Stephan Livera Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Stable Channels with Tony Klausing (SLP591) Jul 15, 2024

Show notes

Even as bitcoiners, we can’t deny that there is demand for ‘stablecoins’ or some kind of stable value feature. Tony Klausing, bitcoin and lightning developer joins me to talk about Stable Channels. This approach to stable value is self custodial, P2P, and bitcoin-native. We talk about the benefits, trade offs and who this would be suitable for.

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(00:51) - Tony’s background

(03:28) - Opportunity of Stable Channels

(05:46) - Fiat-backed stablecoins Vs. Crypto-backed stablecoins(10:23) - Overview of Stable Channels

(14:17) - Difference between DLCs & Stable Channels

(18:02) - Stable Channels during varying BTC price scenarios

(21:34) - Sponsors

(23:49) - Who are Stable Channels for?

(30:50) - Dual funding & splicing on Stable Channels

(32:24) - How do participants of Stable Channels find each other?

(38:22) - Addressing concerns around Stable Channels

(41:12) - Sponsors

(42:33) - Possible challenges for Stable Channels

(46:43) - Payments on Stable Channels

(52:07) - Is Stable Channels a ‘Quasi-decentralized exchange’?

(53:57) - Lightning payment vs legacy financial payment

(58:03) - Usability challenges

(1:00:09) - Outro

Links:

Sponsors:

Swan.com (code LIVERA)
CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)
Mempool.space

Stephan Livera links:

The Bushido of Bitcoin with Aleksandar Svetski (SLP590) Jul 10, 2024

Show notes

Aleksandar Svetski (@SvetskiWrites) rejoins me to talk about his newest book, The Bushido of Bitcoin. We get into a discussion about:

Anti-egalitarianism Virtues Why Bitcoiners should ‘stop being plebs’ The ascend & descend of civilisations Imbibing warrior culture in Bitcoin The masses and the remnant Timestamps: (00:00) - Intro (00:41) - Who is ‘The Bushido of Bitcoin’ for? (11:13) - The role of legitimate hierarchy (18:14) - The cyclical nature of civilisations (22:21) - Sponsors (25:20) - Choosing to opt out of a nation (30:29) - The pleb culture of Bitcoin (39:00) - Upholding virtues on a Bitcoin standard (42:53) - Sponsors (45:05) - Shaming as a morality check (49:17) - Retaining customs & norms in a new world on Bitcoin (53:17) - The masses and the remnant (59:35) - Natural elites in a free market (1:03:00) - Satlantis - travel & community social network (1:05:54) - Outro Links: https://x.com/SvetskiWrites https://www.bushidoofbitcoin.com/ Sponsors: Swan.com (code LIVERA) http://swan.com/livera CoinKite.com (code LIVERA) http://coinkite.com/ Mempool.space https://mempool.space/ Nomadcapitalist.com/apply https://nomadcapitalist.com/apply Stephan Livera links: Follow me on X: @stephanlivera https://x.com/stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1415720320 Subscribe to Substack: https://stephanlivera.substack.com/

Abundance, Generosity, and the State with Guido Hulsmann SLP589 Jul 07, 2024

Show notes

Jörg Guido Hülsmann is a Senior Fellow of the Mises Institute, and he rejoins me to discuss his latest book on Abundance, Generosity and the State. Bitcoiners like to spell out a lot of the social and cultural problems in the world today, and Dr Hülsmann is one of the leading lights in showing how fiat currency and government intervention have caused negative outcomes.

We discuss the way gratuitous benefits come to us in a free market capitalist society, and the many ways government intervention can interrupt this process. Instead of having strong families, communities and private clubs that assist in making our lives better, the state disrupts this process and makes society poorer.

Links:

Sponsors:

Swan.com (code LIVERA)
CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)
Mempool.space

Stephan Livera links:

Why are Empty Blocks Happening with OrangeSurf from mempool.space (SLP588) Jul 03, 2024

Show notes

Why are some bitcoin blocks empty? Orange Surf from the mempool.space team joins me to explain his recent research report on this topic. We discuss:

Why do empty blocks happen?
Comparing empty block rates across mining pools
Firmware and config differences

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(00:44) - Orange Surf’s research report on empty blocks

(02:02) - Block interval data sets

(06:25) - What is an empty block?

