The Kevin Rooke Show

Oleg Mikhalsky is a Partner at Fulgur Ventures, a VC firm focused on investing in Bitcoin and Lightning Network companies. Oleg and I spoke about why Fulgur is so excited about the Lightning Network, new business models enabled by Lightning, attracting founders to build on Lightning, valuations in the Lightning startup ecosystem, and the different types of adoption the Lightning Network is seeing today. → Fulgur Ventures: https://fulgur.ventures/ The Lightning Round is sponsored by Voltage, where you can ask me questions over the Lightning Network. → Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinrooke&utm_medium=Youtube&utm_campaign=1mo → Use code KEVINROOKE to get 50% off your first month's Lightning node At the end of every show I answer any questions listeners send in over the Lightning Network. To ask a question, send a message, or to support the show, download Fountain from the iOS or Google Play App Store and load your wallet with a few sats. → Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/ → Listen to More Episodes: https://play.fountain.fm/show/P6XXuSPg6f2rj4ECB0fT → Follow Kevin Rooke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerooke Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 01:43 - Oleg Mikhalsky Intro 05:59 - Lightning Network Progress Since 2018 09:27 - Is Lightning Adoption Tied To Bitcoin’s Price? 12:25 - Why Invest in Lightning Companies? 17:17 - The Importance Of Value-Add Investors 22:16 - The Lightning Network’s Impact on Existing and New Markets 28:13 - Missing Components of the Lightning Ecosystem 32:08 - How Will the Metaverse Evolve? 36:26 - Proven Business Models in Lightning 43:13 - Are Lightning Companies Appropriately Valued? 49:51 - Are There Enough Founders Building on Lightning? 54:28 - Convincing Founders To Build on Lightning 58:23 - Where Does Lightning Adoption Come From? 01:05:03 - El Salvador’s Approach To Bitcoin 01:09:50 - Lightning Network Predictions 01:17:28 - The Lightning Round

Chris Stewart is the founder of Suredbits, a company focused on building financial applications and markets directly on the Bitcoin protocol. Chris and I spoke about Bitcoin’s smart contract limitations today, the ways in which DLCs could enable new applications for Bitcoin, how DLCs, CFDs, and Oracles work, and the future applications of Bitcoin smart contracts that Chris is excited about. → Suredbits: https://suredbits.com/ The Lightning Round is sponsored by Voltage, where you can ask me questions over the Lightning Network. → Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinrooke&utm_medium=Youtube&utm_campaign=1mo → Use code KEVINROOKE to get 50% off your first month's Lightning node At the end of every show I answer any questions listeners send in over the Lightning Network. To ask a question, send a message, or to support the show, download Fountain from the iOS or Google Play App Store and load your wallet with a few sats. → Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/ → Listen to More Episodes: https://play.fountain.fm/show/P6XXuSPg6f2rj4ECB0fT → Follow Kevin Rooke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerooke Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 02:15 - Chris Stewart Intro 06:30 - Smart Contract Development on Bitcoin 12:45 - How To Create Censorship Resistant Markets on Bitcoin 14:56 - What Are Oracles? 23:27 - Financial & Reputation Incentives for Oracles 32:30 - What Are DLCs? 41:01 - Use Cases For DLCs 45:57 - Sports Betting & Bitcoin 49:14 - What are Schnorr Signatures? 53:57 - The Importance of Backwards Compatibility on Bitcoin 55:27 - Future Use Cases For Smart Contracts on Bitcoin 1:01:21 - Contracts For Difference 01:07:04 - Contract-Based Stablecoins and Hedging Bitcoin’s Volatility 01:16:33 - Interesting Bitcoin Innovations 01:21:12 - The Lightning Round

Adam Curry is one of the pioneers of podcasting, and is playing an integral role in advancing the Podcasting 2.0 movement, and the Value 4 Value business model. Adam and I spoke about his background in broadcasting, the ways in which the podcast industry has evolved, his work on the Podcast Index, the value of earning and engaging directly with your audience, and the new features being built into modern podcasting apps today. → Podcast Index: https://podcastindex.org/ The Lightning Round is sponsored by Voltage, where you can ask me questions over the Lightning Network. → Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinrooke&utm_medium=Youtube&utm_campaign=1mo → Use code KEVINROOKE to get 50% off your first month's Lightning node At the end of every show I answer any questions listeners send in over the Lightning Network. To ask a question, send a message, or to support the show, download Fountain from the iOS or Google Play App Store and load your wallet with a few sats. → Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/ → Listen to More Episodes: https://play.fountain.fm/show/P6XXuSPg6f2rj4ECB0fT → Follow Kevin Rooke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerooke Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 02:29 - Adam Curry Intro 08:06 - Adam's Transition from Broadcasting to Podcasting 14:07 - Podcasting vs. Radio 27:59 - Applying Value 4 Value To Other Industries 31:35 - Audience vs. Advertiser Funding 33:20 - Why Is Now The Right Time for Podcasting 2.0? 47:02 - Apple and Spotify's Influence on Podcasting 58:53 - The Fall of Legacy Institutions 01:04:40 - Adam’s Introduction to Bitcoin 01:10:10 - The Excitement of Receiving Sats 01:18:35 - What is Holding Back Podcasting 2.0 Adoption? 01:22:09 - How New Podcast 2.0 Features Get Adopted 01:31:34 - How Other Industries Become Self-Sovereign 01:37:37 - Has Bitcoin Hit Escape Velocity? 01:39:54 - Stablecoins on The Lightning Network 01:44:03 - Interesting Lightning Applications 01:53:35 - The Lightning Round

Alyse Killeen is the Founding Partner at Stillmark, a Bitcoin focused VC firm.   Alyse and I spoke about her focus on investing in Bitcoin companies, the things Alyse looks for in founders and startup pitches, and the particular segments of Bitcoin and the Lightning Network she is most excited about in 2022.   → Stillmark: https://www.stillmark.com/  The Lightning Round is sponsored by Voltage, where you can ask me questions over the Lightning Network.     → Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinrooke&utm_medium=Youtube&utm_campaign=1mo → Use code KEVINROOKE to get 50% off your first month's Lightning node     At the end of every show I answer any questions listeners send in over the Lightning Network.     To ask a question, send a message, or to support the show, download Fountain from the iOS or Google Play App Store and load your wallet with a few sats.     → Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/ → Listen to More Episodes: https://play.fountain.fm/show/P6XXuSPg6f2rj4ECB0fT → Follow Kevin Rooke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerooke  Timestamps  00:00 - Intro  01:15 - Alyse Killeen Intro  03:42 - Why Is Stillmark Focused on Bitcoin?   08:33 - Investing in Bitcoin vs. Bitcoin Companies  10:39 - Emerging Bitcoin Companies  20:28 - Investing in Tokens vs. Equity  23:03 - Is Bitcoin Innovation Constrained by Capital?   25:30 - Can There Be Too Much Capital in Bitcoin Companies?  29:22 - Down Rounds in VC Investing  33:34 - Benefits of Investing In Bitcoin Startups  38:14 - Web 2 Monopolies vs. Bitcoin Companies   42:57 - Competitive Moats for Bitcoin Companies  47:26 - Investing in the Lightning Network  49:19 - Should Large Bitcoin Holders Fund Bitcoin Companies?  54:04 - Deciding Which Founders To Invest In  01:01:53 - New Lightning Payment Applications  01:04:39 - Lightning Adoption & Earning Bitcoin  01:11:08 - Bitcoin's Role in Web 3.0   01:15:56 - What Areas of the Internet will Integrate Lightning?  01:19:25 - How Will Newcomers Interact with Lightning?  01:24:07 - The Lightning Round

Hussein Badakhchani is the CTO at Noah, a Bitcoin company building what they believe is the money app of the future. Hussein and I spoke about the new products Noah is building, the different mechanics that help people earn, save, spend, and pay money on Noah, and the future of payments on the Lightning Network. → Noah: https://noah.com/ The Lightning Round is sponsored by Voltage, where you can ask me questions over the Lightning Network. → Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinrooke&utm_medium=Youtube&utm_campaign=1mo → Use code KEVINROOKE to get 50% off your first month's Lightning node At the end of every show I answer any questions listeners send in over the Lightning Network. To ask a question, send a message, or to support the show, download Fountain from the iOS or Google Play App Store and load your wallet with a few sats. → Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/ → Listen to More Episodes: https://play.fountain.fm/show/P6XXuSPg6f2rj4ECB0fT → Follow Kevin Rooke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerooke 00:00 - Intro 01:27 - Hussein Badakhchani Intro 04:46 - Why Noah Is Building on Bitcoin 09:21 - Noah’s Liquidity Pool 10:56 - Noah Badges 15:29 - Saving and Earning Money on Noah 18:17 - Interest Rates on Noah 21:17 - Why Noah is Non-Custodial 26:44 - How Does Credit Work on Noah? 36:06 - The Challenges of Expanding Globally 38:50 - Political Problems with Bitcoin 40:54 - Second Order Effects of Instant Payments 43:46 - Bitcoin and the Inflationary Economic Environment 51:05 - How Noah Makes Bitcoin Adoption Easier 54:29 - Societal Implications When People Start Saving 01:00:49 - Noah’s Competitors 01:02:11 - Interesting Lightning Applications 01:06:03 - The Lightning Round

Jesse Shrader is the co-founder of Amboss, a Lightning Network explorer and data analytics tool.   Jesse and I spoke about Amboss role in helping node operators make better routing decisions, the ways Amboss can build a competitive moat when Lightning data is publicly available, the future of node operations on Lightning, as well as a discussion on Lightning messaging and other applications Jesse finds exciting.   → Amboss: https://amboss.space/  The Lightning Round is sponsored by Voltage, where you can ask me questions over the Lightning Network.     → Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinrooke&utm_medium=Youtube&utm_campaign=1mo → Use code KEVINROOKE to get 50% off your first month's Lightning node     At the end of every show I answer any questions listeners send in over the Lightning Network.     To ask a question, send a message, or to support the show, download Fountain from the iOS or Google Play App Store and load your wallet with a few sats.     → Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/ → Listen to More Episodes: https://play.fountain.fm/show/P6XXuSPg6f2rj4ECB0fT → Follow Kevin Rooke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerooke  Timestamps:    00:00 - Intro  00:59 - Jesse Shrader Intro  03:10 - Building Amboss  06:33 - The Amboss Vision  09:28 - Data Analytics with Limited Information  11:24 - How Do Node Operators Make Decisions?  15:34 - Can You Earn a Full Time Income From Your Node?  22:50 - Will Lightning Fees Change Over Time?  31:56 - Lightning Growth Surprises  34:39 - Amboss’s Competitive Advantage  39:55 - Will Amboss Be a Lightning-Native Business?  42:27 - Features to Improve Node Operations  44:48 - Is Lightning a Social Network?  47:26 - What is Keysend?   53:06 - Will The Lightning Network Get Congested?   58:36 - Growth of Capacity, Nodes, and Channels  01:03:29 - Total Addressable Market for Lightning  01:07:39 - The Lightning Round

André Neves is the co-founder and CTO of ZEBEDEE, a Lightning Network company focused on powering real economies in virtual worlds.   André and I spoke about ZEBEDEE’s role in the metaverse, the ways Bitcoin can be integrated into games to change incentives, the history of LNURL and its use cases, as well as a discussion on Lightning Addresses and BOLTs.   → ZEBEDEE: https://zebedee.io/  The Lightning Round is sponsored by Voltage.     → Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinrooke&utm_medium=Youtube&utm_campaign=1mo → Use code KEVINROOKE to get 50% off your first month's Lightning node     In the Lightning Round at the end of every show, I answer any questions listeners send in over the Lightning Network. To ask a question, send a message, or to support the show, download Fountain from the iOS or Google Play App Store and load your wallet with a few sats.     → Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/ → Listen to More Episodes: https://play.fountain.fm/show/P6XXuSPg6f2rj4ECB0fT → Follow Kevin Rooke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerooke   Timestamps:    00:00 - Intro  01:14 - André Neves Intro  06:47 - The Future of the Metaverse  10:28 - Will All Metaverse Platforms Become One?   12:59 - Will Bitcoin Be The Currency of Virtual Environments?   17:00 - How Bitcoin is Being Integrated in Games  25:41 - Making a Living From Playing Games  30:07 - Emerging Gaming Applications  33:13 - ZEBEDEE’s Business Model   38:46 - Can Bitcoin Disrupt Closed Platforms?   42:45 - Demand for Bitcoin Game Developers  45:23 - What is LNURL?   51:53 - Lightning Addresses & LNURL  01:01:39 - Lightning Addresses vs QR Codes  01:08:06 - What are BOLTs?   01:21:25 - How Lightning Implementations Make Decisions  01:23:52 - The Current State of Lightning Implementations  01:29:20 - Exciting Lightning Tech for 2022  01:33:32 - The Lightning Round

