Bitcoin Magazine Podcast

This week, ck and Ansel watched Fed Chair Powell present the semiannual monetary policy report to Congress and break down the highlights. We digested 5+ hours of content and distilled it into a 25 minute show. Enjoy.  Segments Links to the entire testimony:  Day one: https://youtu.be/7xAMAJ5ieKo Day two: https://youtu.be/6P0Z-CyX4Rk Please rate and share the podcast! You can find us @BitcoinMagazine on Twitter.  Ansel Lindner on Twitter @AnselLindner Christian Keroles on Twitter @ck_SNARKs [SPONSORS]  Bisq: Bisq is an open-source, peer-to-peer application that allows you to buy and sell Bitcoin in exchange for national currencies. No registration required.

Our guest this week is Charles Yang, head trader at Genesis Block out of Hong Kong. Genesis Block (https://genesisblockhk.com) is a leading OTC trading center in Asia, headquartered in Hong Kong and with operations throughout the region and additional physical locations in Thailand and Korea. It also operates the largest network of Bitcoin ATMs in the region, and its founders have their roots and continuing operations in bitcoin mining. As head of trading, Charles oversees Genesis Block’s OTC flows and prop trading strategies and is thus a great source of insight into current market dynamics in Asia. Topics Competitive landscape of OTC business in Asia Arbitrage history for different BTC/fiat pairs and current market dynamics ‘Nuances and risks of the OTC business in specific Asian markets like Thailand and Korea Trends in new customer interest in the region Growth of trading products available Genesis Block’s plans to grow into the next cycle. 

Aaron van Wirdum sits down with Bitcoin Core developer Jeremy Rubin to dig into the details of Check Template Verify and the benefits it offers to the Bitcoin network.  Topics:  What are covenants  How check template verify enables new covenants in Bitcoin.  How CTV adds congestion control features to Bitcoin.  How CTV changes the Bitcoin fee market  How CTV can improve lightning network onboarding.     You can find us @BitcoinMagazine on Twitter.  Aaron van Wirdum on Twitter @AaronvanW Jeremy Rubin on Twitter @JeremyRubin

This week, ck and Ansel sit down to discuss the history of the Fed backing up the market and ensuring that is does not fall AKA the “Fed Put”.  Topics:  What is the Fed put? Define a put option Updates on Europe Corona Virus cases increasing  Crisis in Lebanon  Huge Bitcoin 14% difficulty increase Bitcoin Options Volume growing   Links:  CME Volume increasing: https://www.coindesk.com/cme-bitcoin-options-market-grew-10x-in-the-past-month Italian Debt surging:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/italian-debt-is-surging-but-investors-are-playing-it-cool-11591545600 Central Banks Liquidity Swaps:  https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SWPT Please rate and share the podcast! You can find us @BitcoinMagazine on Twitter.  Ansel Lindner on Twitter @AnselLindner Christian Keroles on Twitter @ck_SNARKs [SPONSORS]  Swan Bitcoin: Bitcoin Investing Made Easy Bisq: Bisq is an open-source, peer-to-peer application that allows you to buy and sell Bitcoin in exchange for national currencies. No registration required. eToro - The best one stop shop for everything Bitcoin and Crypto! Check out the best trading site at etoro.com!

Our guest this week is Mo Li (Molly), head of marketing at Hashkey Hub. We take a look at items that have been in the news coming out of China over the past week, and she shares her on the ground perspective. Topics: Covid update Mining industry trends coming out of the Chengdu mining summit Severe weather in Sichuan Mining manufacturer competitive landscape and recent developments Bitmain internal situation Bank account freezing related to USDT and BTC OTC usage

On this special edition of the Bitcoin Magazine Podcast, Licensed Financial Advisor and Co-Founder of Platinum Trust Group, Bruce Mack, comes on to the podcast to educate bitcoiners on why they should leverage a specialized Trust to: eliminate your capital gains taxes LEGALLY; defer your income taxes in perpetuity; and protect your assets - and Bitcoin in particular - from judgments, liens, levies, government seizure, and even divorce! You can reach out to Bruce and the team at Platinum Trust at www.platinumtrustgroup.com/bitcoin or call (702) 371-2345.

This week, ck and Ansel sit down to discuss unemployment around the world.  Topics:  Update on QE Activity from the FED and the ECB Stock markets rally globally The Robinhood hood effect China distancing itself from a CBDC Bitcoin stats  Bearish on China, Greece, and Italy Bullish on Mexico   Links:  Fed balance sheet: https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_recenttrends.htm   Broad spectrum asset purchases: https://www.svb.com/de/blogs/eric-souza/alphabet-soup-the-federal-reserve-releases-an-array-of-emergency-measures Inflation expectations: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/T5YIFR More stimulus from the ECB: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/05/26/whats-the-ecb-doing-in-response-to-the-covid-19-crisis/ https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/04/european-central-bank-ramps-up-its-pandemic-bond-buying-to-1point35-trillion-euros.html Please rate and share the podcast! You can find us @BitcoinMagazine on Twitter.  Ansel Lindner on Twitter @AnselLindner Christian Keroles on Twitter @ck_SNARKs [SPONSORS]  Swan Bitcoin: Bitcoin Investing Made Easy Bisq: Bisq is an open-source, peer-to-peer application that allows you to buy and sell Bitcoin in exchange for national currencies. No registration required. eToro - The best one stop shop for everything Bitcoin and Crypto! Check out the best trading site at etoro.com!

Our guest this week is Igor Runets, founder and CEO of BitRiver (bitriver.farm), a large scale mining data center operator in Russia with over 100MW in the irkustk region of Siberia. Igor founded and ran a traditional data center business Servers.Global out of university focused on setting up cloud infrastructure in more difficult parts of the world for western clients and then found bitcoin while getting his MBA at Stanford and wend on from there to found BitRiver. We talk about his going full steam into bitcoin mining, spending some time in Beijing and then setting up operations in Siberia, the infrastructure and regulatory issues at play for energy access in Russia and the CIS region, trends he is seeing in demand for mining from institutional customers both from Russia and abroad and more.  Igor on Twitter @IgorRunets

This week, ck and Ansel sit down to discuss the eruption of social unrest stemming from the death of George Floyd. Topics: * Why are people angry * The financial undercurrents * Where Bitcoin fits in * What this can mean for the future

Our guest this week is Flex Yang, founder and CEO of Babel Finance ( babel.finance) out of Beijing and Hong Kong. Babel Finance provides crypto-backed loans, deposit services, financing, margin trading, and other derivatives services and has grown into one of the largest commercial crypto banks in Asia. With Babel Finance Flex is aiming to build the JP Morgan of Bitcoin, and initially attacked goal by focusing on lending and other financial services targeting Bitcoin miners in China. Prior to entering the Bitcoin space Flex worked in financial services and was a founder of a credit services focused fintech Standard Financial Inclusion in Beijing. He has raised money from some of the most well regarded VCs in China including Zhenfund and Lightspeed. The first twenty minutes or so of this conversation covers Flex’s background and experience with those previous companies and his experience as a founder Beijing, and then we jump into Babel and dig into some of the specific business lines that are being built out around demand from miners, from more institutional players in China and from the dynamic of western companies and Chinese players not being fully connected. You can find Flex on twitter @moonmanflex. Topics: - Building companies in Beijing - Starting a crypto bank by focusing on servicing miners first - Risk management as one of the largest lenders in the space - Rise of Lubian with the trend of big private capital entering mining in China and consolidation - Derivatives market and new financial products