Humans of Bitcoin

"What that means is it's a grey area.... We wanted to be patient and see the token models that worked, the token models that did not, and the things that we should stay away from as a business." If you are going to start a business in cryptocurrency, you must deal with a high level of regulatory and legal uncertainty. Navigating the world of KYC, lawyer fees, and vague directives from government agencies, ShapeShift has evolved over the last 5 years. The uncertainty has caused Erik to make some very tough decisions in order to stay relevant as a cryptocurrency company. Recently, they launched commission-free trading with the FOX token. Erik walks through this decision, the critics of their move to implement KYC/AML, and views on money and state. After all, you don't have to go through KYC when you go out to eat at a restaurant.

Even though Anthony Pompliano's Morgan Creek Digital holds BCH as it's 3rd largest asset, he'll rarely, if ever, talk about it in public. I'm not picking on Pomp, this is par for the course among the crypto fund community. Justin Bons is not your typical fund manager. He proudly engages with the Bitcoin Cash community and is excited about the future. How do you apply "investing in fundamentals" to the world of cryptocurrency? What's it like running a fund with 0 BTC? Justin shares his views on fundamentals, governance and why you should care about cryptocurrency in the first place.

In 2017, the bitcoin community was outraged by the extreme negligence of Equifax in one of the largest data breaches ever. A central point of vulnerability was hacked and personal data including social security and credit card numbers were leaked onto the interwebs. We have a short memory: Equifax stock is up roughly 43% this year! Two years later, Reuben and his company, Class Action Inc are still fighting for the people. They recently filed an objection to a laughable settlement offer: less than $5 per person to less than 10% of those affected. We discuss data freedom, digitizing law, and decentralizing power.

The inflation rate in Argentina is currently at 55% per year. It's not a surprise that bitcoin has a strong following and usage there. A talented developer and thinker, Santiago is the founder of Democracy Earth. He's someone that gets a ring from political activists in Chile and Mexico asking him for advice on how to organize digitally. He declined to work with the political party in Mexico due to ethical reasons. He also started a political party, the Net Party, in 2012 in Argentina. I'll leave it there. Listen to the episode!!

This is the first of a two part special on the Ethereum ecosystem. Lawson Baker has a weapon is his toolkit that is quite useful in the crypto world: a law degree. With a background in finance, Lawson understands the power of cryptoassets and the regulatory guidelines that have to be met. We talk about narratives in crypto, stablecoins, privacy, and a token standard he has helped push along: the ERC-1404.      

For a long time (in crypto terms) Bitcoin Cash has been largely ignored by institutional investors. Dave Shin is working to change that. Dave is a banker by day and bitcoiner by night. His double life is starting to pay dividends. In addition to running the Bitcoin.com exchange, he is raising awareness of the viability of Bitcoin Cash as an asset to the international banking crowd.

An engineer running for Congress in San Fran, Agatha offers a unique skillset and ideas not found in the current House of Representatives. She is an advocate for blockchain tech, cryptocurrency, and prison reform. What I really appreciate about Agatha is her willingness to discuss any topic. She gave smart and candid answers to questions that 99% of politicians would have deflected. We talk about the way money works today, the benefits of a public ledger for the government, and much more.

An inside look at Wachsman - The public relations arm for top crypto companies like Bitmex, Kraken, and Coindesk. A behind the scenes juggernaut with a team of 100 employees with offices in 3 countries. Going into the interview, I was curious how David was able to scale his PR expertise into a global team. How do they handle those emergency situations?  What about their relationships with press contacts? How do they manage clients who may be directly or indirectly competing with each other?  

Filmmaker, researcher, and cryptocurrency advocate Peter Ryan talks about growth marketing for Bitcoin Cash. He started at NYU and then went to THE media establishment of the industry: CoinDesk. Now, Peter has rolled the dice and joined media upstart CoinSpice. What excites him about CoinSpice? How can Bitcoin Cash become a "winning culture"?

Andreas shares his thoughts on global politics and finance and ties it back to bitcoin. Learn why his current project, Sideshift.ai, a cutting edge, non-custodial exchange is a reflection of these world views. Andreas loves what he does: coding. Usually from a tropical location. Until recently, he had the largest node on the Lightning Network. He's also famous (or infamous?) for testing IOTA, creating and providing liquidity for SLP tokens on Bitcoin Cash, he enjoys playing with cryptocurrencies. If I had to describe him in one sentence: A Norwegian libertarian wearing a gold shitcoin.com chain, Andreas combine his under-the-hood tinkering with cryptos and experience at exchanges since 2013 and now his own exchange Sideshift.ai.