Libertarian Kingmakers, Lawfare, and the Fight for Bitcoin Prisoners | Angela McArdle

Nov 26, 2025

Angela McArdle, Chair of the Libertarian Party Mises Caucus and advocate for crypto-related prisoners, shares her transformative journey from local activism to national influence. She discusses her pivotal role in campaigning for Ross Ulbricht's pardon and her strategy to make the Libertarian Party a 'kingmaker' in political negotiations. McArdle tackles the lawfare facing Bitcoin developers and emphasizes the vital role of Bitcoin in preserving free speech and privacy. She urges listeners to engage in local politics to reclaim freedoms.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Strategic Pardon Negotiation

Angela McArdle persuaded Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago to promise freeing Ross Ulbricht as the libertarian ask.
That direct negotiation led to a full presidential pardon and demonstrated pragmatic political leverage.

INSIGHT

From Spoiler To Kingmaker

The Libertarian Party should act as a kingmaker by trading ballot access and votes for policy concessions.
Retaining ballot access preserves leverage to extract real political outcomes without merging into a major party.

INSIGHT

Lawfare Against Bitcoin Developers

Prosecuting Bitcoin developers for writing code is framed as lawfare that targets free speech and privacy.
This creates a chilling dynamic where novel financial tools are seized and stifled rather than understood.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

In this episode of THE Bitcoin Podcast, Walker America talks with Angela McArdle—Chair of the Libertarian Party Mises Caucus and former Chair of the Libertarian National Party—about her path from local civil-liberties activism in Los Angeles to high-level federal political influence, including her pivotal role in negotiating Ross Ulbricht’s presidential pardon.

Angela outlines her strategy for transforming the Libertarian Party from a spoiler into a “kingmaker” that leverages ballot access and voter blocs to secure policy concessions and cabinet roles from major candidates. She also details her ongoing work to fight escalating “lawfare” against Bitcoin developers—Samurai Wallet, Tornado Cash, Bitcoin Fog, and Ian Freeman—arguing these prosecutions target free speech and financial privacy. The discussion highlights Bitcoin’s importance in countering federal overreach, the need to expand Bitcoin adoption across both political tribes (not just the right), and why local political victories are often the most impactful. Angela concludes that individuals must actively take back their freedom—and that a determined 1% of the population can change history.

PARTNERS & DISCOUNTS:

BLOCKWARE: Mine Bitcoin, lower your tax bill, and stack sats hands-free with Blockware — get started today at https://mining.blockwaresolutions.com/titcoin and use code “titcoin” to get $100 off your first miner on the Blockware Marketplace.
LEDN: Bitcoin-backed lending. Go to ledn.io/walker and unlock liquidity WITHOUT selling your bitcoin.
Buy Bitcoin with River: http://partner.river.com/walker
GET FOLD ($10 in bitcoin): https://use.foldapp.com/r/WALKER

FOLLOW ANGELA:

X: https://x.com/RealAngelaMc

Websites:

https://www.cryptoprisoners.com/

https://www.freeiannow.org/

MISES CAUCUS BITCOIN SURVEY: https://lpmc.us/btc

JOIN THE SUBSTACK TO GET NEW EPISODES DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX: https://walkeramerica.substack.com/

If you enjoy THE Bitcoin Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following:

FOLLOW ME (Walker) on @WalkerAmerica on X | @TitcoinPodcast on X | Nostr Personal (walker) | Nostr Podcast (Titcoin) | Instagram

Subscribe to THE Bitcoin Podcast (and leave a review) on Fountain | YouTube | Spotify | Rumble | EVERYWHERE ELSE