

Crypto Voices
Matthew Mezinskis
Podcast covering diverse trends in Bitcoin and blockchain tech, decentralization, entrepreneurship, cryptoeconomics and liberty.
Author note: All authors, whose content is featured on Crypto Voices, are contacted beforehand for permission, regardless of copyright or license such as Creative Commons. If you are an author whose work is reproduced here and you have not heard from Crypto Voices, it's because we couldn't find a way to contact you. However, in this situation your work was already licensed Creative Commons, and it was so great anyway that we just couldn't wait to turn it into audio and put it up!
Any questions, please write info@cryptovoices.com, we'd love to hear from you.
Author note: All authors, whose content is featured on Crypto Voices, are contacted beforehand for permission, regardless of copyright or license such as Creative Commons. If you are an author whose work is reproduced here and you have not heard from Crypto Voices, it's because we couldn't find a way to contact you. However, in this situation your work was already licensed Creative Commons, and it was so great anyway that we just couldn't wait to turn it into audio and put it up!
Any questions, please write info@cryptovoices.com, we'd love to hear from you.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 18, 2023 • 16min
PE59: USA Public debt - WWI to Vietnam (II)
Check out show sponsor Coinkite: https://coinkite.com/
Donations to Porkopolis Economics via BTCPay appreciated: https://donations.porkopolis.io/
This is the fifty-ninth video installment from Porkopolis Economics, covering macro and money, from the creator of the Crypto Voices podcast.
Contents
00:00 Intro
00:20 Review of 1800s during Gold standard
01:50 World War I
05:05 Fed debt holdings before Great Depression
08:00 Great Depression period
09:10 World War II
12:03 Vietnam War
Here we look at the history of the United States Federal debt during the early and mid-1900s, from World War I, through World War II, and through the Vietnam War and the dawn of the fiat standard.
https://porkopolis.io
https://twitter.com/crypto_voices
Show content is not investment or financial advice in any way.

Apr 17, 2023 • 17min
PE58: USA Public debt in the 1800s (I)
Check out show sponsor Coinkite: https://coinkite.com/
Donations to Porkopolis Economics via BTCPay appreciated: https://donations.porkopolis.io/
This is the fifty-eighth video installment from Porkopolis Economics, covering macro and money, from the creator of the Crypto Voices podcast.
Contents
00:00 Intro
00:25 First congress, first president, first constitution
01:20 Federal reserve ownership of government
01:55 Total public debt
03:13 Debt vs. Money
05:15 First Bank of the United States
07:20 Second Bank of the United States
09:05 Civil War
11:35 National Banking System
13:45 Classical gold standard
Here we look at the history of the United States Federal debt during the 1800s, and how it relates to wars, central banking, and gold.
https://porkopolis.io
https://twitter.com/crypto_voices
Show content is not investment or financial advice in any way.

Apr 14, 2023 • 14min
PE57: Those sweet POWER trendlines on bitcoin price
Check out show sponsor Coinkite: https://coinkite.com/
Donations to Porkopolis Economics via BTCPay appreciated: https://donations.porkopolis.io/
This is the fifty-seventh video installment from Porkopolis Economics, covering macro and money, from the creator of the Crypto Voices podcast.
Contents
00:00 Intro
00:20 Log scale
01:20 Best BTC-fitting trend is power trendline
02:20 2010 power trendline
05:20 2012 power trendline
06:10 2014 power trendline
07:30 2016 power trendline
09:45 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 & all-time trendlines
10:40 What do these good-fitting trends tell us about today?
12:04 What about projecting to 2030?
Here we look at the best fitting trendlines across Bitcoin's USD-pricing data; from 2010, all the way until 2022, as well as all-time trendline (until 13 April 2023).
All-time trend coefficients:
y = a * x ^ b
y = y-intercept * x ^ slope
y = 7.23E-18 * x ^ 588%
https://porkopolis.io
https://twitter.com/crypto_voices
Show content is not investment or financial advice in any way.

Apr 13, 2023 • 24min
PE56: Austrian Business Cycle Theory & Practice (XI)
Check out show sponsor Coinkite: https://coinkite.com/
Donations to Porkopolis Economics via BTCPay appreciated: https://donations.porkopolis.io/
This is the fifty-sixth video installment from Porkopolis Economics, covering macro and money, from the creator of the Crypto Voices podcast.
Contents
00:00 Intro
01:10 Fed Funds target rate
04:14 Fed Funds effective rate
05:29 Interest on bank reserves
08:40 US 1 year T-bill
09:13 US 2 year T-note
10:08 US 3 year T-note
10:35 US 5 year T-note
10:40 US 10 year T-note
11:00 US 20 year T-bond
11:20 US 30 year T-bond
12:44 Austrian Business Cycle Theory
16:20 Central bank planning board policy rates
18:55 Policy rates exacerbate booms and busts
20:20 Inverted yield curve means recession
22:00 Pretence of knowledge
Here we look at the Federal Reserve policy rates, versus the market rate for US government securities. We use this backdrop to describe the basic Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle, and how the central bank exacerbates booms and busts.
https://porkopolis.io
https://twitter.com/crypto_voices
Show content is not investment or financial advice in any way.

Apr 12, 2023 • 25min
PE55: Floored interest rate policy (X)
Check out show sponsor Coinkite: https://coinkite.com/
Donations to Porkopolis Economics via BTCPay appreciated: https://donations.porkopolis.io/
This is the fifty-fifth video installment from Porkopolis Economics, covering macro and money, from the creator of the Crypto Voices podcast.
Contents
00:00 Intro
00:55 From discount rate to Discount window
05:25 2006 regulation allowing 'Interest on reserves'
07:38 IORR and IOER are dotted lines
09:35 How and why a 'corridor system?'
11:34 Floored!
19:40 It's definitely possible to lend any and all reserves...
20:18 ...Unless you have an IOR (floor) system
21:55 Not just Bernanke; Yellen & Powell too
Here we look at the Federal Reserve's weekly balance sheet versus its base policy interest rates.
The Fed has claimed they operate a 'Corridor system.' In reality, the system has been flooring interest rates since 2008, and I explain why in this video.
https://porkopolis.io
https://twitter.com/crypto_voices
Show content is not investment or financial advice in any way.

Apr 11, 2023 • 17min
PE54: Where was the hyperinflation in 2008? (IX)
Check out show sponsor Coinkite: https://coinkite.com/
Donations to Porkopolis Economics via BTCPay appreciated: https://donations.porkopolis.io/
This is the fifty-fourth video installment from Porkopolis Economics, covering macro and money, from the creator of the Crypto Voices podcast.
Contents
00:00 Intro
02:00 Exploding reserves (and balance sheet)
03:20 What happens when supply outstrips demand...
04:35 "Tool 1:" Interest on required reserves
09:09 "Tool 2:" Interest on excess reserves
14:12 Zero interest rate policy years
15:00 Trying to "normalize"...
Here we look at the Federal Reserve's weekly balance sheet versus its base policy interest rate in the 1980s until and just after the Global Financial Crisis, which at this time morphed from being the Discount Rate, to the Fed Funds Rate.
Many were confused why such extraordinary money printing by the US central bank did not result in hyperinflation... the answer was a new policy tool of the Federal Reserve: Interest on bank reserves.
https://porkopolis.io
https://twitter.com/crypto_voices
Show content is not investment or financial advice in any way.

Apr 10, 2023 • 25min
PE53: What was the Greenspan-Bernanke Put? (VIII)
Check out show sponsor Coinkite: https://coinkite.com/
Donations to Porkopolis Economics via BTCPay appreciated: https://donations.porkopolis.io/
This is the fifty-third video installment from Porkopolis Economics, covering macro and money, from the creator of the Crypto Voices podcast.
Contents
00:00 Intro
01:45 Review of all-time high rates
03:03 Once the hard work was done...
05:34 Fed begins new 'Target rate'
10:42 Greenspan put
12:16 The birth of the housing bubble
14:40 Cracks in the system
16:50 Banks expect (demand!) lower base money rates
23:20 Fed funds now has lower and upper bound
Here we look at the Federal Reserve's weekly balance sheet versus its base policy interest rate in the 1980s until the Global Financial Crisis, which at this time morphed from being the Discount Rate, to the Fed Funds Rate.
If we look closely at the troubles of the GFC, we can actually see that the banks expect the Federal Reserve to cater to them, bail them out, and provide lower rates, as they are borrowing and lending around 100 bps below what the Fed was targeting for many weeks from September through December 2008. The Federal Reserve, eventually, indeed complied with this demand.
https://porkopolis.io
https://twitter.com/crypto_voices
Show content is not investment or financial advice in any way.

Apr 5, 2023 • 21min
PE52: Walter Bagehot and central banking (VII)
Check out show sponsor Coinkite: https://coinkite.com/
Donations to Porkopolis Economics via BTCPay appreciated: https://donations.porkopolis.io/
This is the fifty-second video installment from Porkopolis Economics, covering macro and money, from the creator of the Crypto Voices podcast.
Contents
00:00 Intro
00:30 Walter Bagehot
03:20 Bagehot's theory on the lender of last resort
04:56 Great depression (with Bank reserves)
08:14 Fed funds effective rate
10:59 Discount rate is 'penalty' in 50s & 60s
12:35 Discount rate since late 60s not 'penalty'
Here we look at the Federal Reserve's weekly balance sheet versus its base policy interest rate in the 1910s and 1920s, which is called the 'Discount rate.' In the early days, this was the rate of interest that banks could get for borrowing directly from the Federal Reserve (and not just in emergency situations, as is the case today), called the 'Discount window.'
Walter Bagehot in Lombard Street is quoted very often by central banks, as having defined the original theory of the 'Lender of last resort.' As we see, for most of the Federal Reserve's history, they do not follow his advice.
Link to great ep with economist George Selgin on Bagehot, and money: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6AeODcjMg6AojFE7s3W5UQ
https://porkopolis.io
https://twitter.com/crypto_voices
Show content is not investment or financial advice in any way.

Apr 4, 2023 • 57min
CV149: Lewis Cohen - Ineluctable Modality of Securities Law
Check out show sponsor Coinkite: https://coinkite.com/
Donations to Porkopolis Economics via BTCPay appreciated: https://donations.porkopolis.io/
This is the one hundred forty-ninth podcast episode from Crypto Voices.
Show support appreciated: donations.cryptovoices.com
Matthew and Alec interview Lewis Cohen from DLx Law about Bitcoin, crypto, and securities law. He recently co-authored an important paper about the topic for regulators.
Contents
00:00 Intro
01:50 Is Bitcoin a security?
02:25 Trends of the SEC
23:02 Narrow bank
31:37 US vs. Abroad
34:06 What is a security?
45:57 Bitcoin, crypto, and regulations
50:12 The ineluctable modality of securities law
Links for more info:
https://twitter.com/NYcryptolawyer
https://dlxlaw.com/who-we-are
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4282385
Show Sponsor: hodlhodl.com/join/cryptovoices
Hosts: Matthew Mežinskis, Michel, Alec Harris
Music: New Friend Music newfriendmusic.com/
Podcast & videos
Bitcoin, privacy, cryptoeconomics & liberty
Thanks for watching!
https://porkopolis.io
https://twitter.com/crypto_voices
Show content is not investment or financial advice in any way.

Apr 3, 2023 • 23min
PE51: The Fed, the Discount rate, and the Great Depression (VI)
Check out show sponsor Coinkite: https://coinkite.com/
Donations to Porkopolis Economics via BTCPay appreciated: https://donations.porkopolis.io/
This is the fifty-first video installment from Porkopolis Economics, covering macro and money, from the creator of the Crypto Voices podcast.
Contents
00:00 Intro
01:00 What does the central bank do?
01:40 How do Fed interest rates compare with history?
03:13 Is the interest rate the price of money?
05:47 Centralized control of interest rates
06:30 Roaring 20s and Great Depression
06:45 Why the 'Discount rate?'
09:12 What does the 'Discount rate' mean in Fed-speak?
09:59 'Discount window' was Fed lending directly until 1930s
11:55 Discount rate during Roaring 20s
13:36 Wisdom from Oskar Morgenstern on prices
15:10 Irving Fisher on Stable Money League
16:25 Discount rate into Depression of 1920-21
18:25 Discount rate lowers into Roaring 20s
20:50 Interest rates at near-historical highs into Great Depression
Here we look at the Federal Reserve's weekly balance sheet versus its base policy interest rate in the 1910s and 1920s, which is called the 'Discount rate.' In the early days, this was the rate of interest that banks could get for borrowing directly from the Federal Reserve (and not just in emergency situations, as is the case today), called the 'Discount window.' Many banks directly borrowed from the Federal Reserve in the 1910s and 1920s.
We also answer some basic questions like:
- What is the price of money?
- What is the price of credit?
- What is the etymology of 'Discount rate?'
- How did the Federal Reserve manipulate interest rates in the early days?
- Have stocks reached a permanently high plateau?
https://porkopolis.io
https://twitter.com/crypto_voices
Show content is not investment or financial advice in any way.