Keagan McClelland is the co-founder of Start9 Labs, where his team is ushering in the age of sovereign computing with their personal servers.   Keagan and I spoke about the distinction between Bitcoin/Lightning nodes and personal servers, the challenges of getting app developers and users to adopt personal servers, the growth of the Lightning Network, and the new technologies Keagan is most excited about.   → Start9 Labs: https://start9.com/   The Lightning Round is sponsored by Voltage, where you can ask me or my future guests questions over the Lightning Network.     → Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinrooke&utm_medium=Youtube&utm_campaign=1mo  → Use code KEVINROOKE to get 50% off your first month's Lightning node     At the end of every show I answer any questions listeners send in over the Lightning Network.     To ask a question, send a message, or to support the show, download Fountain from the iOS or Google Play App Store and load your wallet with a few sats.     → Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/  → Listen to More Episodes: https://play.fountain.fm/show/P6XXuSPg6f2rj4ECB0fT  → Follow Kevin Rooke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerooke   Timestamps   00:00 - Intro  01:25 - Keagan McClelland Intro  06:58 - Lightning Nodes vs. Personal Servers  15:29 - Current Features on Start9’s Embassy  20:32 - Future Applications for Lightning Nodes  24:23 - Lightning Nodes & Hardware Design  28:07 - Are Embassy Apps Censorship Resistant?  30:39 - Decentralized Network Efficiency Trade-offs  35:00 - Do People Care About Privacy & Censorship?   37:42 - How Much Storage Do People Need?   39:23 - How Does Start9 Earn Revenue?   43:17 - Centralization Risks & Personal Servers  45:27 - Start9 Competitive Advantages  49:01 - The Growth of the Lightning Network  51:35 - Challenges for Lightning Network Builders  56:31 - Lightning Node Predictions  01:00:44 - Interesting Lightning Projects to Keagan  01:05:51 - The Lightning Round

Keyan Kousha is the founder of Stacker News, a Bitcoin forum that pays users for sharing great content using the Lightning Network.   Keyan and I spoke about the issues plaguing social media platforms, how the Lightning Network can incentivize better online communities and conversations, the growth of Stacker News so far, and the new features Stacker News is working on.   → Stacker News: https://stacker.news/   The Lightning Round is sponsored by Voltage, where you can ask me or my future guests questions over the Lightning Network.     → Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinrooke&utm_medium=Youtube&utm_campaign=1mo  → Use code KEVINROOKE to get 50% off your first month's Lightning node     At the end of every show I answer any questions listeners send in over the Lightning Network.     To ask a question, send a message, or to support the show, download Fountain from the iOS or Google Play App Store and load your wallet with a few sats.     → Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/  → Listen to More Episodes: https://play.fountain.fm/show/P6XXuSPg6f2rj4ECB0fT  → Follow Kevin Rooke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerooke   Timestamps   00:00 - Intro   01:33 - Keyan Kousha Intro  03:17 - Why Did You Build Stacker News?  09:02 - Is Austin the Bitcoin Capital of the World?  11:18 - What Features Are You Integrating?  14:17 - How Does Stacker News Work?   23:48 - Constraints to Stacker News Adoption  26:09 - Can Curating Content Become a Career?  32:32 - Why Stacker News Is Better Than Reddit  38:40 - Decentralizing Your Reputation  41:38 - How Users Can Earn Sats on Stacker News  44:54 - Decentralizing Stacker News  50:24 - Can Lightning Nodes Eliminate Censorship?  53:21 - How Lightning Nodes Could Evolve  59:30 - Stacker News Growth and Metrics  01:06:01 - The Future of Stacker News  01:11:32 - The Lightning Round

Jack Everitt is the founder of THNDR Games, a game studio that leverages Bitcoin's Lightning Network.   Jack and I spoke about how to design the right incentives in Bitcoin games, the growth of THNDR Games, the constraints limiting Lightning adoption, and much more.   → THNDR Games: https://www.thndr.gg/  The Lightning Round is sponsored by Voltage, where you can ask me or my future guests questions over the Lightning Network.   → Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinrooke&utm_medium=Youtube&utm_campaign=1mo → Use code KEVINROOKE to get 50% off your first month's Lightning node   At the end of every show I answer any questions listeners send in over the Lightning Network.   To ask a question, send a message, or to support the show, download Fountain from the iOS or Google Play App Store and load your wallet with a few sats.   → Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/ → Listen to More Episodes: https://play.fountain.fm/show/P6XXuSPg6f2rj4ECB0fT → Follow Kevin Rooke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerooke