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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:

Dan Tapiero on Why Bitcoin and Gold Are Both Important - WBD160 Oct 22, 2019

Show notes

Location: Skype Date: Thursday, 17th October Project: Gold Bullion International Role: Co-Founder

Bitcoin's design allows you holders to claim monetary sovereignty, taking money and power away from banks and the legacy financial system.

So, why do Bitcoiners seem so desperate to see the influx of institutional investors? A large injection of capital into the markets would likely see the price of Bitcoin go up, but, would it not be best to see organic growth in adoption by people, rather than corporations?

It is easier than ever for institutional investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin. With the recent launch of Bakkt futures contracts along with LedgerX and CME, there are ways for large traders to get skin in the game. But the volume is low, why?

Education is an often overlooked part of the Bitcoin onboarding process. No matter what background someone is from getting them to see past Bitcoin as 'magic internet money' can be incredibly challenging.

Dan Tapiero is a veteran global macro investor and a co-founder of Gold Bullion International. Having worked as a portfolio manager and analyst he became aware of Bitcoin in 2013, initially writing it off for having a too-small market cap and a "VC plaything". Dan's opinion has gone from not seeing the value in Bitcoin to believing it could take over as a financial system.

In this interview, Dan explains what changed his mind on Bitcoin, gold as a safe haven asset, Twitter, wealth redistribution, trade wars and Trump's influence over the markets.

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

Paul Puey on Time Preference - WBD159 Oct 18, 2019

Show notes

Location: Los Angeles Date: Thursday, 26th September Project: Edge Role: CEO & Co-Founder

Time is arguably our most valuable resource and we are constantly making choices about how we use it. But do we give enough consideration to our time?

One of the theories behind our decision making is time preference. Time preference refers to the value of something now compared to its value at a later date.

Those who favour high time preference prefer to value their current self and spend money faster, while people with a low time preference will make sacrifices to ensure a better outcome for their future self.

It doesn't just relate to personal choices though; time preference is an excellent tool for considering money, specifically when comparing Bitcoin and fiat.

Inflationary fiat currencies favour a high time preference. With no supply cap and governments printing more money at will, there is little economic incentive to save. Bitcoin, however, favours a low time preference. Being sound money with a fixed supply, Bitcoin lends itself to saving.

While time preference finds its roots in economics, it can be applied to almost anything and is how you prioritise now vs future; from health to journalism, productivity to savings.

In this interview, I speak to Paul Puey, the CEO & Co-Founder at Edge who are building a self custody exchange and wallet. We discuss time preference, Bitcoin, health & diet, journalism and Libertarianism.

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

Be Your Own Banker with Pascal Gauthier - WBD158 Oct 16, 2019

Show notes

Location: Skype Date: Wednesday, 2nd October Project: Ledger Role: CEO

One of the earliest bits of advice a Bitcoin beginner will get will be to not keep their coins on an exchange.

By keeping coins on an exchange, hodlers expose themselves to counterparty risk and undermine many of Bitcoin's inherent benefits. When you invest in an asset that allows you to be self-sovereign and take trust away from 3rd parties, why immediately give that up?

While some exchanges, like Kraken, take their security incredibly seriously, the history of Bitcoin is littered with exchange hacks and the theft of coins. In just the last 12 months Binance, Bithumb and Cryptopia have all been hacked, with the latter closing down.

There are many ways to manage your private keys, and hardware wallets are one of the most secure and simple options. Ledger is one of the leading hardware wallet manufacturers and has recently celebrated its 5th birthday.

In this interview, I speak to Pascal Gauthier; CEO at Ledger. Ledger recently celebrated their 5th birthday, so I got Pascal on the show to discuss hardware wallets, being your own banker, competition and what's to come from Ledger.

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Bitcoin is Freedom with Russell Okung - WBD157 Oct 13, 2019

Show notes

Location: Los Angeles Date: Sunday, 1st September Project: Bitcoin Is Role: Founder

Bitcoin's value lies not in its price but in its innate qualities and the freedom that those qualities offer. It is decentralised, trustless, secure and the hardest money ever to exist. It's irreversible, scarce and accessible to everyone.

But many new to Bitcoin fail to understand these qualities. Usually, a first entry point is a fast-moving bull run where Bitcoin's price is rapidly growing. Whether a newcomer makes gains or gets rekt, not all will stay, and those that do usually venture down the rabbit hole to learn more.

So how do you encourage mass adoption from people who might not understand the full capability of Bitcoin?

Russell Okung is an offensive tackle for the LA Chargers and he's trying to do just that. In September he launched Bitcoin Is, a conference in LA to help encourage mass adoption of Bitcoin.

This show is the fireside chat I hosted with Russell Okung at his event. We discuss what Bitcoin means to Russell, negotiating his own NFL contract, asking to be paid in Bitcoin and controlling your wealth.

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Matthew Mežinskis on Bitcoin as Base Money - WBD156 Oct 11, 2019

Show notes

Location: Skype Date: Thursday, 3rd October Project: Crypto Voices Role: Host

The monetary base is the amount of currency in any one country. It is a combination of both the circulating supply and money held in reserve at the central bank. In the 1900s, the global base currency was gold; however, in 1971, the U.S severed all ties with the gold standard and the monetary base changed to being government-issued fiat currency.

In a government-issued fiat-based monetary system, the government controls the printing and inflation of its currency. This allows governments to increase the monetary base at will. Whereas previous base money, gold, was hard to inflate, with fiat money it is easy. This leads to, for example, the U.S global base money rising from $100 billion to $19.2 trillion since 1970.

With Bitcoin, however, issuance and supply are fixed. There will only ever be 21 million created, with the issuance dropping every four years and no ability to inflate the supply. Could this lead to Bitcoin becoming the next global base money?

In this interview, I talk to Matthew Mezinskis from CryptoVoices. Matthew explains what base money is and if Bitcoin will ever become the worlds base money. We also discuss what money is, the gold standard, central banks holding Bitcoin and decentralisation.

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

Eric Voskuil is the Most Rational Bitcoiner - WBD155 Oct 08, 2019

Show notes

Location: Los Angeles Date: Friday, 26th September Project: Libbitcoin Role: Lead Developer

Bitcoin is the best performing asset of the last ten years. It has the potential to disrupt entire states, overturn traditional financial institutions and change the way corporations do business.

With so much potential and with the stakes so high, it's easy to see why discussions around Bitcoin's ideology can become so heated.

Hyperbitcoinisation is touted as the end game by many Bitcoiners. In this scenario, Bitcoin would displace all fiat currencies to become the world's most dominant money and reserve currency. But not everyone shares this vision. Some believe that the economic game theory isn't strong enough for Bitcoin to ever reach hyperbitcoinisation and that in reality, if it were achieved, governments wouldn't relinquish power so easily.

In this interview, I am joined by Eric Voskuil, who John Carvahlo described as Bitcoin's most rational thinker. After starting his career as a software developer, he took a 10-year hiatus flying fighter jets in the U.S Navy before returning to software engineering and Bitcoin. We discuss libertarianism and anarchy versus minarchy, fractional vs full reserve banking and remaining a rational Bitcoiner.

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Plan₿ on Bitcoin's Stock to Flow - WBD154 Oct 04, 2019

Show notes

Location: Skype Date: Tuesday, 1st October Project: Independent Trader Role: Bitcoin Quant Analyst

Stock to flow is a metric used to measure the scarcity of an asset. The only asset with a higher stock to flow than Bitcoin is gold. Gold has a stock to flow value of 62, meaning that to produce the same amount of gold currently held in reserve, it would take 62 years of production.

Every 210,000 blocks (~4 years), the amount of Bitcoin rewarded to miners is cut in half. The next halving is set to take place sometime around May 2020 and will see the reward decreased from 12.5 to 6.25 Bitcoin per block (~every 10 minutes).

The reduction in the reward means that miners have less Bitcoin to sell to cover their operational costs and thus less Bitcoin released to the market. Historically, this has led to an increase in the price of Bitcoin and with the next halving and the subsequent drop in emission, Bitcoins stock to flow value will rise from 25 to 50, getting ever closer to gold.

