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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 is Reshaping the World with Robert Breedlove - WBD220 May 05, 2020

Show notes

Location: Zoom Date: Monday 4th May Project: Parallax Digital Role: Founder & CEO

The properties for measuring the soundness of money include divisibility, durability, portability, recognisability and scarcity. Current government-issued and controlled fiat money fit some of these characteristics but, with the central bank's ability to print money at will, the current system completely fails as a scarce resource.

Historically metals have been the best form of money, with gold outcompeting all other metals to become the number one metal used as a currency and store of value. It is durable, recognisable and scarce; however, government-issued fiat became a better form of cash as it is more portable and divisible. Since 1971, when the US came off the gold standard, and the government has been able to issue more fiat, the purchasing power of the dollar has fallen. As such, gold has proven to be a better store of wealth than fiat.

Many see Bitcoin as digital gold with the added benefits of being highly divisible and able to be sent anywhere in the world quickly and at low cost. Bitcoin also offers censorship resistance, immutability and the ability to store wealth out of the reach of the government.

Bitcoin is a new paradigm in money.

In this interview, I talk to Robert Breedlove the Founder and CEO of Parallax Digital. Robert recently wrote An Open Letter to Ray Dalio explaining how Bitcoin will reshape the world. We discuss Bitcoin's ability to outcompete the current financial system.

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Could Bitcoin Really be Heading to $288k? With Plan₿ - WBD219 May 01, 2020

Show notes

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday 29th April Project: Independent Trader Role: Bitcoin Quant Analyst

Plan₿'s Stock-to-Flow model was warmly received by many in Bitcoin. The chart gave context to price action around halvings, validating the importance of scarcity. The S2F model does have critics, and with the third halving approaching, some had questioned whether the reducing subsidy drive price.

The halving is one of the most significant events in the Bitcoin calendar. Every 210,000 blocks (~4 years) the block subsidy issued to the miners reduced by half. Initially, the block reward was 50BTC, now 11 years later on approximately May 12th, we will have the 3rd halving taking the block reward from 12.5BTC to 6.25BTC. By the end of this reward period on May 12th, 87.5% of all Bitcoin will have been mined.

Satoshi implemented the halving as a way of controlling inflation, front-loading the rewards to kick start the protocol. Dan Held stated that halvings are a viral marketing loop which creates awareness.

Historically, the Bitcoin price in the weeks and months following the halving has seen significant moves to the upside, with supply cut in half Bitcoin becomes more scarce and demand may increase.

The Stock-to-Flow model tracks the scarcity of an asset and following the halving the stock to flow ratio of Bitcoin will rise from 25 to 50, meaning it would take 50 years for miners to mine enough Bitcoin to match the current Bitcoin supply, at the current level of issuance. When applied to non-digital assets such as gold and silver, stock-to-flow becomes a benchmarking tool.

Plan B identified a flaw in the model, the overreliance on time. In the latest version of his model, Bitcoin Stock-to-Flow Cross Asset Model (S2FX), time is removed, and other assets such as gold and silver are added. The new model includes a significant change, Phase Transitions, which identifies that the properties of an asset can change. These changes in the properties of Bitcoin, for example maturing from digital cash to digital gold, identify why the market for the asset grows; thus, there is increasing demand.

In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin Quant Analyst & creator of the popular stock to flow model, Plan₿. We discuss his new S2FX model, the upcoming Bitcoin halving, predicted price action and the impact on miners.

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Bitcoin Purity with Rodolfo Novak - WBD218 Apr 28, 2020

Show notes

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday 22nd April Project: Coinkite Role: CEO & Co-Founder

Bitcoin attracts a broad range of enthusiasts with different backgrounds, experience and political beliefs. The spectrum is broad, from those who treat it purely as a speculative asset, happy to buy and hold, to those who head deep down the anti-state and hard money rabbit hole.

Those who are attracted to Bitcoin's hard money properties may often align with Libertarian ideas, free markets and the separation of money and state. These Bitcoiners will often push hard important topics such as holding your own private keys, validating transactions with a node, enhancing privacy with CoinJoin and generally hating on any altcoin or token project. The most hardcore of Bitcoiners may even avoid exchanges due to KYC/AML legislation and find other ways to accumulate Bitcoin.

Almost all Bitcoiners will fit somewhere between these two extremes, and the beauty of Bitcoin is that it doesn't care about your personal beliefs. As Bitcoin continues to grow, it will attract people who may not align with some of the more anarcho-capitalist opinions but still wish to use Bitcoin.

So, is it the job of more radical Bitcoiners to push everyone towards holding their keys, running a node and improving their privacy and OPSEC? While these are good practices, what about those who do not align with libertarianism or Austrian Economics, should Bitcoin welcome all or be toxic to those who don't follow certain ideologies.

In this interview, I talk to Rodolfo Novak, the CEO & Co-Founder of Coinkite and Bitcoin OG. We get into Bitcoin purity and discuss self custody & personal responsibility, hardware wallets and Bitcoin narratives.

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Bitcoin World #8: Bitcoin in Zimbabwe with Anita Posch - WBD217 Apr 26, 2020

Show notes

Location: Zoom Date: Monday 3th March Project: Bitcoin & Co Podcast Role: Host

Earlier this year, I travelled to Venezuela to find out the reality of Bitcoin adoption in the country and what I found didn't exactly fit the widely accepted narrative. The truth is that while Bitcoin may have some use cases for the middle and upper classes, the poorest in Venezuela are surviving on a few dollars a month, and Bitcoin is not a useful currency for them.

Zimbabwe, like Venezuela, is often touted as a perfect use case for Bitcoin. Both countries have experienced hyperinflation, both have significant wealth disparity, and both have a high percentage of the population unbanked. So, is Bitcoin more widely adopted in Zimbabwe, and how can Zimbabweans take advantage of it?

In this interview, I talk to Anita Posch, Bitcoin podcaster, speaker and author. We discuss Anita's recent trip to Zimbabwe, free speech & freedom of expression, scams & MLM, hyperinflation and if and how Zimbabweans are using Bitcoin.

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The Role of Stablecoins with Jeremy Allaire - WBD216 Apr 24, 2020

Show notes

Location: Zoom Date: Friday, 10th April Project: Circle Role: CEO & Founder

By complementing Bitcoin trading, and making it easy to send digital dollars around the world, stablecoins continue to grow in popularity.

Commercial banks operate on a fractional basis, holding only a small % of deposits. During challenging economic times, this can lead to what is known as a run on the bank, where depositors attempt to withdraw their funds.

Unlike fractionally reserved banks, some stablecoins claim to be fully backed, meaning (for example) that for every 1 USDC, GUSD or USDT, the company claims they hold an equivalent $1. Stablecoins come with their risks and trade-offs, from the risk of being hacked to platform dependency.

In a time of economic uncertainty, do stablecoins offer a better saving solution than our banks? And what are the pros and cons of self custody vs the high-interest rate savings accounts?

In this interview, I talk to Jeremy Allaire, the CEO & Founder of Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin. We discuss the use case for stablecoins, the benefit of being fully backed rather and the impact on the economy from coronavirus.

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Bitcoin Tech Update with Andrew Poelstra - WBD215 Apr 21, 2020

Show notes

Location: Zoom Date: Friday, 10th April Project: Blockstream Role: Director of Research

Bitcoin is very conservative. Unlike the typical tech industry ethos of move fast and break things, it is paramount that Bitcoin upgrades and changes to the protocol are absolutely necessary, slow, well planned and well tested.

Two protocol changes that have been discussed for a while now are Schnorr signatures and Taproot. These proposals have lots of positive implications, including an improvement to privacy and scalability, but what will it mean for an average Bitcoin user? What is next on the roadmap?

In this interview, I talk to Andrew Poelstra, the Director of Research at Blockstream. We discuss the upcoming upgrades to the Bitcoin protocol, including Schnorr signatures, Taproot and Miniscript and what that means to Bitcoin users.

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Bitcoin Finance in a Black Swan Event with Zac Prince & Flori Marquez - WBD214 Apr 17, 2020

Show notes

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday, 8th April Project: BlockFi Role: Co-Founders

On March 12th Bitcoin fell by over 50% from ~$8,000 to ~$3,800. One day earlier, the World Health Organisation had escalated the evolving COVID-19 situation to pandemic status, and Bitcoin wasn't alone in this, markets around the world crashed.

The Coronavirus black swan event caused huge volatility which has been a critical concern held by many Bitcoiners about Bitcoin financial service companies. Critiques of these services have questioned what the impact would be of such an event on crypto-backed loans and whether they would lead to high default rates from borrowers. Would the risk management strategies put in place by companies such as BlockFi be robust enough?

Coronavirus would trigger the market collapse that would test the doubter's theories.

In this interview, I talk to Zac Prince and Flori Marquez, the co-founders of BlockFi, a bitcoin financial services business. We discuss how they manage high volatility, operating as a custodian and the state of the Bitcoin market.

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WTF Happened in 1971 with Ben Prentice & Heavily Armed Clown - WBD213 Apr 14, 2020

Show notes

Location: Zoom Date: Wednesday, 1st April Project: WTFhappenedin1971.com Role: Host

The gold standard was a monetary system in which the value of countries currency was directly linked to the amount of gold held in reserve. Although not currently used by any government, it was once a widely used system.

A currency backed by a scarce asset such as gold prevents the government from printing more money without consequences.

In 1931 the Bank of England abandoned the gold standard 'temporarily'; however, it never returned. Following Britains move to abandon the gold standard, a number of other countries followed suit.

In 1933, during the Great Depression, US residents began hoarding gold which led US President Roosevelt to order all gold worth over $100 to be returned to the federal reserve and exchanged for paper money.

The following year the price of gold, set by the US government, was increased to $35/once which, raising the feds balance sheet by 69%, marking the beginning of the end of the gold standard in the US.

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., putting an end to any remnants of a gold standard.

WTF Happened in 1971 is a website that charts the economic impact and societal shift that has followed the abandonment of the gold standard.

In this interview, I talk to Ben Prentice and Collin, the creators of WTFhappenedin1971.com. We discuss the gold standard, the Bretton Woods Agreement, monetary policy, inflation and hyperbitcoinisation.

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Uncensored Bitcoin Narratives with Junseth - WBD212 Apr 12, 2020

Show notes

Location: Zoom Date: Thursday, 9th April Project: Junseth's World Role: Host

Junseth was the co-host of the hugely popular Bitcoin Uncensored, but in 2017 he and co-host Chris DeRose parted ways.

One thing that made Bitcoin Uncensored both popular but also divisive was their ability to cut through the noise and call out ideas or bullshit in the crypto industry. Their interview with Perianne Boring is still one of the greatest podcasts in the world of "blockchain".

There are so many topics that I have been wrestling with recently, from the politicisation and government response to the coronavirus pandemic to the very radical Bitcoin narratives offered by some of the most vocal and well known Bitcoiners.

In this bonus episode, I am joined by Junseth the former co-host of Bitcoin Uncensored and host of Junseth's world. We discuss coronavirus, the politicisation of the pandemic and the economic impact, libertarianism, modern art and Bitcoin narratives.

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Bitcoin's Coming of Age with Dan Morehead - WBD211 Apr 10, 2020

Show notes

Location: Zoom Date: Friday, 3rd April Project: Pantera Capital Role: Co-Founder & CEO

Markets around the world have posted their worst quarterly results in decades with the FTSE, DJI, S&P500 and many others down over 20%. While the coronavirus pandemic is certainly the catalyst behind this drop, it may have been the pin that popped the global economy propped up by cheap credit.

With the markets falling, the forced closure of businesses and unemployment at record levels, governments around the world have taken unprecedented action with their monetary and fiscal policies.

With huge amounts of quantitative easing globally, this economic event again highlights the benefits of Bitcoin's monetary policy. It was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, born out of years of cheap credit and poor government oversight. Now nearly 12 years since its creation, we are again in a time of financial crisis. So, could this crisis lead people to a non-sovereign, global, immutable, digital, decentralised, hard money?

In this interview, I talk to Dan Morehead, a veteran investor and the co-founder & CEO of Pantera Capital. We discuss the effect of coronavirus on the economy, how the markets will recover, and Bitcoin's coming of age.

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