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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:

Bitcoin in the Boardroom with Michael Saylor - WBD268 Oct 13, 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 this interview, I talk to Michael Saylor, the CEO of Microstrategy. We discuss their Bitcoin purchase, where his conviction in Bitcoin came from, Square buying Bitcoin and the process of adding Bitcoin to a public companies treasury.

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Bitcoin Toxicity with Giacomo Zucco & Neil Woodfine - WBD267 Oct 09, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Thursday 24th September Company: BHB Network & Blockstream Role: Director & Marketing Director

Bitcoin can be a toxic place. Ask the wrong question or fall on the wrong side of an argument; the community can be vicious in its response. It is a daunting place with Bitcoiners not only clashing with altcoin projects but with each other regarding Bitcoin ideas too. Rarely a day passes without a fight of some kind exploding on Twitter.

However, toxicity plays an important role. Bitcoin is a threat to the legacy financial system, and being decentralised; anyone can contribute. Bitcoin 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.

Segwit2x highlighted how a group might choose to co opt Bitcoin with dangerous consequences. Radical scepticism is levelled against other projects, people and companies to ensure that no outside party can have a negative influence on the future of the best money we have ever had.

So, what are the positives and negatives of toxicity in Bitcoin? When does toxicity cross the line and are there any unintended consequences?

In this interview, I am joined by Bitcoin consultant and educator Giacomo Zucco and Neil Woodfine, Marketing Director for Blockstream. We discuss toxic Bitcoin maximalism, unintended consequences and politics within Bitcoin.

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How Bitcoin is Helping Protesters in Belarus with Alex Gladstein & Jaraslau Likhachevski - WBD266 Oct 06, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 30th September Company: Human Rights Foundation & BYSOL Role: Chief Strategy Officer

Belarus is in the midst of massive protests, sparked in August by an election win for the long time leader of the country, Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko has been in power since the first presidential election in Belarus in 1994 when the country gained independence from the Soviet Union. The constitution following independence limited presidents to two terms but Lukashenko fought to change this and has remained in power since.

Following the disputed election on August 9th hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets claiming Lukashenko rigged the election results. Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is claiming that she is the rightful president with reports that she had won 60-70% of the votes.

These marches have become violent with Lukashenko's state security forces using rubber bullets, tear gas and extreme brutality against the protesters.

Protestors are targeting state infrastructure by striking. To support those standing up to the regime, the Human Rights Foundation has set up a Belarus Solidarity Fund. They are using Bitcoin as a censorship-resistant way of getting money to those striking to supplement their lost wages.

In this interview, I talk to Alex Gladstein the Chief Strategy Officer at The Human Rights Foundation and Jaraslau Likhachevski from BYSOL We discuss the political situation in Belarus, the protests and how Bitcoin is helping activists.

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What is Bitcoin? With Parker Lewis, Robert Breedlove & Vijay Boyapati - WBD265 Oct 02, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Tuesday 22nd September Company: Unchained Capital, Parallax Digital & Senior Software Engineer Role: Head of Business Development, Founder & Peach

If you ask 100 people what Bitcoin is, you will likely get 100 different answers. Whether it is a medium of exchange, gold 2.0, a hedge against inflation or purely as a speculative asset, all of these answers are valid.

The decentralised nature of Bitcoin means that it has no owner and no single leader who decides what it is or how to use it. Bitcoin is an entirely personal experience based on the needs of the individual. As such, since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin has had many narratives.

Championed initially as being a tool for digital commerce, with the advent of the Silk Road and other dark markets it's censorship-resistant property grew in popularity. More recently, Bitcoin is widely considered as gold 2.0 and a must-have asset to protect your wealth against inflation.

With the absence of a central narrative, infighting is typical in Bitcoin, most notably in 2017 with the contentious Bitcoin Cash fork over what some believed the purpose that Bitcoin should serve. However, central to Bitcoin is its permissionless nature and therefore any Bitcoiner can choose to use it however they wish.

In this interview, I am joined by Parker Lewis, Robert Breedlove and Vijay Boyapati to answer the question: what is Bitcoin? We discuss the use cases, what money is, institutional investors and the path to hyperbitcoinisation.

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Bitcoin: A Novel Economic Institution with Yassine Elmandjra - WBD264 Sep 29, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 23rd September Company: Ark Investment Management Role: Thematic Analyst

Before the advent Bitcoin, financial systems operated based on trust. Central banks, government-issued fiat money and payment processors all rely on trusted third parties. Relying on trust-based systems leaves the user vulnerable to decisions that do not necessarily benefit them, from inflation of the money to supply to the censoring of transactions.

Bitcoin changes this.

