CoinDesk Podcast Network

The top stories and best shows in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk.

Latest Episodes:

BREAKDOWN: COVID-19 and the Mass Surveillance Machine, Feat. Maya Zehavi Apr 28, 2020

Show notes

As the COVID-19 crisis rages, it takes on new economic and political dimensions. The frames for many of the most important questions for the next decade are being set now, in this moment.

On this episode of The Breakdown, NLW is joined by Maya Zehavi, a long-time blockchain consultant known for her insightful domain-spanning takes.

They discuss:

How the COVID-19 health crisis overlapped with a political crisis in Zehavi’s home country of Israel
Why governments use times of crisis to take extraordinary powers
How contact tracing apps have become a battleground for mass surveillance
Why the shift to localism from globalism creates new challenges
How the problems distributing stimulus are shaping the conversation around central bank digital currencies

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BREAKDOWN: Bitcoin vs. QE Infinity and the 4 Archetypes of the Halving Debate Apr 27, 2020

Show notes

The bitcoin halving is just two weeks away. While the COVID-19 crisis pushed attention off the momentous event for a while, the discussion is coming back fast and strong. Google searches for the bitcoin halving already exceeding the 2016 peak, despite almost no mainstream media coverage.

In this episode, NLW breaks down 4 archetypes of people within the larger debates around the bitcoin halving:

Speculators - those who flock to Twitter to engage in endless rounds of debate around the efficient market hypothesis and whether the halving is priced in or not
Fundamentals - those who believe that what matters about the halving isn’t the short-term price movement but the fundamental decrease in supply
Miners - those who have to actually figure out how to make their business model work in the context of reduced issuance
Symbologists - those who are focusing on the significance of bitcoin’s issuance reduction coinciding with QE infinity

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LTB!: Lightning Network Messaging, Political Expediency and What Crisis Has Revealed Apr 26, 2020

Show notes

On today's show we've got a pair of interviews for you. First we speak with John Cantrell, the author of Juggernaut, a new messaging layer 3 application being built on top of layer 2 lightning network, which is itself built on top of layer one bitcoin. It's a lot of layers, but as a technological concept currently in beta it's a fascinating project, and we talk about it. (Juggernaut on Github)

After the break we're joined again by Alex Gladstein of HRF.org for a discussion on political expediency in the age of pandemic and what crisis has revealed about various governments, and different types of governments around the world. Alex is one of my favorite returning guests, with his global human rights focused work taking him to some of the most interesting and most oppressed places around the world

"What's interesting is that citizen journalists I know in Taiwan have pressed the government on this and they've gone to parliament and it's all on record, and they've said 'Have these (...) digital contact tracing or cell phone surveillance things been useful?' And the governments said "Only in one case.... Only in one case was this sort of mass surveillance approach been useful', so they've actually been honest with the people... But at the end of the day it does teach us that even the most progressive governments are going to be lured by the sirens call of using surveillance to tackle problems." - Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer HRF.org

This episode of Let's Talk Bitcoin is sponsored by eToro.com and features content from John Cantrell, Alex Gladstein and Adam B. Levine. Todays show features music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats with editing by Jonas. Album Art original photo by Goh Rhy Yan on Unsplash

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RESEARCH: Bitcoin Halving 2020 the 'Arms Race' for Miner Efficiency Intensifies Apr 25, 2020

Show notes

In this episode of the Bitcoin Halving 2020: Miner Perspective podcast series, we take a trip down memory lane back to the early days of bitcoin when miners first began competing for network rewards.

“I think the introduction of [Application Specific Integrated Circuits] was a watershed moment in terms of changing the way bitcoin was mined and secured,” said Galen Moore, senior research analyst for CoinDesk. “If you know that a more powerful machine will get you more reward, make your business more profitable, you’ll be looking for the next more powerful machine all the time knowing that your competitors are doing the same.”

