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The Peter McCormack Show — Business
The Peter McCormack Show

The Peter McCormack Show – politics, macro, Bitcoin and AI, long-form interviews. Twice-weekly conversations about money, power, and the shifts reshaping the next decade.

Peter McCormack interviews politicians, economists, investors, journalists, founders and Bitcoiners. Past guests include Liz Truss, Lyn Alden, Curtis Yarvin, Matt Goodwin, Mike Green, Balaji Srinivasan, Rupert Lowe, Firas Modad, Scott Horton, Jeff Booth, Connor Leahy, Andrea Miotti, Neema Parvini, Dr Tim Gregory and Simon Dixon.

Recurring threads: the debt and inflation endgame, UK political collapse and what comes after, Reform and the populist wave, the Middle East and the American war machine, AI safety and the race for superintelligence, energy and net zero, Bitcoin adoption and policy, and the slow-motion decline of Western institutions.

Long-form – most episodes run 60 to 120 minutes. New episodes 2 to 3 times per week. Video on YouTube and Spotify.

Host: Peter McCormack, a retired rapper from Bedford, UK, trying to understand this crazy world.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latest Episodes:

The Path to a Bitcoin Standard with Dan Held - WBD308 Feb 07, 2021

Show notes

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 1st February Company: Kraken Role: Director of Business Development

The Gold Standard was a monetary system that linked the value of a country's currency to the amount of gold held in reserve.

The Gold Standard placed restrictions on a governments ability to print money. Still, in 1971 Nixon announced that the US would sever all ties between the dollar and gold, and would no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value of $35. Nixon's decision severed all links to The Gold Standard, and since then the world has been in a fiat monetary system.

Many Bitcoiners believe that the fiat monetary experiment is failing and it is inevitable that, at some point, the hardest form of money will win out - bitcoin.

Hyperbitcoinisation is when bitcoin becomes the world's dominant form of money and the entire financial system's base asset. But how do we get there? And what are the implications on society?

In this interview, I talk to Dan Held, the Director of Business Development at Kraken. We discuss the implications of a Bitcoin Standard, onboarding, adoption, decentralisation and layer one ossification.

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Why Silicon Valley Doesn't Get Bitcoin with Dan Held - WBD307 Feb 05, 2021

Show notes

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 28th January Company: Kraken Role: Director of Business Development

Jack Dorsey has been one of the leading public supporters of Bitcoin in Silicon Valley, stating his belief is that "Bitcoin has the potential to become the world's sole currency by 2030". In late 2020 Dorsey went a step further when his company Square put $50 million of Bitcoin in their treasury. Following the purchase, he tweeted "More important than Square investing $US50mm in #Bitcoin is sharing how we did it (so others can do the same)."

Jack Dorsey is a hugely influential figure in Silicon Valley, and his actions sent a clear message of his belief in the importance of Bitcoin.

Silicon Valley has mostly ignored Bitcoin, and Dan Held thinks this is a culture issue. While Silicon Valley values moving fast and breaking things, Bitcoin is the opposite. It is conservative, slow and most importantly, hard to change.

In this interview, I talk to Dan Held, the Director of Business Development at Kraken. We discuss Dan's experience in Silicon Valley, what drives VCs to invest, and the changing Bitcoin narratives within Silicon Valley.

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The Bitcoin Supercycle with Dan Held - WBD306 Feb 02, 2021

Show notes

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 25th January Company: Kraken Role: Director of Business Development

The design of Bitcoin issuance leads to clear four-year market cycles. While Bitcoin experienced bull runs in its first cycle, 2013 was the first, mainstream bull market and the price climbed to over $1,000. What followed was a multi-year bear market and an 80% drawdown.

2016/17 marked the next bull cycle with the Bitcoin price reaching $20,000 only to, again, experience an extended bear market and another 80% drawdown.

Many speculate the catalyst for these cycles is the four-year halving, where the issuance rate of Bitcoin to miners cuts in half. With reduced supply and sustained demand, the price of Bitcoin pushes higher. However, each successive bull market presents a new and different set of participants.

In 2013, the early adopters were the people who understood the technology or needed censorship-resistant money for the Silk Road. While it had become simpler to buy Bitcoin during this cycle, the fall of MtGox marked the end of this bull market.

2017, was mainly a retail-driven bull market, with few institutions investing in Bitcoin, due to the lack of infrastructure and regulatory clarity. A civil war also marked 2017, where Bitcoienrs debated the block size, ending with a hard fork, a split in the community and the creation of BCash.

The current bull market is again different. Institutions have woken up to Bitcoin, and Michael Saylor has paved the way for corporations to add Bitcoin to their balance sheet. With the unprecedented levels of money printing and reckless policy, the need for hard money that is state resistant is more apparent than ever. As Dan Held says "Never before has Bitcoin had such strong fundamentals against a macro backdrop that highlights exactly why Bitcoin is needed, the narrative is singular, and the ability for global value to flow into Bitcoin has never been easier."

In this interview, I talk to Dan Held, the Director of Business Development at Kraken. We discuss Bitcoin market cycles, the halving's impact, and the catalysts that could make this cycle a supercycle.

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The Bitcoin Shakeout - Jan '21 Trading Update with Willy Woo - WBD305 Jan 31, 2021

Show notes

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 26th January Company: Hypersheet Role: Co-Founder

Bitcoin has had a great year so far, after hitting a new all-time high of ~$42,000 it has been in a consolidation range bouncing between $30,000 and $40,000.

Since that top, we have seen a massive uptick in FUD, including a misreported double spend. This 'double spend' scared some investors and NexTech, a software company that had recently bought 130 Bitcoin, sold off the $4 million of Bitcoin they had acquired as a result.

With Bitcoin cooling off for the first time in this bull market, what is the on-chain data telling us, and how can you know when a bull market is coming to an end?

In this interview, I talk to on-chain analyst and the co-founder of Hypersheet; Willy Woo. We discuss the run-up to $42,000, what the on-chain data indicates, price targets for Bitcoin and how to call the top.

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WSB, Bitcoin & Ethereum with Lyn Alden - WBD304 Jan 29, 2021

Show notes

Location: Remotely Date: Monday 25th January Company: lynalden.com Role: Macroeconomist

Since early January Bitcoin has been consolidating between $30k and $40k and the fundamentals and technicals remain strong. Grayscale has ceased their hiatus, MicroStrategy has added to their position during this time and, in early February, will be holding a conference for other corporations to go through their Bitcoin playbook.Since early January Bitcoin has been consolidating between $30k and $40k and the fundamentals, remain strong. Grayscale has ceased their hiatus, MicroStrategy has added to their position during this time and, in early February, will be holding a conference for other companies to explain their Bitcoin playbook.

However, the big story over the last couple of weeks has been Wall Street Bets, the Reddit community taking on Wall Street. These retail investors have picked highly shorted stocks such as GameStop and AMC and bought in huge numbers. Traders activated a massive short squeeze on GameStop, and at least two hedge funds have had to cover their positions at a considerable loss. During this period the GameStop price went from ~$19 to ~$460.

With retail traders desperate to take it to Wall Street, what is the eventual outcome, and what role has the COVID lockdowns and subsequent stimulus played in this?

In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and investment strategist. We discuss the Bitcoin price action, retail investors/WSBs and Lyn's economic analysis of Ethereum.

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Bitcoin Tech #1 - UTXOs with Shinobi - WBD303 Jan 26, 2021

Show notes

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 15th December Company: Block Digest Role: Host

Checking your balance or sending Bitcoin can be as simple as opening an app or scanning a QR code and clicking send, but what is happening behind the scenes to make that happen?

Unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) are the monetary units of bitcoin. They are likes coins and notes in the traditional financial system but can be of any value.

When accessing a wallet, the software creates your balance by totalling the value of all your UTXOs, and when you want to send someone bitcoin, your wallet selects the UTXOs required to make up the amount you want to send.

In many cases, wallet software abstracts away UTXOs so that the user does not have to consider them. However, it is a crucial part of the system that, when properly used, can help protect your privacy and reduce your transaction fees.

In this interview, I talk to Shinobi, the host of Block Digest. We discuss UTXOs, what they do, how they work and the implications for both privacy and transaction fees.

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Why Buy Bitcoin? With Andy Edstrom - WBD302 Jan 22, 2021

Show notes

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 12th January Company: Swan Bitcoin Role: Head of Institutional Investment

Why buy bitcoin is a complicated question to answer. Bitcoin is many different things to different people. It is a censorship-resistant form of payment for those living under authoritarian regimes; for some, it is a hedge against inflation, while it is purely speculative for many others.

Even with Bitcoin adoption growing and maturing, the public perception of Bitcoin is still mixed. The mainstream media is somewhat to blame. It regularly pedals false narratives such as the funding of terrorism or Bitcoin being for drug dealers and network security that is melting the polar icecaps. As Bitcoiners we are used to dealing with this kind of FUD, Bitcoin has been declared dead hundreds of times, yet it continually bounces back.

So, why buy Bitcoin?

In this interview, I talk to Andy Edstrom, author of Why Buy Bitcoin. We discuss his investment thesis for Bitcoin, why Bitcoin continues to thrive and address the common misconceptions and FUD surrounding it.

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Why Bitcoin Wins with Gary Vee & Robert Breedlove - WBD301 Jan 19, 2021

Show notes

Location: Remotely Date: Saturday 16th January Company: VaynerX & Parallax Digital Role: CEO & Founder

Hyperbitcoinisation is the state at which Bitcoin becomes the world's dominant form of money and thus the base asset for the entire financial system.

On the road to hyperbitcoinisation, there will be a tipping point where governments willingly or unwillingly seed power and move over to a bitcoin-based system. For many Bitcoiners, hyperbitcoinisation is inevitable. However, the path to a hyperbitcoinisation society is unclear and likely difficult.

In this interview, I talk to entrepreneur, author & speaker Gary Vaynerchuk and founder of Parallax Digital, Robert Breedlove. We discuss the government response to Bitcoin and the road to hyperbitcoinisation.

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The Ultimate Bitcoin 101 with Vijay Boyapati - WBD300 Jan 17, 2021

Show notes

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 14th January Company: Independent Role: Software Engineer and Author

As we are in another Bitcoin bull market, many new people will be considering investing, but understanding what Bitcoin is and why it is important isn't straightforward.

Bitcoin is multifaceted, and the use cases can vary dramatically depending on where you live in the world and your circumstances.

There is no standard narrative or way of explaining Bitcoin; for example, it is a medium of exchange, a way to bypass government and as an inflation hedge. Others are investing in Bitcoin to speculate against the net benefit of all use cases.

To help answer some of the most common questions and lay to bed some of the common misconceptions, I talk to software engineer and author, Vijay Boyapati for the ultimate Bitcoin 101.

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Critiquing Bitcoin with Frances Coppola & Nic Carter - WBD299 Jan 15, 2021

Show notes

Location: Remotely Date: Wednesday 13th January Company: Independent & Castle Island Ventures Role: Author & Partner

Bitcoin adoption is maturing, and veteran traders such as Stan Druckenmiller and Paul Tudor Jones, companies like Microstrategy and institutions like Grayscale and Skybridge have all made moves solidifying its reputation and profile. However, it is still not without its detractors.

Arguments regarding scalability, how a deflationary system works and fears of money without government backing are topics of regular discussion. One critic who is quick to highlight Bitcoin's perceived shortcomings is Frances Coppola, and last week on Twitter, Frances caused a stir with comments about the scarcity of bitcoin.

In this episode, I moderate a debate between Frances, an economist and financial author, and Nic Carter, a Partner at Castle Island Ventures, to discuss some of Bitcoin's most fundamental questions.

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