With Bitcoin, there is a fixed supply and rigid monetary policy, and the rules of the system can't be changed at the whim of a small group of people. Add to this the ability to truly custody your wealth; it is clear to see why Bitcoin is so revolutionary.

Not everyone has been quick to pick up on Bitcoin. Many institutional investors are still sceptical for many reasons, from the old defunct arguments that Bitcoin is for criminals and terrorists to concerns around price volatility. However, there are signs that institutions are beginning to shift their thinking, highlighted by MicroStrategy's recent decision to move $425 million of their treasury into Bitcoin.

In this interview, I talk to Yassine Elmandjra, a Thematic Analyst at Ark Investment, who recently published two whitepapers on Bitcoin. We discuss trust-based v trust minimised systems, property rights and institutional investment in Bitcoin.

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The World's First Crypto Bank with David Kinitsky & Marco Santori - WBD263 Sep 25, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 23rd September Company: Kraken Financial & Kraken Role: CEO & Chief Legal Officer

Last week Kraken announced that the Wyoming Banking Board had voted in favour of the exchange's application for a banking charter under Wyoming's Special Purpose Depository Institution statute. This charter makes Kraken the first cryptocurrency company to gain banking status.

Receiving the banking charter opens traditional rails in the finance world that had previously been unavailable to the exchange, and in turn, will lead to the development of a range of innovative new banking services.

In this interview, I talk to Kraken Financial CEO David Kinitsky and Kraken's Chief Legal Officer Marco Santori. We discuss the creation of a crypto bank, what it will mean to both the industry and Kraken customers and why they chose Wyoming.

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Why a Currency Devaluation is Likely with Lyn Alden - WBD262 Sep 22, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Monday 21st September Company: lynalden.com Role: Macroeconomist

When COVID-19 struck, governments across the world implemented unprecedented stimulus packages to help what were already fragile economies, which had never fully recovered from the 2008 global financial crisis.

While the economy moves in short-term 5-10 year cycles, a larger multi-decade cycle appears to be coming to an end. As governments pursue further rounds of quantitive easing, debt to GDP levels are heading towards what Lyn calls the event horizon, where debt to GDP is over 130% and currency devaluation is the most likely outcome.

Holding cash through a currency devaluation risks losing purchasing power as governments increase the money supply to service debt, thus scarce assets such as gold and Bitcoin are a safe haven.

In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and founder of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy. We discuss the current state of the economy, monetary and fiscal policy debt cycles and if we should expect currency devaluation.

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Bitcoin: The Great Disruption with Luke Gromen - WBD261 Sep 18, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 9th September Company: FFTT, LLC Role: Founder

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/oz, putting an end to any remnants of a gold standard and ushering in a new era in finance.

This new system led to decades of excessive risk-taking, cheap credit and questionable incentive structures. In 2008, the new system came crashing down when the US housing bubble burst and in turn, sent the entire world into the worst financial crisis since the great depression.

To manage the economic crash, central banks pushed quantitative easing to stimulate the economy, but now, 12 years later, the world's economy is again teetering on the edge.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the fragility of the global economy. With decades of currency debasement, investors are turning to scarce assets such as gold and Bitcoin to hedge the risk of inflation.

In this interview, I talk to macroeconomist and founder of FFTT, LLC Luke Gromen. We discuss the current macroeconomic climate, how the system that has been in place for the last 50 years is coming to an end and why we need Bitcoin.

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How to Protect Your Bitcoin with Nick Neuman & Jameson Lopp - WBD260 Sep 15, 2020

Show notes

Location: Squadcast Date: Wednesday 19th August Company: Casa Role: CEO & CTO

One of the earliest lessons for a new Bitcoiner is the security of your Bitcoin. If you lose your private keys or someone hacks you, it is almost certain you will never see that bitcoin again.

Protecting your private keys is one of the first concepts for anyone holding Bitcoin to master. It is the basic building block for becoming self-sovereign, separating your wealth from the legacy financial system.

There is no one way to secure your private keys, and bitcoin holders have a wealth of options available to them, but building a robust security solution which protects you against every possible scenario requires planning.

Casa is a company that specialises in security and offers multisig solutions that help robustly secure your bitcoin while retaining custody.

In this interview, I talk to Nick Neuman and Jameson Lopp, Casa CEO and CTO. We discuss how to secure your Bitcoin, the types of attacks that you need to be aware of and Casa's multisig solutions.

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2020 Oslo Freedom Forum: 24th & 25th September Sep 13, 2020

Show notes

On 24th & 25th September The Human Rights Foundation hold their annual Oslo Freedom Forum. With COVID this event will be virtual for the first time ever. To register for the event and find out more go to https://oslofreedomforum.com/.

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