Dave Carlson who participated as a bitcoin miner in the arms race for more advanced cryptocurrency mining machinery back in 2012 and 2013 admitted that at the time “the Chinese engineering firms and Chinese producers of this technology far surpassed our ability and speed to get something to market.”

However, there was a turning point in 2015 and 2016 when mining operations in China started to subside and coalesce in other regions parts of the world such as North America. More efficient power production, Carlson said, was the primary motivation for this shift.

In lead-up to the next bitcoin halving event in May, some bitcoin miners are looking at leveraging what Moore and Carlson describe as “surplus energy” to make operations even more cost-effective. Surplus energy is the run-off or waste fuel released by natural gas and hydro power plants that can be repurposed to mine bitcoin for zero cost. This could be a major technological breakthrough for mining if proven to work at a large scale, Carlson said.

To download or stream this episode, you can go to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher, RadioPublica or RSS. For early access to future episodes, be sure to click subscribe on these channels.

For more information about the bitcoin halving, download the free CoinDesk Research explainer report which features over 30 different charts and additional commentary from mining industry experts.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

BREAKDOWN: Starting a Bitcoin Startup During the COVID-19 Crisis, Feat. Yan Pritzker Apr 24, 2020

Show notes

Yan Pritzker is the CTO and cofounder of Swan Bitcoin, an automated bitcoin only investing app aiming to be the best onramp to bitcoin. He is also the author of Inventing Bitcoin.

On this episode, he and NLW discuss:

How immigrating from the Soviet Union taught Yan about capital controls
Buying bitcoin at $30 in 2011
Why the type of capital available shapes what type of startups entrepreneurs found
Why venture capitals focused investments away from bitcoin
The emergence of a bitcoin only startup scene
Starting a startup during the COVID-19 crisis
Why bitcoin’s scarcity is its most important property

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

BREAKDOWN: We Don’t Need Big Brother to Beat This Virus Apr 23, 2020

Show notes

One of the key aspects of most plans to reopen the economy is digital contact tracing. This would be an apparatus whereby mobile phones kept track of the other mobile phones they had been physically proximate to, so that if someone were diagnosed with COVID-19, the at-risk people they had been in contact with could be notified. Apple and Google have proposed one plan while a European consortium is working on another.

At the center of the issue is whether contact tracing can be done in a way that doesn’t violate privacy and doesn’t open a Pandora’s box of new issues around the data governments have on their citizens.

Today’s episode of The Breakdown explores the crypto community’s response to contact tracing and why we don’t need big brother to beat the virus.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AFRICA: Fighting Scams and Preaching Bitcoin in Botswana, Feat. Alakani Itireleng Apr 23, 2020

Show notes

In this episode Anita speaks with Alakanani Itireleng, who founded the Satoshicentre in Botswana in 2014 and single-handedly built a growing Bitcoin community. She is the heart and center of Bitcoin education there, even the government is relying on her consultancy. This interview was recorded as Anita traveled through southern Africa in February of 2020, just days before the Covid-19 lockdowns went into effect. Her greatest ambition, the organization of a Bitcoin conference in Southern Africa will not come true soon. If you’d like to support her work and the Satoshicentre – please do so, her Twitter handle is @bitcoinlady.

“Bitcoin is for everyone, Bitcoin is the currency of love.” – Alakanani Itireleng

“Bitcoin is allowing me to use and receive money from anyone and to send it to anyone around the world without discriminating. That’s the most excellent thing about Bitcoin. It’s money for everyone, regardless of where you are coming from, your race or creed or whatever. So it’s the best.” – Alakanani Itireleng

They talk about:

How her sons illness and death lead to the first meetup
The internet as “white people’s problem”
The high unemployment rate in Botswana
The cost of internet connections
Ponzi schemes and how they are disturbing bitcoin adoption
Bitcoin usecases and regulation in Botswana
Exchanging the local currency Pula to Bitcoin
African countries on the forefront of adoption
Her opinion about Libra and Lightning
Mobile Money in Botswana
The Future of Bitcoin in Botswana

A message from Anita:

If you have a question, feel free to visit the episode page https://bitcoinundco.com/en/africa6 press the appropriate button and record your question.

This podcast special and my trip to Africa would not have been possible without my sponsors and supporters.

I want to thank my sponsors first: Thank you:LocalBitcoins.com a person-to-person bitcoin trading site, Peter McCormack and thewhatbitcoindid podcast,Coinfinity and theCard Wallet,SHIFT Cryptosecurity, manufacturer of the hardware walletBitBox02 and many thanks to several unknown private donors, who sent me Satoshis over the Lightning Network.

This special is edited by CoinDesk’s Podcasts Editor Adam B. Levine and published first on theCoinDesk Podcast Network. Thank you very much for supporting the Bitcoin in Africa series with your work.

Thanks goes also out tostakwork.com – stakwork is a great project that brings bitcoin into the world through earning. One can do microjobs on stakwork, earning Satoshis and cash them out without even having an understanding about the lightning network or bitcoin. I think we need more projects like that to spread the usage of bitcoin around the world.

Thank you also toGoTenna, for donating several GoTenna devices to set up a mesh network in Zimbabwe and toTeam Satoshi, the decentralized sports team for supporting my work.

This special is also brought to you by theLet’s Talk Bitcoin Network.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

BREAKDOWN: The History of the Dollar System From Bretton Woods to QE Infinity, Feat. Luke Gromen Apr 22, 2020

Show notes

QE infinity. Corporate bailouts. Nudgin UBI. The incredible economic phenomena going on now didn’t happen out of the blue. They are the byproducts of a key events spread across the 70 year history of the US dollar led global monetary system.

Luke Gromen is the founder of Forest From The Trees, a macro/thematic research firm. In this episode, Luke provides a TL;DR on those key events that got us to where we are today, including:

Bretton Woods and why the world went on a USD-based system rather than Keynes idea for a non-sovereign ‘bancor’ world reserve currency
The move to the Petrodollar in the 1970s
The financialization of commodities that started in the 1980s
The monetary policy vacuum after the Cold War ended
How a shift in executive compensation rules led to many of today’s problems with Wall Street
The export of Treasury Bills as a business model
The fallout of 2008 globally and domestically
The end of Treasury Bill buying in 2014
Why the Fed is the only sugar daddy left

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BREAKDOWN: From Proof of Health to UBI: How Everything Changes Post COVID-19, Feat. Joe McCann Apr 21, 2020

Show notes

Joe McCann currently works in cloud and AI at Microsoft and has spent decades in tech, crypto, and open source communities. He recently wrote a piece called “A New, New World Order” all about the second and third order effects of Covid-19.

In this conversation, Joe and NLW discuss:

Localism and the beginning of the end of globalization
The return of domestic manufacturing
The ‘Roaring 20s’ of Inflation
The inevitability of Universal Basic Income in response to inflation
QE infinity and the US’s nationalization by proxy
National healthcare as national security and why microbes are this decade’s terrorists
Proof of health, and why it’s likely to be implemented on a blockchain

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

BREAKDOWN: Bearish or Bullish? What Oil, Defi Hacks and Cash Hoarding Tell Us About Markets Apr 20, 2020

Show notes

It’s hard to look at recent news from both crypto and traditional markets and not feel like we’re getting pretty mixed signals. Stocks have been recovering, but oil is hitting historic lows. DeFi suffers a major hack over the weekend, but Coinbase sees a major spike in $1200 transactions right as $1200 stimulus checks hit. Cash hoarding is giving pretense for eliminating privacy-preserving money, but one of the world’s most successful hedge funds has authorized investment in bitcoin futures.

On today’s episode of The Breakdown, NLW separates bullish from bearish signals for the strange in between times.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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