(08:09) - What causes an empty block to occur?

(11:35) - Nuances of a working of a miner; switching from empty to full block templates

(14:05) - Differences in the empty block performance

(19:01) - Antpool’s internal miner firmware

(21:30) - Sponsors

(25:00) - Effective management of block templates by mining pools

(34:54) - Ocean's empty blocks

(36:08) - Mining decentralisation and proxy pools

(41:07) - Sponsors

(42:14) - Mining templates & pool payouts

(44:57) - Upcoming mempool features

(49:06) - Outro

Links:

Empty Block Report: https://research.mempool.space/empty-block-report/
Pool Reserve: https://orange.surf/pool-reserves/
Enterprise: mempool.space/enterprise
Community Sponsors: mempool.space/sponsor

Sponsors:

Swan.com (code LIVERA)
CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)
Mempool.space

Stephan Livera links:

Setting up Free Private Cities in South Asia with Art Finch (SLP587) Jul 01, 2024

Show notes

Art Finch is a South African-American Entrepreneur. Art has experience across South Asia and is interested in setting up Free Private Cities or Charter Cities. In this episode he shares his experiences in Bhutan and shares his theories on how Bitcoin and Free Private Cities can work together.

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(01:28) - Art’s background & his interest in building a Free Private City (FPC)

(10:50) - The need for a Free Private City

(13:11) - A look at Shenzhen as an SEZ

(16:20) - Education in an FPC context

(20:08) - Sponsors

(22:22) - Education in an FPC context (contd.)

(26:11) - Setting up an FPC in Bhutan

(33:56) - Bhutan’s leadership views on the FPC

(41:41) - Sponsors

(44:00) - Art’s insights on Bhutan & Bitcoin mining

(46:08) - Potential FPCs in the future

X clips:

07:18 - biggest risk to FPC

08:47 - 10:01 - Bhutan FPC in a nutshell

10:57 - 12:40 - need for FPC

18:08 - 20:08 - learning/self education, role of schools, start with one node and grow from there - similar to bitcoin

44:08 - 45:59 - Bitcoin progress in Bhutan - mining ops,

Links:

Article mentioned: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahemerson/2023/12/15/bhutan-futuristic-city-dragon-king/
Site: https://yungdrung.city/
Free Citadels profile: https://freecitadels.com/profile/art-finch/

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

Direct Held Bitcoin ETF with in kind redemption with Jeff Yew, CEO, Monochrome SLP586 Jun 27, 2024

Show notes

While many debate the pros and cons of Bitcoin ETFs, joining us for this episode is Jeff Yew, CEO of Monochrome, doing a directly held Bitcoin ETF in Australia. We chat about the fees, the custody, the ethos, being able to contribute bitcoin or redeem bitcoin, institutional adoption and Bitcoin in Australia.

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(00:53) - Monochrome’s role in bringing Bitcoin ETFs to Australia

(02:48) - Timeline of different Bitcoin ETFs in Australia

(03:58) - Influence of US Spot Bitcoin ETFs on the Australian Bitcoin ETFs

(06:15) - Different types of Australian Bitcoin ETFs and implications for investors

(13:32) - Fee structure of Monochrome (IBTC) Bitcoin ETF

(19:00) - In-kind vs. Cash-create

(24:55) - Loans against Bitcoin ETFs in the future?

(29:05) - Buying Bitcoin on an exchange vs buying Bitcoin ETFs

(31:48) - How does Monochrome store its Bitcoin?

(33:37) - Sponsors

(36:49) - Are institutions good for Bitcoin?

(43:07) - Safety in numbers

(46:53) - Bitcoin adoption in Australia compared to USA

Links:

Sponsors:

Swan.com (code LIVERA)
CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)
Mempool.space

Stephan Livera links:

Set Your Business Up With Bitcoin Unit of Account with Luke Thibodeau, CFO of Prospera SLP585 Jun 22, 2024

Show notes

You might have seen my earlier episode with Erick Brimen, CEO of Prospera, here’s the CFO of Prospera discussing the ability to use Bitcoin as a unit of account. We discuss:

Life on Roatan
Setting up a business
Choose your own regulatory environment
ZEDE law situation
Bitcoin as unit of account
Leaving Canada

Timestamps:

Links:

Sponsors:

Swan.com (code LIVERA)
CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)
Mempool.space

Stephan Livera links:

Updates on Ark with Tiero SLP584 Jun 18, 2024

Show notes

Tiero of Ark Labs joins me on the show to discuss the latest with Ark. We get into:

How Ark has changed since initial proposal
clARK - covenant-less ARK
Trade offs to make clARK happen
Which covenants would help vs what is ideal for Ark
Ark on Liquid
Capital requirements and costs
Fiatcoins
Nostr

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(01:37) - What is Ark? ELI5 version

(05:42) - Tradeoffs of scaling payments

(07:41) - Interchangeably using LN & Ark under the hood

(10:52) - Updates on Ark

(13:57) - What are out-of-round payments?

(17:48) - Trade Offs of out-of-round payments

(19:45) - The fee structure in Ark

(21:39) - Sponsors

(24:15) - Who runs the ASPs?

(28:55) - ‘Congestion control’ with Ark

(33:06) - The role of covenants with Ark

(39:44) - Ark on Liquid

(41:20) - Sponsors

(43:49) - The ideal covenant & its impact on Ark

(48:00) - Thoughts on extreme conservatism on Bitcoin

(52:55) - Way forward with Ark Labs

(56:18) - Opportunities & threats of stablecoins on Ark?

(1:02:39) - NIP46 & building Nostr Connect

(1:06:40) - Summary & closing thoughts

Links:

https://twitter.com/tierotiero
https://arklabs.to/

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

Bitcoin Ossification Debate with Vijay Boyapati and Reardencode SLP583 Jun 12, 2024

Show notes

The bitcoin ‘ossification’ debate continues with a discussion on the key considerations. What makes Bitcoin special? What improvements are necessary to retain sufficient decentralisation, if any?

Vijay Boyapati and Brandon Black (aka reardencode) rejoin me for a special episode to discuss:

What makes Bitcoin special?
Defining ‘ossification’
How many users is ‘enough’?
Unknown unknowns
Addressing centralising MEV concerns
Soft forks and hard forks
Economic nodes and who holds the power
Where to from here

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(01:54) - What makes Bitcoin Special? ft. Vijay

(09:37) - Verifiability & decentralisation of Bitcoin ft. Brandon

(14:31) - When do we stop ‘changing’ bitcoin?

(15:17) - Revisiting the blocksize wars & importance of self sovereignty

(20:45) - Libertarian principles of Bitcoin

(23:48) - ‘Sufficiently decentralised’ Bitcoin

(26:42) - Defining ‘Ossification’ of Bitcoin

(30:56) - Sponsors

(34:11) - Economic interests in upgrading Bitcoin nodes

(43:40) - Bitcoin is a Trojan horse

(47:15) - Can we rule out ‘Unknown unknowns'?

(50:49) - Concerns over centralising MEV

(1:00:17) - Whose chain is it anyway?

(1:05:14) - Resisting soft forks and hard forks

(1:16:49) - Closing Thoughts

Links:

X: @real_vijay
Bullish Case for Bitcoin: Swan.com/bullish
X: @reardencode

Prior episodes:

Sponsors:

Swan.com (code LIVERA)
CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)
Mempool.space

Stephan Livera links:

NVK on Bitcoin Ossification and Changes SLP582 Jun 07, 2024

Show notes

NVK of Coinkite rejoins me to talk about attitudes on Bitcoin development and consensus changes. We discuss how “ossification” is commonly thrown around as a term, but maybe there is a better term. “Extreme conservatism”? We talk: