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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:

Adam Curry on Podcasting with Bitcoin - WBD278 Nov 13, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Monday 9th November Project: No Agenda Podcast Role: Co-Host

Adam Curry, along with Dave Winer are credited as the creators of podcasting in the early 2000s. The idea of allowing anyone to broadcast over the internet in an unfiltered and uncensored manner was revolutionary.

For nearly two decades, podcasting has grown into an industry, which Business Insider predicts will be worth $1billion by 2021.

With the meteoric rise in podcasting, some podcasts are attracting more followers than mainstream TV shows, for example, Joe Rogan regularly receives more than 10 million listeners per show.

Advertisers wanting exposure to these audiences is the most common way to monetise podcasting. Adam Curry wants to move away from revenue driven by advertising which he believes is a form of censorship. Again Adam is attempting to revolutionise podcasting with Podcast Index that will, optionally, allow micropayments via Lightning Network to reward podcasters for their content.

In this interview, I talk to the podfather Adam Curry. We discuss the origins of podcasting, COVID-19 & vaccinations, de-platforming & cancel culture and utilising the Lightning Network for podcast micropayments.

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Resistance is NOT Futile with Aleks Svetski - WBD277 Nov 10, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Tuesday 3rd November Project: Amber Role: CEO

The sound money properties of Bitcoin attract those interested in Austrian Economics and Libertarianism; in fact, Libertarians were one of the earliest groups of people to adopt Bitcoin and truly understand its importance and value.

Since I've gone down the Bitcoin rabbit hole, Libertarianism has been something that I have paid close attention to on the show. The arguments for an anarchist society are compelling; however, one thing that I have always struggled with is how an anarchist society would work and how we would transition to this from a democratic society.

In this interview, I talk to Aleks Svetski, a Libertarian who has written several articles outlining how he thinks an anarchist society would work. We discuss libertarianism, democratic v anarchist societies and the erosion of individual freedoms.

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The 1 Bitcoin Trump Bet Update with American HODL - WBD276 Nov 06, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Tuesday 3rd November

In July, I tweeted that I would bet anyone $5,000 that Trump would lose the 2020 election. American Hodl took me up on the bet, and with the help of Phil Geiger we each deposited 0.5 BTC into a multisig.

With the election this week, I caught up with American HODL three times, before, during and after the election to discuss everything that is happening.

While Joe Biden went into the election as the clear favourite, according to the polls, it wasn't long before the narrative switched and by the early hours of election day UK time, Trump looked sure to win.

The following morning, as the results of mail-in ballots hit the counts, the election swung back in favour of Biden. With Wisconsin and Michigan flipping democrat and Pennsylvania threatening to do the same, Biden looks like he may win the race to the Whitehouse.

The election has not been without drama, with accusations from Donald Trump and his supporters of fraud. Now legal challenges are being submitted, and the path to a decision is unclear.

In this interview, American HODL and I catch up before, during & after the US Election. We follow the ups and downs of election night, Trump threatening legal action in various states, demanding recounts and what happens between now and the inauguration.

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The Money Revolution with Raoul Pal - WBD275 Nov 03, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Thursday 29th October Company: Real Vision Role: Co-Founder & CEO

The Bretton Woods agreement was created in 1944, following the end of the Second World War. The agreement pegged the US Dollar to gold, with other nations pegging their currencies to the dollar. The agreement was an attempt to stabilise economies after the devastation of the war.

The IMF recently released an article in which they called the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic a "new Bretton Woods moment." Suggesting that the pandemic's effect on the economy and the substantial fiscal stimulus required may be too hard to come back from without change.

The IMF announcement happened in the shadow of central banks around the world looking more and more at issuing their digital currencies. These Central Bank Digital Currencies, known as CBDCs, will give more power to the state over the control and flow of money. While this control does offer some benefits, they do also increase surveillance and reduce monetary freedoms.

Are we in the midst of a revolution in money? And what does it mean for Bitcoin?

In this interview, I am joined by Raoul Pal, macroeconomist and co-founder & CEO of Real Vision. We discuss the IMF considering a new Bretton Woods type system, central banks issuing digital currencies and what this means for Bitcoin.

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Fintech and Bitcoin with Kevin Lehtiniitty - WBD274 Oct 30, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 14th October Company: Prime Trust Role: Chief Product Officer

Over the last few years, neobanks and fintech companies such as Cash App, Revolut, Venmo (amongst others) have grown hugely in popularity, with many choosing to step away from traditional banking and jump on this new wave in finance.

Neobanks offer features that you cannot access in the traditional finance world. Along with quick and more effortless transactions, many services allow you to invest in stocks, commodities and Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies), from within their apps.

So, what impact will exposing hundreds of millions of people to Bitcoin have?

Prime Trust is one of the companies behind that help these fintech businesses operate, and in this interview, I talk to Kevin Lehtiniitty, their Chief Product Officer. We discuss financial censorship, the outdated legacy infrastructure in the US, neobanking and the role of bitcoin in the future of financial applications.

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S*** Bitcoiners Say with Rusty Russell - WBD273 Oct 27, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Friday 25rd September Company: Blockstream Role: Lightning Network Developer

Bitcoiners can be firm in their views and are often called toxic by outsiders; however, this toxicity plays an important role. Bitcoin is a threat to the legacy financial system. It is therefore open to a broad range of attacks from technical to social and Bitcoin's immune system defends against these attacks to protect the protocol.

In previous episodes, I have looked at the pros and cons of toxicity and how it acts as an immune system for Bitcoiner. Does this immune system lead to silly narratives going unchallenged? Can Bitcoin fix everything or are we missing critical nuanced debates regarding its potential?

Rusty Russell is somewhat of a contrarian in the Bitcoin space. He is a lightning network developer for Blockstream but also runs the Shit Bitcoiners Say Twitter account which regularly calls out some of the more overzealous and outlandish claims by Bitcoiners.

In this interview, Rusty and I discuss the lightning network, open-source development, narratives and overzealous Bitcoiners.

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The Case for $500K Bitcoin with Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss - WBD272 Oct 23, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Tuesday 20th October Company: Gemini Role: Co-Founders

In August, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss released The Case for $500K Bitcoin. A paper that outlines the value proposition of Bitcoin, why it is a superior store of value and hedge against inflation than either gold, oil and the US dollar.

In the paper, they describe the world as 'drowning in debt', even before the coronavirus outbreak, and predict that the pandemic may cause everyone to come face to face with the reality of debt spiralling out of control.

While the impact on the world may be scary for the broader economy, the twins outline Bitcoin as a major winner in this scenario and predict Bitcoin's market cap to grow from its current market capitalisation (approx. $225 billion) to that of gold (approx. $9 trillion). With the price of a Bitcoin at around $550K.

We discuss their paper, why Bitcoin is the best hedge against inflation, the debt reckoning and Wall Street investing in Bitcoin.

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Becoming a Bitcoin Core Developer with Amiti Uttarwar - WBD271 Oct 20, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Thursday 17th September Role: Bitcoin Core Developer

Due to the decentralised nature of Bitcoin, committing to becoming a full-time core developer comes with challenges. While the Bitcoin network is worth over $200 billion, there is no central development fund to ensure that developers are working full time on the protocol.

While there are numerous independent contributors, many developers rely on support from a growing number of companies such as Chaincode Labs, Blockstream, Lightning Labs and a handful of others who fund work on the protocol.

In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin Core Developer Amiti Uttarwar. We discuss her residency at Chaincode Labs, contributing to Bitcoin Core, working on open source projects and the blacklist controversy.

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Bitfinex - The Hacks, Tether and Bitcoin with Paolo Ardoino - WBD270 Oct 16, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Monday 7th September Company: Bitfinex Role: CTO

Bitfinex is one of the oldest and largest Bitcoin exchanges. Since 2014, the exchange has had to endure multiple hacks, including at $60 million theft in 2016.

iFinex, the parent company of Bitfinex, also oversees Tether. Tether is the largest stablecoin, regularly facilitating over $50 billion in daily trading volume and is supported by close to 150 exchanges. It too isn't without its controversies, there have been calls to audit Tether to prove that it is fully reserved and there are claims ether printing has been used to manipulate the markets.

Despite the controversies, the Bitfinex and Tether teams have been instrumental in supporting the growth of Bitcoin.

In this interview, I talk to Paolo Ardoino the CTO of Bitfinex. We discuss how Bitfinex dealt with the exchange hacks, protecting against future attacks, Tether, the Lightning Network and funding Bitcoin projects.

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The Bitcoin Bull Bull Bull with Michael Saylor - WBD269 Oct 14, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Thursday 8th October Company: MicroStrategy Role: CEO

In August, MicroStrategy made the bold move of purchasing 21,454 Bitcoin to add to their treasury, spending $250 million. In doing so, CEO Michael Saylor stated that he views Bitcoin as a "dependable store of value and an attractive investment asset with more long-term appreciation potential than holding cash".

The next month MicroStrategy announced that they had doubled down on their conviction in Bitcoin and acquired an additional 16,796 Bitcoin, taking their total spend to $425 million. This move sent a clear message to businesses everywhere that Bitcoin is a valuable asset and can be a key part of a company's treasury.

Following in the footsteps of Microstrategy, last week Square announced that they too had added Bitcoin to their treasury with the purchase of 4,709 Bitcoin for ~$50 million.

In the second part of my interview with Michael Saylor, the CEO of Microstrategy, we discuss his Bitcoin value proposition, his view on maximalism and alts, privacy, decentralisation and the Bitcoin circular economy.

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