Stephan Livera Podcast

Giacomo Zucco, well known Bitcoin advocate, Supremo of BHB Network, and bitcoin consultant/teacher joins me in this episode. We talk: His Bitcoin 'rage quit'! The recent trend of Lightning Network custodial wallets, and whether this is on net a good or bad thing Thoughts on altcoins - are some of them honest, good faith efforts? Might they be technologically interesting, but still not monetarily relevant? Bitcoin financialisation - Does Bitcoin need financialisation or does finance need Bitcoin? Attacks on Bitcoin that may come Giacomo links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/giacomozucco  Giacomo’s ‘rage quit’ thread: https://twitter.com/giacomozucco/status/1084411808734240769  The B: https://theb.foundation/  BHB Network: https://www.blockchainlab.it/  Stephan links:  Twitter: https://twitter.com/@stephanlivera  Website: https://stephanlivera.com/  Patreon: http://patreon.com/stephanlivera  Tallycoin (BTC/LN donations): https://tallyco.in/stephanlivera/ 

Sjors Provoost (Bitcoin Core developer) joins me to discuss a range of topics:  Bitcoin Core Development and Review  Working towards hardware wallet support in Bitcoin Core Sjors' article, "A Crime on Testnet" - with privacy & fungibility implications Sjors Links:  Sjors Twitter: https://twitter.com/@provoost “A Crime on Testnet”: https://medium.com/provoost-on-crypto/a-crime-on-testnet-6d95ede8da03  Episode Ad/Sponsor: BUIDL Bootcamp with Justin Moon Learn to code Bitcoin: https://buidlbootcamp.com/

Jeff Deist joins me to discuss Bitcoin and the application of Austrian economics in understanding Bitcoin. Topics:  Market selection of money The potential for a hard money standard to restrict govt spending Why Austrian Economists are split on Bitcoin Why credit would be much tighter under a hard money standard The deflation and 'hoarding' argument - dispelled The educational strategy pursued by the Mises Institute Jeff's recommended Austrian economics books for Bitcoiners Jeff Deist and Mises Institute links: Jeff's Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeffdeist Mises Institute: https://mises.org/ Mises Institute Twitter: https://twitter.com/@mises

Aleks Svetski (CEO, co-founder of Amber) joins me in this fiery episode  to talk about the blind excesses of 'Crypto' over the last few years and  more: - Crazy excesses that we saw over the last few years - STO's - Security Token Offerings - "Crypto Traders" - "Crypto Hedge Fund Managers" - Bitcoin as asymmetric bet - Dollar Cost Averaging - Amber and the service offering Aleks and Amber links:  - Amber website: https://getamber.io/ - Aleks Twitter: https://twitter.com/AleksSvetski - Article "A world full of Blind Excess": https://hackernoon.com/a-world-full-of-blind-excess-b7fb42357d43  Stephan links: - Website: http://stephanlivera.com/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanlivera  - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/StephanLivera - Tallycoin (BTC/Lightning donations): https://tallyco.in/stephanlivera/

Jameson Lopp, Cypherpunk & CTO of Casa, discusses Bitcoin's control, 2018 year in review, Bitcoin storage, individual sovereignty, Grin & Beam, and maintaining privacy in transactions.

Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, Cypherpunk & Cryptographer, and inventor of hashcash (cited in Bitcoin's whitepaper) joins me in this episode. We talk about the new update to Blockstream satellite, Tim May and Bitcoin Privacy. Topics: - Blockstream satellite background - How Blockstream satellite works - Making Lightning payments to deliver encrypted messages via satellite - The need for censorship resistance - Tips on setting up Blockstream satellite - Thoughts on Tim May's recent passing - Pay 2 End Point - Confidential Transactions and associated tradeoffs - Quantum Computing and Quantum Resistant Crypto - Other privacy improvements coming to Bitcoin - Technical Fundamentals of Bitcoin Adam Back & Blockstream Links: Blockstream satellite page: https://blockstream.com/satellite/ Elements Project page: https://elementsproject.org/ Adam’s website: http://adam3.us/ Adam’s twitter: https://twitter.com/@adam3us Stephan links: website: https://stephanlivera.com/ twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanlivera

Dhruv Bansal, Chief Science Officer of Unchained Capital joins me to talk about some of his data science analytical work on Bitcoin's blockchain, and also how Unchained Capital are thinking about Bitcoin financial services. We discuss how Bitcoin enables entirely different delivery of financial products and services. One example of this is the new feature, Collaborative Custody. Topics: - Blockchain as heat engine - How much 'dust' there is and how much it costs to move - Bitcoin Financial Services - How Unchained Capital differentiates itself from other crypto lending businesses - Collaborative custody - Bear market blues - Future vision of Bitcoin financial services Dhruv & Unchained Capital Links: Bitcoin Data Science Part 3: Dust in the Engine: https://blog.unchained-capital.com/bitcoin-data-science-pt-3-dust-in-the-engine-615dd51f49 Dhruv’s twitter: https://twitter.com/dhruvbansal Unchained Capital site: https://www.unchained-capital.com/ Stephan Links: Website: https://stephanlivera.com/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/@stephanlivera

Vijay Boyapati (Software Developer, Austrian Economist) joins me to discuss his 2010 article, "Why Credit Deflation Is More Likely Than Mass Inflation". Find out where economics commentators were getting it wrong immediately post the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and ways to think about Bitcoin in the coming years. Vijay Links: Article discussed: http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2010/lp-2-43.pdf Vijay's Twitter: https://twitter.com/@real_vijay Stephan Links: Website: www.stephanlivera.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/@stephanlivera Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/StephanLivera

Laolu aka roasbeef, CTO of Lightning Labs joins me in this episode to talk about some of the latest developments with Bitcoin's Lightning Network: - Lightning Summit (Adelaide, Australia Nov 2018) - AMP - Splicing - Probing - Wumbology (large channels) - Neutrino - Wishlist for changes in Bitcoin Core - What products/services should be built on Lightning - What's coming up for Lightning Labs - Outlook for Lightning Network over the next year - How you can get involved Laolu links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/roasbeef Github: https://github.com/roasbeef Lightning Labs: https://lightning.engineering/ LND Developer site: https://dev.lightning.community/ Stephan links: Website: https://stephanlivera.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanlivera

Per Bylund (Assistant Professor at OSU and Fellow of Mises Institute) joins me to discuss how some firms today are larger than what they would be under a free market. The impact of regulation and ways to assess competition in a market are discussed. We also touch on the confusion about scarcity and 'post scarcity'. Per Bylund Links: Per’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerBylund Per’s website: http://perbylund.com/ Per’s Books: https://www.amazon.com/Per-L.-Bylund/e/B00LMNLBCU Entrepreneur articles: https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/per-bylund Stephan Livera: Website: https://stephanlivera.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanlivera