format, and it was super fun to get the chance to speak with him. Note: We had some bandwidth issues it seems, so the audio is a bit spotty in places. It's the worst during the first half of the show. More from Keyvan: WEBSITE: http://thetotalconnector.com/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/keyvandavani APPLE: https://apple.co/2IA2dhV SPOTIFY: https://spoti.fi/2wOfq1k More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY1:04:30March 2, 2020Jeff Vandroux: Economic Populism, Distributism, and Why Bitcoin Won't Save CapitalismJeff Vandroux is an attorney, CPA, bodybuilder, BTCPayServer Contributor, and the founder of Keykeeper IRA. I came to know Jeff via his discussion with Marty Bent on the Tales from the Crypt Podcast. It was clear that Jeff was well-read and thoughtful, but I found myself disagreeing with much of what he was saying, and a bit surprised by his opinions, which seem to differ greatly from your ‘average bitcoiner’. However, it was for this reason that I wanted to have a chat, so we did! Enjoy! -- More from Jeff: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/vandrewattycpa WEBSITE: https://keykeeperira.com/bitcoin/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY2:21:40February 23, 2020Rapid-Fire: Jeff VandrouxJeff Vandroux is an attorney, CPA, bodybuilder, BTCPayServer Contributor, and the founder of Keykeeper IRA. I came to know Jeff via his discussion with Marty Bent on the Tales from the Crypt Podcast. It was clear that Jeff was well-read and thoughtful, but I found myself disagreeing with much of what he was saying, and a bit surprised by his opinions, which seem to differ greatly from your ‘average bitcoiner’. However, it was for this reason that I wanted to have a chat, so we did! Enjoy! -- More from Jeff: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/vandrewattycpa WEBSITE: https://keykeeperira.com/bitcoin/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY19:42February 23, 2020Gustavo Flores: Head of Product and Research at Veriphi.ioVeriphi.io is a Montreal-based bitcoin consultancy, which assists clients in all aspects of understanding, acquiring, using and securing their bitcoin. This type of business may indeed be important for onboarding HNW individuals, family offices, and institutions who require more hand-holding than the average maximalist hodler. As a result, I thought I'd have Gustavo on to learn more about their services, business model, and how things have been going. Enjoy! More from Gustavo: TWIITER: https://twitter.com/GustavoJ_Flores WEBSITE: https://veriphi.io/en More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY1:12:27February 17, 2020Rapid-Fire: Gustavo FloresVeriphi.io is a Montreal-based bitcoin consultancy, which assists clients in all aspects of understanding, acquiring, using and securing their bitcoin. This type of business may indeed be important for onboarding HNW individuals, family offices, and institutions who require more hand-holding than the average maximalist hodler. As a result, I thought I'd have Gustavo on to learn more about their services, business model, and how things have been going. Enjoy! More from Gustavo: TWIITER: https://twitter.com/GustavoJ_Flores WEBSITE: https://veriphi.io/en More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY 17:01February 17, 2020Alex Gladstein, Human Rights Foundation: Bitcoin is Freedom MoneyAlex Gladstein is the Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation and The Oslo Freedom Forum. He has been working to bring awareness to, and rectify, human rights abuses around the world for his entire career. In 2016, he fell down the 'bitcoin rabbit hole' and realized how it could be used as an extremely powerful tool to combat authoritarian regimes the world over. Since then he has been giving talks on the subject, and educating people on the significance of bitcoin and how to use it for greater freedom for all people. Enjoy! -- More from Alex: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/gladstein HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION: https://hrf.org/ OSLO FREEDOM FORUM: https://hrf.org/events/oslo-freedom-forum/ More from John: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY 57:31February 9, 2020Max Hillebrand: First-Class BitcoinerI recently heard max on a few other podcasts and was simply blown away. To me, Max seems like someone who understands the impact and importance of Bitcoin to a high degree, and is engaging with it fully to construct a life of freedom and propserity. Max shares his knowledge via his YouTube videos and podcast on the World Crypto Network, as well as through his website (towardsliberty.com), the talks he gives, and via his contribution to some of the exciting and important open source projects currently being developed in the space. He's a wealth of knowledge, and in my opinion, an exemplar of the type of person and life that is made possible through bitcoin. Enjoy! More from Max: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/HillebrandMax YOUTUBE: deVXGIPNqV_8a WEBSITE: https://towardsliberty.com/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 1:33:46January 24, 2020Rapid-Fire: Max HillebrandI recently heard max on a few other podcasts and was simply blown away. To me, Max seems like someone who understands the impact and importance of Bitcoin to a high degree, and is engaging with it fully to construct a life of freedom and propserity. Max shares his knowledge via his YouTube videos and podcast on the World Crypto Network, as well as through his website (towardsliberty.com), the talks he gives, and via his contribution to some of the exciting and important open source projects currently being developed in the space. He's a wealth of knowledge, and in my opinion, an exemplar of the type of person and life that is made possible through bitcoin. This is the 'Rapid-Fire' portion of our conversation. The full version is available now also. Enjoy! More from Max: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/HillebrandMax YOUTUBE: deVXGIPNqV_8a WEBSITE: https://towardsliberty.com/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex10:45January 24, 2020John Carvalho: No-nonsense BitcoinerJohn Carvalho is the COO of bitrefill.com, which allows users to purchase giftcards with crypto for a huge array of products and services all over the world. He is also respected for his thoughtful writing, which represents a valuable contribution to the space, and helps many people understand better what bitcoin is and how it works. Enjoy! More from John: WEBSITE: https://www.bitrefill.com/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/johnkvallis More from Me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 1:36:58January 10, 2020Rapid-Fire: John CarvalhoJohn Carvalho is the COO of bitrefill.com, which allows users to purchase giftcards with crypto for a huge array of products and services all over the world. He is also respected for his thoughtful writing, which represents a valuable contribution to the space, and helps many people understand better what bitcoin is and how it works. Enjoy! More from John: WEBSITE: https://www.bitrefill.com/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/johnkvallis More from Me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex13:12January 10, 2020Will Reeves: Earn Bitcoin When You Shop w/ FoldWe talk a lot about adoption in the bitcoin space, and the hurdles that may be keeping more people from starting to engage with it. I'm super bullish on the 'bitcoin back' rewards model because it allows people to start getting familiar with bitcoin without having to change their behavior OR take on any risk, it's basically free bitcoin, and that's a pretty damn powerful proposition that many seem to be interested in. For this reason, I thought it would be fun to chat with Will Reeves, CEO of one such company providing this service, Fold. Enjoy! More from Will: WEBSITE: https://foldapp.com/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/wlrvs More from Me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:23:18December 30, 2019Rapid-Fire: Will ReevesWe talk a lot about adoption in the bitcoin space, and the hurdles that may be keeping more people from starting to engage with it. I'm super bullish on the 'bitcoin back' rewards model because it allows people to start getting familiar with bitcoin without having to change their behavior OR take on any risk, it's basically free bitcoin, and that's a pretty damn powerful proposition that many seem to be interested in. For this reason, I thought it would be fun to chat with Will Reeves, CEO of one such company providing this service, Fold. Enjoy! More from Will: WEBSITE: https://foldapp.com/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/wlrvs More from Me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex20:37December 30, 2019Gene Epstein: Austrian Economics, Soho Debates & Is BTC a 'store of value'?I recently came across Gene while watching his debate at The Soho Forum with Professor Richard Wolff (link below). Gene, a follower of the Austrian school of economics, represented the 'Capitalism' side, while Richard, a Marxian economist, took the 'Socialism' side. After watching the debate, it was clear in my mind that Gene won (the audience agreed), and so I thought it would be interesting to have him on for a chat. We touched on the debate itself, as well as socialism vs capitalism in general, and then broke into discussion on somethign we DO NOT agree on. This was focused on Gene's assertion that money (including gold and bitcoin) is not, nor should be, a 'store of value', but rather simply a 'medium of exchange'. I disagreed with this, and as a result we engaged in a spirited debate on the subject:) This one is a bit long, so if you'd like to jump right to the 'store of value' discussion, it starts just after the first hour. Enjoy! -- More from Gene: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/GeneSohoForum WEB: https://www.thesohoforum.org/ DEBATE LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJQSuUZdcV4 More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 2:21:56December 12, 2019Knut Svanholm: On Writing a Bitcoin Book (Bitcoin: Sovereignty Through Mathematics)Knut is the author of the nw book ‘ Bitcoin: Sovereignty Through Mathematics’. We discussed his journey to bitcoin, why he decided to write the book, what the experience was like, how he deals with criticism, and lots more! Enjoy! - More from Knut: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/knutsvanholm BOOK: https://amzn.to/33wvJ0q More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:51:33November 28, 2019Rapid-Fire: Knut SvanholmKnut is the author of the nw book ‘ Bitcoin: Sovereignty Through Mathematics’. We discussed his journey to bitcoin, why he decided to write the book, what the experience was like, how he deals with criticism, and lots more! Enjoy! - More from Knut: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/knutsvanholm BOOK: https://amzn.to/33wvJ0q More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex23:30November 28, 2019Cory Klippsten: Give the gift of BitcoinCory Klippsten is the founder and CEO of GiveBitcoin. GiveBitcoin is trying to turn everyone into a ‘hodler’ with a simple proposition: Give + Timelock + Educate = Bitcoiner. I invited Cory to come on to discuss his own road to becomming a bitcoiner and explain all the details of how GiveBitcoin works. Enjoy! -- More from Cory: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/coryklippsten More from GiveBitcoin: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/give_bitcoin INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/givebitcoin.io/ MEDIUEM: https://medium.com/@givebitcoin21million WEBSITE: https://givebitcoin.io/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex36:48November 25, 2019Rapid-Fire: Cory KlippstenCory Klippsten is the founder and CEO of GiveBitcoin. GiveBitcoin is trying to turn everyone into a ‘hodler’ with a simple proposition: Give + Timelock + Educate = Bitcoiner. I invited Cory to come on to discuss his own road to becomming a bitcoiner and explain all the details of how GiveBitcoin works. Enjoy! -- More from Cory: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/coryklippsten More from GiveBitcoin: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/give_bitcoin INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/givebitcoin.io/ MEDIUEM: https://medium.com/@givebitcoin21million WEBSITE: https://givebitcoin.io/ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex 23:35November 25, 2019Thibaud Marechal: Custody, Insurance and Explaining BitcoinI have been enjoying Thib’s posts on twitter, as well as some of his blog writing, so I invited him to come on for a chat! Enjoy! - More from Thib: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/thibm_ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex1:17:39November 22, 2019Rapid-Fire: Thibaud MarechalI have been enjoying Thib’s posts on twitter, as well as some of his blog writing, so I invited him to come on for a chat! Enjoy! - More from Thib: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/thibm_ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex15:40November 22, 2019Rapid-Fire: Conner BrownConner Brown is a student at Stanford Law, who fell down the Bitcoin rabbit-hole in 2018. He’s recently gained notoriety for his thoughtful writing on some of the attributes of bitcoin (and money) that are often misunderstood by it’s critics. I’ve really enjoyed Conner’s perspective on Bitcoin, so I thought it would be fun (and informative) to have him on for a chat. Enjoy! - More from Conner: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/_ConnerBrown_ MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@Conner_ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex15:23November 15, 2019Conner Brown: Helping Bitcoin Critics Understand Why They're WrongConner Brown is a student at Stanford Law, who fell down the Bitcoin rabbit-hole in 2018. He’s recently gained notoriety for his thoughtful writing on some of the attributes of bitcoin (and money) that are often misunderstood by it’s critics. I’ve really enjoyed Conner’s perspective on Bitcoin, so I thought it would be fun (and informative) to have him on for a chat. Enjoy! - More from Conner: TWITTER: https://twitter.com/_ConnerBrown_ MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@Conner_ More from me: TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/30lRjUB INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/30r7IqY YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2TDeMy9 MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex2:03:44November 15, 2019Hector Rosekrans: Bitcoin is an Asymmetric WeaponOver the last few months I had been