Will this lead to another surge in price and push Bitcoin to the 1 trillion dollar market cap as PlanB's stock to flow model predicts?

In this interview, I talk to PlanB, known for his Bitcoin stock to flow ratio analysis and the author of Modeling Bitcoin's Value with Scarcity. We discuss gold's stock to flow compared to Bitcoin, scarcity, halvings and safe-haven assets.

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

Trace Mayer on Claiming Your Monetary Sovereignty with Bitcoin - WBD153 Oct 01, 2019

Show notes

Location: Laramie, Wyoming Date: Saturday, 21st September Project: Premier Ark LLC Role: Manager

The unique properties of Bitcoin make it the hardest money which has ever existed and allows those who adopt it to claim their monetary sovereignty.

As the Bitcoin market cap has grown, those accumulating have had to condition themselves to a volatile price, with dollar-cost averaging a popular way of stacking sats.

Many people, however, still don't own their private keys, leaving their Bitcoin on an exchange or in the hands of a 3rd party custodian. In doing so, they miss one of the fundamental aspects of Bitcoin, claiming their sovereignty.

Before Bitcoin, gold was the traditional way to claim financial independence. Like Bitcoin, Gold allows holders to take wealth management away from banks and financial institutions. With this, gold is also a hedge or 'safe haven' asset during currency declines and/or recessions.

With the global economy, again looking fragile, will another economic downturn see Bitcoin, like gold, become a 'safe haven' asset?

In this interview, and for the second time in a week, I'm joined by accountant, lawyer and Bitcoin OG Trace Mayer. We discuss the U.S monetary system being unconstitutional, negative interest rates, gold vs Bitcoin and Proof of Keys.

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

Pete Rizzo on Journalistic Freedom - WBD152 Sep 29, 2019

Show notes

Location: New York Date: Friday, 17th May Project: Formerly of CoinDesk Role: Formerly Editor-in-Chief

For varied reasons, not all interviews are released. I previously recorded a show with Pete Rizzo, while he was Editor-in-Chief at CoinDesk. Following the interview my show editorial went Bitcoin only but due to the topics discussed with Pete, I decided to archive it. I enjoyed our chat and following his recent departure I felt that it would be good to release the show and allow people to hear about what we discussed.

In the world of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency where everyone is an investor and has a vested interest, unbiased news is hard to find.

Now more than ever in a news environment that is driven by clicks, likes, listens and views. News organisations can often struggle to find the right balance between stories that capture people's attention and information that is factual, important and without agenda.

So how do news organisations in the space maintain the balance between producing unbiased informative content whilst still capturing people's attention and engagement?

In this interview, I speak to Pete Rizzo who recently left his position as Editor-in-Chief at CoinDesk. We discuss journalistic responsibilities and freedom.

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Caitlin Long, Trace Mayer & Tyler Lindholm on Reducing the Size of Government - WBD151 Sep 27, 2019

Show notes

Location: Laramie, Wyoming Date: Friday, 20th September Project: Wyoming Blockchain Coalition + Premier Ark LLC + State of Wyoming Role: Co-Founder + Manager + House District 1 Representative

With technology innovation, there is often a divide between those who embrace it and those who push back against it, especially when it challenges the state. Bitcoin is no different.

Countries like China and India have taken a harsh regulatory stance towards Bitcoin, effectively outlawing it. However, in the U.S, regulators have been more accepting of the technology but the laws that surround Bitcoin vary hugely from state to state.

New York implemented the BitLicense, requiring Bitcoin businesses to comply with a complex bureaucratic process. Many argue that this hasn't improved the space or made it safer, but has deterred companies from operating there.

Wyoming, has seen this as an opportunity and over the past two years have implemented 13 laws to entice Bitcoin-based businesses to the state. While Wyoming is not a state you may consider a natural hub for tech-startups that is exactly what it is becoming, thanks to the libertarian principles of those in power.

In this interview, I sit down with Caitlin Long, Trace Mayer & Tyler Lindholm. We discuss the differences between state and federal laws, the states power to nullify federal laws, cannabis, guns and if U.S politics is really like House of Cards.

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

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