The Peter McCormack Show

Location: New York Date: Monday 13th September Role: Businessman & TV Personality Fundamental changes are emerging in the way capital is being allocated across many industries. Environmental policies are materialising not from lawmakers but from mandates that originate within companies and institutions. Trillions of dollars of institutional funds are beginning to see the potential of bitcoin in portfolio construction; however, only if concerns over the environmental impact of bitcoin mining can be overcome. But is respecting investment mandates a path to centralise the mining industry? Or will environmental compliance drive Bitcoin adoption another order of magnitude higher? In this interview, I talk to businessman and TV Personality Kevin O’Leary. We discuss institutional bitcoin allocation, ESG compliance, and the changing economic landscape.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 7th September Project: Mauldin Economics Role: Analyst, Author In Ray Dalio’s excellent video How The Economic Machine Works, he explains the concept of long-term debt cycles. This framework can shed light on where we have been economically, and where we might be going. With debt and spending soaring, and no sign of austerity, we may be approaching the conclusion of a long-term debt cycle. Whether you call it a cycle, or a “reset,” in the end it means there may be some kind of great restructuring. The only thing that seems to be clear, is what we are doing today is not sustainable. So how can we get to the other side? And what do we have to be optimistic about? In this interview I talk to author and economic analyst John Mauldin. We discuss current labor shortages, crises and antifragility, and the looming global debt problem.

Location: Remotely Date: Friday 3rd September Company: Euro Pacific Asset Management & Validus Power Corp Role: CEO and Chief Global Strategist & Bitcoin Strategist Gold has been used as money for thousands of years, but once the US severed all remaining ties with the Gold Standard in 1971 and moved to our current fiat system, gold's use case shifted. Gold has become a safe haven, store of value, and insurance against what many gold bugs consider a broken fiat monetary system. Bitcoin is considered by many to be digital gold but is only 12 years old. Still, in that time, it has grown into a near trillion-dollar asset and is also a store of value but is decentralised and censorship-resistant. Many bitcoiners believe it is just a matter of time until bitcoin replaces gold as the world's primary store of value. Gold and bitcoin have some obvious similarities. They are both scarce assets and stores of value that offer an opt-out of government-issued fiat currencies. Likewise, gold bugs and bitcoiners share a similar mindset in their belief that the current fiat system is broken and we need a sound money alternative. For some, though, it isn't gold and bitcoin; it's gold vs bitcoin. Peter Schiff is firmly in this camp, and since 2012, he has regularly derided bitcoin, claiming that it has no intrinsic value and is eventually heading to zero. In this interview, I host a debate between gold bug Peter Schiff and Bitcoin Strategist Greg Foss. We discuss the value of bitcoin & gold, risk management & portfolio allocations and how bitcoin is helping oppressed people around the world.

Location: Remotely Date: Sunday 29th August Company: Blockstream Role: Co-Founder/CEO, CSO In 2017, thousands of ICOs flooded crypto markets. There was a lot of excitement around ICOs at the time, but they turned out to be largely scams and cash grabs, with most likely being illegal securities offerings. Blockstream is changing that by bringing to market regulated securities in tokenised form, and it's all being built on Bitcoin using the Liquid Network, creating some exciting new possibilities for capital allocation. Liquid is a federated sidechain built on top of Bitcoin, allowing assets like securities and NFTs to be issued and traded quickly, cheaply, and confidentially. So what is the potential for NFTs and tokenised securities built on Bitcoin layers? In this interview, I talk to Adam Back and Samson Mow, Blockstream's CEO & Chief Strategy Officer. We discuss the future of tokenised securities, practical NFT use cases, and decentralising hashpower ownership.

Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 31st August Company: Swan Bitcoin Role: Co-founder & CTO It has been nearly 13 years since Satoshi released the Bitcoin whitepaper. In that time, Bitcoin has overcome significant hurdles, going from an experimental attempt at digital money to a trillion-dollar asset. Bitcoin is the hardest money the world has ever known.  In the early days, bitcoiners were mostly cypherpunks and libertarians, but now almost everyone has at least heard of bitcoin; corporations have begun holding bitcoin on their balance sheets and on September 7th, bitcoin becomes legal tender for the first time. Widescale mass adoption has never been closer, but much growth is still required, especially in the ease of onboarding, user experience, and education. In this interview, I talk to Yan Pritzker, co-founder and CTO of Swan Bitcoin. We discuss his family fleeing socialism, onboarding 10 million bitcoiners, and building for global bitcoin adoption.

Location: Remotely Date: Sunday August 29th Project: lynalden.com Role: Macroeconomist Bitcoin is still a relatively new technology with many adversaries and existential threats. And risk assessment is a crucial component of any sound investment strategy. While naysayers often cite long-refuted misunderstandings, not all threats are negligible. From regulatory action to protocol risk, there are many things to consider. So what is a real threat, and what is FUD? In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and investment strategist. We discuss potential long-term risks to bitcoin, mitigation, and bitcoin vs other technology.

Location: Dallas, TX Date: Thursday 26th August Company: The Stephan Livera Podcast and Swan International Role: Host and Managing Director Libertarian philosophy centres around non-aggression and defence of property rights as a foundation for organizing society. The idea that no one should take from others seems logical to most people, but it's often hard to imagine society absent of the state. Even amongst libertarians, there is disagreement whether to have a small government or no state at all. However, most libertarians agree that simply reducing the size of the government is an attainable step towards a better future. So what tradeoffs would we make with less or no government, and will Bitcoin help usher in such change? In this interview, I talk to Bitcoin Educator and MD of Swan International Stephan Livera. We discuss the foundations of libertarianism, the state's creeping growth, and how Bitcoin will keep it in check.

Location: Houston, TX Date: Thursday 25th August Company: Unchained Capital Role: Head of Business Development In times of economic crisis, central banks have the power to step in and attempt to aid recovery by ‘printing’ dollars. When injected into the commercial banking system, these new dollars prevent an economic slowdown. While this may sound like a favourable alternative to an economic slowdown and businesses failing, it is not without consequences. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the U.S government has printed money at an accelerating pace, with analysts claiming that this is driving inflation. In our economy, the central banks hold the ultimate power. They decide when they print money and how much. Bitcoin is different. With its fixed supply and controlled issuance, everyone on the network knows how many bitcoins are in circulation and the future issuance. It is the most inclusive and transparent monetary network ever to exist and the antithesis of central banking. In this interview, I talk to Parker Lewis, Head of Business Development at Unchained Capital. We discuss the fraying of the fabric of society, money printing and the wealth gap and why politics are ineffectual. 

Location: Remotely Date: Thursday 26th August Company: Hypersheet Role: Co-Founder Bitcoin’s price had been trending lower for most of the summer, but after bottoming out just below $30k, it went on a run-up to $50k. Despite the market moves, there have been plenty of other signals that indicate bitcoin might break its four-year cycle. On-chain metrics indicate that this recent upward trend might be a warm-up for what’s to come. Long-term holders are accumulating, rumours of a Bitcoin ETF coming to the US are swirling, and it could all converge on a massive supply shock. In this interview, I talk to on-chain analyst and the co-founder of Hypersheet, Willy Woo. We discuss traditional payment rails, making Bitcoin content, the recent price run and the evolving bitcoin cycle.

Location: Remotely Date: Wednesday 21st July Role: Author, Student Bitcoin can take a lot of time to understand, but the core foundations of sound money are relatively straightforward. For adults, learning about bitcoin often means unlearning the status quo. Understanding bitcoin challenges what we take for granted about the existing monetary system. While older generations may struggle with bitcoin being digital-only, a digital world is all that young people have ever known. Growing up with computers, the internet, and video game currencies makes understanding a purely digital decentralized monetary network a much easier task. So what do kids think of Bitcoin? And how can we teach the next generation? In this interview, I talk to author Michael Caras and student Violet Mauceri. We discuss how digital natives understand bitcoin, the properties of sound money, Bitcoin and Judaism.