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Speaking of Bitcoin (formerly Let's Talk Bitcoin!)

Speaking of Bitcoin (formerly Let's Talk Bitcoin!)

By Adam B. Levine

Featuring analysis and discourse by hosts Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Dr. Stephanie Murphy, Adam B. Levine, and Jonathan Mohan, episodes feature friendly, in-depth discussions and even-handed interviews.

Speaking of Bitcoin (formerly known as Let's Talk Bitcoin!) is the longest-running English language talk show on the ideas, people and projects surrounding the Bitcoin movement and Cryptocurrency phenomenon.
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LTB 2020 Update (Looking for Jr. Producers!)

Speaking of Bitcoin (formerly Let's Talk Bitcoin!)Jan 05, 2020

00:00
01:55
A Final Discussion

A Final Discussion

In this final discussion with Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy, Jonathan Mohan and Adam B. Levine, the hosts discuss the present moment and look towards the future.

This episode was recorded several months before release.

Aug 20, 202201:07:07
Update 6/19/2022

Update 6/19/2022

Adam provides an update on what's happening now and what's still to come.

Jun 19, 202201:56
SOB #502 When the Referees Play Favorites (Part 1)

SOB #502 When the Referees Play Favorites (Part 1)

Join "Speaking of Bitcoin" hosts Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Stephanie Murphy for a look at a recent move by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to "clarify" the responsibilities of publicly traded crypto companies.

This episode tackles the new custody rules that aim to solve market volatility. The hosts share their thoughts on how superficial and abetting conversation of custody rules can be used to mask adverse decisions and therefore create conditions for enhanced market volatility. They state their concerns that the hypocritical nature of embellished rules may be bypassed without an explanation if regulators do not favor the results.

Credits

This episode featured Stephanie Murphy, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Adam B. Levine. It featured music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats, with editing by Jonas. Art for this episode was provided by Helen Cramer/Unsplash and was modified by Speaking of Bitcoin.

May 07, 202224:05
SOB #501 When More Is Less

SOB #501 When More Is Less

Sometimes, more is less, better is worse, and blatantly superior products fail to overcome their competitors. On this episode of “Dare to Be Stupid,” correspondent George Frankly explores right answers to wrong questions.

Credits

This episode was written, edited and performed by George Frankly

May 06, 202212:46
SOB #500 Three Rules to Remember After Mailchimp Breach

SOB #500 Three Rules to Remember After Mailchimp Breach

As crypto holdings grow in value, criminals are becoming ever-more creative and audacious in their attempts to steal coins.

Join "Speaking of Bitcoin" hosts Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Stephanie Murphy for a look at a recent insider compromise at Mailchimp that put crypto holders in the crosshairs. In this episode, we discuss what happened, what the scam was and three simple rules that, if followed, will help protect you from similar breaches.

Credits

This episode featured Stephanie Murphy, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Adam B. Levine. It featured music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats, with editing by Jonas. Art for this episode was provided by Brett Jordan/Unsplash and was modified by "Speaking of Bitcoin."

May 04, 202219:52
SOB #503 The Check Engine Light and the Space Shuttle
May 02, 202225:17
SOB #499 New Lessons From the Island of Stone Bitcoins

SOB #499 New Lessons From the Island of Stone Bitcoins

In examining one of the earliest pre-bitcoin examples of a very bitcoin-like technology, "Speaking of Bitcoin" correspondent George Frankly learns some valuable lessons about where convenience, belief and control collide.

Credits

This episode was written by George Frankly with editorial assistance by Adam B. Levine and music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats. 

May 02, 202213:01
SOB #498 Rights Versus Privileges in a Global Financial System

SOB #498 Rights Versus Privileges in a Global Financial System

This episode was recorded earlier in 2022...

Two critical questions about financial freedom and responsibility

As the second week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine begins, questions continue to arise surrounding crypto’s complexities in a wartime environment alongside broader questions about the future of money.

On this episode of “Speaking of Bitcoin,” hosts Adam B. Levine, Stephanie Murphy and Jonathan Mohan dive into two critical questions about financial freedom and responsibility.

The first question surrounds an emerging narrative of sanction evasion. Could bitcoin (BTC) even be an effective tool for a nation-state to use to evade sanctions, given crypto’s relative market size to a nation’s reserves? Even further, how effective are these sanctions at all?

The second question lies in the distinction between rights versus privileges for financial freedom. Do nation-states or individuals have a right to transact, or is interacting with larger financial systems a privilege that can be revoked by whoever operates the system?”



Apr 30, 202228:37
Quick SOB Update (More frequent episodes coming... now)

Quick SOB Update (More frequent episodes coming... now)

Hey folks,

Adam B Levine here,

sorry for the lack of recent updates, we've got a backlog of episodes to bring you which we'll be releasing every two days until we're caught up.  Things are once again shifting in the background, I'll have a larger update on that later. Until then, we appreciate your patience and hope you enjoy these shows.


Thanks for listening!

Apr 30, 202200:23
SOB #496 The Ups and Downs of Crypto Loans
Feb 13, 202224:51
SOB #497 A Brief Look at Bitcoin Maximalism
Feb 13, 202228:29
SOB # 495 First Practices Aren’t Best Practices
Jan 23, 202227:17
SOB #494 Bitcoin Security and a Rogue Power Plant
Jan 18, 202236:41
SOB #493 The Endowment Effect, HODLing and the Impossible Self-Appraisal

SOB #493 The Endowment Effect, HODLing and the Impossible Self-Appraisal

This time on Speaking of Bitcoin, correspondent George Frankly shares another surprising look at glitches in human behavior and what we can learn from them.

In this episode we explore the endowment effect, the phenomenon of collectible cryptocurrency wallets and more.

This episode was written, edited and performed by George Frankly with additional production assistance from Adam B. Levine. Music for this episode was provided by Gurty Beats and Jared Rubens. Art for this episode was created by Adam B. Levine/Pixelmind.ai

Jan 09, 202210:31
SOB #492 Can Stablecoins Survive?

SOB #492 Can Stablecoins Survive?

Join hosts Adam B. Levine and Stephanie Murphy along with special guest Josh Scigala, CEO of Vaultoro, for a wide-ranging exploration of the growing asset class of "Stablecoins."


On this episode we discuss:

  • The possibility of central banks or regulators banning private 1:1 stablecoins.
  • The challenges faced by early, decentralized, overcollateralized stablecoins.
  • How negative interest rates will drive 1:1 stablecoins into fractional reserve.
  • The potential weaponization of unlimited money printing to take control of limited resources. 
  • The scenario where governments freeze bank accounts connected to 1:1 backed coins in an attempt to destroy the wider crypto economy.
  • The Potential for mismanagement of funds by 1:1 companies and threat of a Lehman brothers 2.0
  • The shrinking but still dangerous dearth of transparency within the biggest stablecoin balance sheets
  • Why regulators can't seem to keep up with real solutions
  • Why Josh believes decentralised stablecoins present a better set of tradeoffs.

Have any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.showToday’s show featured Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Jonathan Mohan, Stephanie Murphy and Adam B. Levine, with editing by Adam B. Levine and music by Gurtybeats.com. Our episode art was created by Adam B. Levine using pixelmind.ai

Any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show

Dec 22, 202157:33
SOB #491 The Jokes Wear Thin as Inflation Becomes Normal
Dec 19, 202134:37
SOB #490 Checking in on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network

SOB #490 Checking in on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network

The Lightning Network is arguably the most anticipated scaling solution for Bitcoin to date. Why isn’t everyone using it?

“Speaking of Bitcoin” hosts Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Stephanie Murphy are joined by Rene Pickhardt, Bitcoin and Lightning Network Developer. The four lead a conversation on the still in development yet rapidly growing Lightning Network. It’s a second-layer network that enables fast, secure, private and inexpensive payments that don’t make sense to store on bitcoin’s base layer. But while that might sound ideal, it’s not simple in practice. A scrappy community of companies and developers have been pushing the tech consistently forward as the number of hard problems still to solve ticks down.

Even as early as we are, Lightning has proven to be a radical improvement on the user experience of bitcoin. On the bitcoin network, fees vary but typically range from $1–5 and complete with confirmation in an average of ten minutes. With Lightning, fees and transaction times drop dramatically: the transaction fees are generally 1/100th or 1/10th of a penny and take just seconds.

If the improvements of Lightning are clear, why isn’t everyone using it today? Listen to hear more about the challenges and solutions coming to this rapidly-evolving aspect of bitcoin.

Additional reading:

Album art created using AI by Adam Levine/Pixelmind.ai

Dec 05, 202151:09
SOB #489 Big Gaming Signals NFTS Are Closer to Mainstream

SOB #489 Big Gaming Signals NFTS Are Closer to Mainstream

With NFTs continuing their rapid advance into mainstream cultural awareness, how much is FOMO (fear of missing out) and how much is real? This time Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy, Jonathan Mohan and Adam B. Levine discuss the evolving battle lines in the nascent world of triple-A gaming NFTs and whether these early announcements are a signal or just noise.

Later, the hosts explore the still-to-come moment when the behemoths of game publishing select which blockchain or blockchains will be their native NFT layer. Are we in for a repeat of the corporate adoption story? Or will big-budget games become a new differentiating factor, elevating their chosen partners to de-facto “incumbent” status?

Photo by Igor Karimov on Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin

Nov 28, 202137:45
SOB #488 How Far We've Come (And How Much Stayed the Same)

SOB #488 How Far We've Come (And How Much Stayed the Same)

Today’s show is from a time before the trillion (or even billion) dollar market cap; Before Vitalik had ever spoken the word Ethereum; Before taproot, segwit, stock-to-flow and the institutional investing thesis. In the early days, Bitcoin was the absolute state of the art and the basis for an entirely new and utterly revolutionary form of technology. This time you’ll get a peek at how we discussed it before everything that would happen had happened.

Original show notes for episode 14 (6/7/2013): ‘In Search of Goldilocks’

  • Listener mail: “Microtransaction powered social networks”
  • Constance Choi, legal council at Payward brings us up to speed on Washington, DC, FinCEN & Treasury
  • The retroactive bitcoin paywall
  • Counterintuitive: Smaller amounts equal larger transactions?
  • 1 Megabyte blocks, good or bad?
  • Who needs banks? Zach Harvey of the Lamassu bitcoin vending machine
  • Full node clients vs. lite clients: Are federated servers the future?
Nov 14, 202101:09:38
SOB #487 If Facebook Can't Run A Global Currency, Who Could?

SOB #487 If Facebook Can't Run A Global Currency, Who Could?

A recent letter addressed to the social media giant from five democratic senators laid it out clearly; There's simply no way Meta (formerly Facebook) will be allowed, much less trusted, to run a supra-national stablecoin. It's a stance many agree with but it brings up a larger and much more controversial question.  If one of the biggest, most successful consumer-facing companies in the world can't do it, who could?

Join hosts Adam B. Levine, Stephanie Murphy, Jonathan Mohan and Andreas M. Antonopoulos for this wide-ranging conversation as they dig into the thorny issues of power, currency, trust and monetary policy.

Have any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show

Today’s show featured Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Jonathan Mohan, Stephanie Murphy and Adam B. Levine, with editing by Adam B. Levine and music by Gurtybeats.com. Our episode art is a photograph by Annie Spratt/Unsplash modified by Speaking of Bitcoin

Nov 07, 202140:43
SOB #486.5 Why Cryptoization Scares the IMF (Part II)

SOB #486.5 Why Cryptoization Scares the IMF (Part II)

This is part two (a bonus episode) of last weeks discussion of "cryptoization" and why the IMF is utterly terrified of it going mainstream.

Oct 31, 202139:05
SOB #486 Why Is the IMF Afraid of Cryptozation?

SOB #486 Why Is the IMF Afraid of Cryptozation?

The IMF has outlined yet another set of concerns it holds about crypto. Is crypto really the problem, or is the IMF just afraid of the things it cannot control?

Join hosts Adam B. Levine, Jonathan Mohan and Andreas M. Antonopoulos as they dissect the October global financial stability report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) subtitled “COVID-19, Crypto and Climate: Navigating Challenging Transitions.” An entire chapter of the report is dedicated to destabilization factors crypto poses, at least as identified by the IMF. It even coined a new term, “cryptoization,” to refer to the introduction and/or substitution of crypto in emerging markets.

Although worries of supply shocks, supply chain inflation and stagflation fill headlines, the IMF placed crypto in the top three stability concerns. Is the organization gearing up to poise crypto as the scapegoat in case of an oncoming financial crisis?

Have any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show

Today’s show featured Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Jonathan Mohan and Adam B. Levine, with music by Gurtybeats.com. Our episode art is a photograph by Giorgio Trovato/Unsplash recreated by Speaking of Bitcoin

Any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show

Oct 24, 202131:11
SOB #485 The Sure Thing, the Force Multiplier, and the Underdoge

SOB #485 The Sure Thing, the Force Multiplier, and the Underdoge

Why did a joke cryptocurrency with zero ambition find massive success, yet a calculated military campaign with plenty of ambition turned into a massive failure? With the right leverage, ten men can fight like one hundred, and one coin can spend like a million.

(Was planning to do a bonus episode on Sunday but ran out of time, sorry!)

Today’s show was written, performed and edited by George Frankly with additional production support from Adam B. Levine. Our episode art was created by Speaking of Bitcoin

Any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show


Oct 16, 202114:59
SOB #484 A Brief History of Bitcoin Tipping (and Where Twitter Fits in it)

SOB #484 A Brief History of Bitcoin Tipping (and Where Twitter Fits in it)

This time on Speaking of Bitcoin, join hosts Stephanie Murphy, Jonathan Mohan and Adam B. Levine for a look at bitcoin tipping through the ages. From the dogecoin-like fun and fervor of the early days to the game-changing bridges that first brought it to twitter, the hosts dig into Youtube, Changetip, TechCrunch and more. 

But what happened to tipping? What was once the raison d'être of the early cryptocurrency experience faded away, as what was thought of as money turned out to be gold: Too precious to just toss around... Or was it?

In this episode we dig into the thought, experience and philosophy behind bitcoin tipping, how it changed and finally whether it's on the uptrend yet again.

Links from this episode:

Youtube is Broken - Rethinking Content Monetization with Bitcoin (2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4tgNi5gle0

Kickstarter Coins - TechCrunch (2014)

https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/15/kickstarter-coins-2/

Have any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show

Today's show featured Adam B. Levine, Stephanie Murphy and Jonathan Mohan. This episode was edited by Jonas, with music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats.

Our episode art is from a photo by Keszthelyi Timi/Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin.


Oct 09, 202138:39
SOB #483 Exit, Voice & Bitcoin

SOB #483 Exit, Voice & Bitcoin

Blockchain technology presents opportunities for dissonant opinions, fractionalization and internal reform unmatched in the fiat world.

Join hosts Jonathan Mohan, Stephanie Murphy and Andreas M. Antonopoulos as they dissect “Voice and Exit,” or the power and necessity of being able to impact a system, whether financial, social or governmental, and if necessary, leave altogether. “Voice and Exit” was popularized by Balaji Srinivasan in 2013, where Srinivasan outlined how voice is attempting to change a system from within, while exit is leaving to create a new one.

Crypto has provided new methods to exercise voice and exit. Forks, software or protocol changes that users can choose to upgrade to, are an example of exit inherent to blockchain technology. Forks give the community a chance to decide whether to continue with the upgrade or remain in the old rules; forks have created spin-off currencies like Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV.

As opportunities for voice and exit seem to be gradually disappearing, can crypto help those who need them most?

Image credit: Wesley Tingey/Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin

Oct 02, 202132:48
SOB #482 Life on Bitcoin (2021 Edition)

SOB #482 Life on Bitcoin (2021 Edition)

In the early days of Bitcoin, a few idealistic individuals attempted to live entirely on the bitcoin currency. Nine years and an abundance of technological developments later, is an entirely closed-loop bitcoin economy possible, or even useful?

Join hosts Jonathan Mohan, Stephanie Murphy and Andreas M. Antonopoulos as they reflect on bitcoin’s evolution as a currency and commodity. In the early days, an era of retail adoption as merchants began to accept bitcoin from their customers seemed to point to a bright future for daily bitcoin use. The 2013 IRS addendum treating bitcoin as a commodity, rather than as a foreign currency, quickly made transactions a burden with onerous tax reporting requirements, dimming that retail bitcoin future.

In the time since, the crypto community has adopted a HODL mindset. Why spend bitcoin if it’s disinflationary in nature and will bring you more value in the future? Those idealistic individuals' dreams of bitcoin as a daily currency may no longer align with bitcoin's maturation.

Developments in layer 2 technology, like the Lightning Network, have allowed experiments in bitcoin as legal tender to be not only a possibility, but a pragmatic choice for governments like El Salvador’s. With news of Ukraine considering following in El Salvador’s footsteps, will clusters of closed-loop bitcoin life bloom around the world?

Do you have any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show

Today's show featured Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy and Jonathan Mohan. This episode was edited by Jonas, with music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats. Our album art is based off a photo by Ishan_@seefromthesky on Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin

Sep 25, 202129:04
Upcoming Episodes

Upcoming Episodes

No episode again today but we've got two in editing now for next week.  

Have a good weekend!

Sep 18, 202100:44
SOB #481 On National Adoption of Bitcoin

SOB #481 On National Adoption of Bitcoin

El Salvador’s decision to make bitcoin legal tender shocked the world. Earlier this week the rapidly-developed and adopted bitcoin law went live, kicking off what seems primed to be an era of accelerated change unlike anything seen in our lifetimes.

Join hosts Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Stephanie Murphy for a quick three part discussion on the launch challenges, implications and listener comments from our previous show on the topic.

First, the launch: It was messy, but it happened. Alex Gladstein had an insightful twitter thread in the days leading up to it (https://twitter.com/gladstein/status/1434636006632747009). Matt Ahlborg dug into the day-1 government issued wallet and found a mixed bag, extra controls on the money given out at launch but a fairly robust technological package including native SegWit support and a functional lightning network integration (https://twitter.com/MattAhlborg/status/1435307724774989829)

Second, the implications: This path towards adoption was not what we expected. What El Salvador's move to use bitcoin directly suggests is that dollarized nations, or those who use another countries currency and in doing so become subject to their monetary policy decisions, may prefer bitcoin's non-monetary policy to either domestic or imported control. That's in sharp contrast to nations like India, China and the US who use their currencies and controls over it to accomplish policy goals. These powerful players see central bank digital currencies as a way to supercharge their monetary policy compared to their influence today over physical banknotes. 

And finally, the local perspective: We had two listeners write in with corrections to our prior episode (We were incorrect about the reason why El Salvador "dollarized" their economy in 2000, it was billed as a move to lower the cost of borrowing, not because of elevated inflation) along with the many concerns and questions which are still unanswered.  You'll find both listeners comments in full linked below. 

Links from the episode:

Have any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show

Prefer the podcast version?  Subscribe for free:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-talk-bitcoin/id1463398832?uo=4

Direct RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/b421fd4/podcast/rss

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2u3oXWilTSFmZ034vQeUGq

Google: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9iNDIxZmQ0L3BvZGNhc3QvcnNz

Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes640581455/the-lets-talk-bitcoin-network

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Radio Public: https://radiopublic.com/lets-talk-bitcoin-8jOrdv

PocketCasts: https://pca.st/DU8V

Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/sjaeb-91e5b/Let%27s-Talk-Bitcoin%21-Podcast

Today's show featured Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy and Adam B. Levine. This episode was edited by Jonas, with music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats.

Our album art is based off a photo by Photo by Wilson Edilberto Santana Suarez on Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin

Sep 11, 202137:54
SOB #480 Is Axie Infinity's Play-to-Earn Economic Empowerment or Exploitation?

SOB #480 Is Axie Infinity's Play-to-Earn Economic Empowerment or Exploitation?

Has decentralized gaming just created virtual menial labor?

Join hosts Adam B. Levine, Jonathan Mohan and Andreas M. Antonopoulos as they dive into the world of Axie Infinity and the growing global meta economy. Axie Infinity, a Pokémon-esc play-to-earn game on the Ethereum blockchain, has exploded in popularity around the world. The primary user-base has remained grounded in the Philippines as Filipinos from all walks of life buy, borrow, breed, trade and fight in-game NFT characters called “Axies.”

These fighting cartoon pets have earned players legitimate money – in some cases, enough to sway workers to quit their jobs to pursue Axie full-time. The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, especially in places like the Philippines, only make Axie that much more enticing. Individuals and groups with more capital have also snapped on the Axie opportunity in the forms of “scholarships” and lending schemes.

Axie Infinity, and in particular, the lending schemes, prompt a larger conversation about the ethical implications of exporting work and the geographic inequality of opportunities. In the best light, lending within play-to-earn can be seen as providing opportunities with profits orders of magnitudes higher than the local economies could provide. Yet, viewing the practice from a different angle, it can be seen as richer countries farming out low-paying work to individuals who have no better options locally.

Is Axie Infinity a solution or scam? Will the platform maintain its relevance or fizzle out?

See also: Some Filipino Merchants Prefer Payment in Axie’s SLP

This episode featured Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Jonathan Mohan. It was edited by Jonas, our theme song comes courtesy of Jared Rubens and today's music during the break was Delta by Gurty Beats. Today's album art features a photo by Karen Fedida/Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin.

Sep 04, 202143:28
No Episode Today, Sorry!

No Episode Today, Sorry!

Next week we'll share with you our preliminary exploration and implications of the growing Play-to-Earn movement.  But no episode today, enjoy your weekend!

Aug 28, 202100:12
SOB #479 Ethereum, Bitcoin; Hard Fork, Soft Fork: How Decentralized Change Is Made

SOB #479 Ethereum, Bitcoin; Hard Fork, Soft Fork: How Decentralized Change Is Made

Ethereum’s London hard fork, also known as EIP 1559, took place on Aug. 5. The backwards-incompatible upgrade reignited community debate over hard forks, soft forks and the best methods – most foolproof, least polarizing – to bring about change to a network.

Join hosts Adam B. Levine, Jonathan Mohan and Andreas M. Antonopoulos as they explore the various ways in which consensus has been reached recently across the two largest protocols. The differences in technology and underlying philosophy means some solutions are more enticing to Ethereum and others to Bitcoin.

Ethereum maintains a so-called “difficulty bomb,” whose fuse is lengthened with every upgrade. If it ever goes off, miners would face exponentially harder work and proportionally diminished rewards, forcing them to switch from the pre-fork chain to the upgraded one. Bitcoin’s equivalent to the difficulty bomb, the User Activated Soft Fork (UASF), accomplishes the same thing by other means. Are these mechanisms the proverbial ‘Chekhov’s Gun,’ inevitably to be used in some later act, or simply empty threats to coerce miners into compliance?

Listen to this episode of “Speaking of Bitcoin” for an in-depth explainer of how wide-spread change occurs across decentralized networks and what changes might be in store for the future.

-

This episode featured Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Jonathan Mohan. It was edited by Jonas, our theme song comes courtesy of Jared Rubens and todays music during the break was Sloth Beats by Gurty Beats. Today's album art features a photo by Anita Jankovic/Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin.

Have any questions or comments? Send Adam an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show

Aug 21, 202133:10
SOB #478 The Expert Incentive, or ‘God Save the King of Kong'

SOB #478 The Expert Incentive, or ‘God Save the King of Kong'

On today's episode of Speaking of Bitcoin, correspondent George Frankly explores the expertise paradox through the lens of two very different historical figures.

What do 18th century physician Ignaz Semmelweis and professional Donkey Kong player Billy J. Mitchell have in common? The experts were wrong.

Full length transcript

This episode was written, performed and edited by George Frankly with additional production support by Adam B. Levine. Our theme song comes courtesy of Jared Rubens and this episodes album art features a photograph provided by Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin. Have any questions or comments? Send Adam an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show

Aug 14, 202112:37
SOB #477 Stoner Cats Chaos and the Mainstreaming of NFTs

SOB #477 Stoner Cats Chaos and the Mainstreaming of NFTs

NFTs are emerging as the path from insular crypto community to a breakthrough in mainstream culture. Blockchain technology and pop culture collide to produce new possibilities for the future of art and beyond.

The question is, will NFTs prove to be valuable enough to endure beyond the hype?

“Stoner Cats,” a new animated series featuring top Hollywood talent (and Ethereum inventor Vitalik Buterin) successfully used a non-fungible token (NFT) sale to leapfrog the financial gatekeepers in Hollywood. With a cast list including Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Chris Rock and Seth MacFarlane, it is no wonder the campaign raised over $9 million in just a few hours.

Join hosts Adam B. Levine, Stephanie Murphy and Jonathan Mohan as they pick apart the ”Stoner Cat” ambitious and novel approach to the production of an independent animated series. This project is one example of many in NFTs proving their worth beyond just the art: They are now status symbols, pop culture phenomena and a viable financial tool.

The “Stoner Cats” NFT launch, though eventually fruitful, began with a set of stumbles. As prospective buyers lined up to the launch, Ethereum gas fees quickly skyrocketed and some paid more than five times the price in fees. While the implementation of this kick-starter style of on-chain fundraiser could be improved, “Stoner Cats” proved it was possible.

This episode features Adam B. Levine, Stephanie Murphy and Jonathan Mohan. This episode was edited by Jonas, features music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats with additional production support from Eleanor Pahl.

Image credit: StonerCats.com, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin

Aug 07, 202127:38
SOB #476 - Digging Into El Salvador's Bitcoin Bill

SOB #476 - Digging Into El Salvador's Bitcoin Bill

El Salvador’s decision to make bitcoin legal tender shocked the world. Soon, the dust will settle and catchy headlines will become real, lived experiences for Salvadorans.

Join hosts Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Stephanie Murphy for a read-through and thoughtful conversation of El Salvador’s bitcoin legislation in full. The hosts discuss the highs and lows of the bill and potential risks to the country, its citizens and bitcoin globally.

Though many had predicted governmental adoption of bitcoin would come, none had predicted it would happen so soon. The rest of the world has watched attentively as El Salvador embarks on a nation-scale trial run of bitcoin as legal tender. This unprecedented circumstance brings an abundance of technical and social challenges. 

What will the great successes be with this experiment? Where can it go wrong? And how will the Lightning Network factor in? Most worryingly, will El Salvadore’s trust fund be the world’s biggest honeypot?

The bitcoin bill is set to go in effect in about two months. Will El Salvador be able to address these concerns in time?

Links from the episode:

Have any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show

-

Today's show featured Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy and Adam B. Levine. This episode was edited by Jonas, with music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats.

Our album art is based off a photo by Photo by Wilson Edilberto Santana Suarez on Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin

Jul 31, 202149:28
SOB #475 Emergent Complexity and Building Systems We Don’t Understand

SOB #475 Emergent Complexity and Building Systems We Don’t Understand

If you landed in medieval times, could you build a phone? Or something even simpler, a pencil? 

Join hosts Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy & Jonathan Mohan for a deep dive into the wildly empowering, complex and terrifyingly automated world we live in. This wide ranging, philosophical discussion touches on such topics as the Suez Canal, Douglas Adams, combat drones, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and more.

The world’s complexity exponentially increases by the decade. A gradual systemization has led to the automation of specialized tasks, affording people free time to perform other, even more complex tasks. For example, consider  navigation apps reducing the decision-making process from driving, or the rise of autonomous cars that will eventually remove human interaction altogether.

As the world depends more on an unimaginable web of logistics, what happens when something breaks? The evolution of automation from simple, rules-based systems to incredibly complex machine learning algorithms has diminished the ability to understand or predict these structures.

As much as we love decentralization and technological advancement, where do these aims fail us? Are we creating more problems than solving them?

Have any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show

Today's show featured Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy, Jonathan Mohan and Adam B. Levine. This episode was edited by Jonas, with music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats.

Our album art a photo by Luca Carrà on Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin

Jul 24, 202138:14
SOB #474 - Bitcoin Neutrality

SOB #474 - Bitcoin Neutrality

On this episode of Speaking of Bitcoin, we're zipping back even further to the Spring of 2013, where Andreas M. Antonopoulos, fresh off his Let's Talk Bitcoin! debut episodes gave a pivotal talk entitled "Bitcoin Neutrality" before a tiny audience at the Bitcoin 2013 conference.

Next week we'll be back with a new philosophical discussion entitled "No One's Driving" on automation and technology, the good and the bad.

The following week we'll bring you our deep-dive into El Salvador, which is in editing now and has been a long time coming.

Jul 17, 202136:50
SOB #473 - The New Renaissance

SOB #473 - The New Renaissance

Six years ago Adam B. Levine and Arthur S. Falls started a discussion on what they called The New Renaissance. It's a conversation about disruption, open source and the individual.

On today's episode of Speaking of Bitcoin, we're flashing back to 2015 for a look at where we're going through understanding where we've come from.

Jul 10, 202151:58
SOB #472 Wisdom of Crowds and the Information Disease

SOB #472 Wisdom of Crowds and the Information Disease

This time on Speaking of Bitcoin, George Frankly is back with the fifth installment in his Dare To Be Stupid series with a look at UFO sightings, jelly beans and the lurking information disease.4

Photo credit: Michael Herren/Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin

Jul 04, 202111:15
SOB #471 How and Why Governments Lie About Inflation
Jun 26, 202155:35
SOB #470 Challenges Towards a Post-Scarcity World (and the Bullshit Economics of Star Trek)

SOB #470 Challenges Towards a Post-Scarcity World (and the Bullshit Economics of Star Trek)

This time on Speaking of Bitcoin: George Frankly is back for the fourth installment of his Dare To Be Stupid Series.

Jun 20, 202109:10
SOB #469 - Precursors to a Mainstream Moment in El Salvador?

SOB #469 - Precursors to a Mainstream Moment in El Salvador?

This week on Speaking of Bitcoin, Adam B. Levine presents three perspectives on El Salvador as a bitcoin-as-legal-tender bill was announced, introduced and quickly passed into law.

In segment one, Adam presents his opinion piece written for CoinDesk early in the week.

(https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-el-salvadors-legal-tender)  

In segment two, we read the full text of the bill as passed into law in El Salvador

(https://www.scribd.com/document/511099248/El-Salvador-Bitcoin-Bill-Draft)

In segment three, a local, skeptical perspective on the government potential ulterior motives and intentions around the bill courtesy of on of friend-of-the-show Alex Gladstein's on-the-ground contacts in El Salvador.

(https://twitter.com/gladstein/status/1403479559555543040)

Album art credit: Rodrigo Flores/Unsplash modified by Speaking of Bitcoin

Jun 12, 202122:11
SOB #468 - Leapfrogging to Bitcoin's Third Layer

SOB #468 - Leapfrogging to Bitcoin's Third Layer

On today's episode of Speaking of Bitcoin, join hosts Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Adam B. Levine, Jonathan Mohan and Stephanie Murphy as they explore the idea of users jumping straight into bitcoin's third layer (That's Bitcoin - Layer 1, Lightning Network - Layer 2, Applications built on top of Lightning Network that go beyond payments - Layer 3). We also get into the very cool and growing trend of using the Lightning Network to stream messages and money to podcasts that are streaming content back to you. 

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Today's episode break featured music from GurtyBeats (https://www.gurtybeats.com/)

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Jun 05, 202127:01
SOB #468 - Official Cowards, Financial Scatology & Precursors to Hyperinflation

SOB #468 - Official Cowards, Financial Scatology & Precursors to Hyperinflation

On today's episode of Speaking of Bitcoin, join hosts Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Adam B. Levine, Jonathan Mohan and Stephanie Murphy as they dive into the growing topic of inflation. Our modern world is increasingly divided; The currently dominant narrative asserts that Modern Monetary Theory (MMT, or "Financial Scatology" as Jonathan likes to call it) is a free ticket to a better tomorrow... On the other hand, there are those who believe that money is just one of many measurements of reality. And increasingly those metrics have been corrupted to keep the party going and avoid at all costs blame falling on those responsible.  In this episode, the hosts dig in deep for a sobering yet real conversation about what's going on and where all of this is headed.

Today's episode break featured music from GurtyBeats (https://www.gurtybeats.com/)

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May 29, 202135:42
SOB #467 Familiarity Breeds Contemplation

SOB #467 Familiarity Breeds Contemplation

This time on Speaking of Bitcoin, correspondent George Frankly presents his third installment in the Dare to be Stupid series.

May 22, 202108:36
SOB #466 Modern Mania 2: Musk Madness and Derivative Memes
May 15, 202131:25
SOB #465 - Power Dynamics & Taproot Revisited

SOB #465 - Power Dynamics & Taproot Revisited

This time on Speaking of Bitcoin, hosts Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy, Jonathan Mohan and Adam B. Levine revisit Bitcoin's upcoming multi-part "taproot" upgrade. We discuss the speedy trial required for activation, the power dynamics making change challenging for the seemingly popular upgrade.

Gavel Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

May 08, 202120:03
SOB #464 - How Numbers Learn to Lie

SOB #464 - How Numbers Learn to Lie

This time on Speaking of Bitcoin, correspondent George Frankly presents his second installment in the Dare to be Stupid series.

May 02, 202107:59
SOB #463 - Dogecoin, Crack-up Booms and the Modern Mania
Apr 25, 202129:45
SOB #462 The Past, Present & Potential of Blockchain Collectibles

SOB #462 The Past, Present & Potential of Blockchain Collectibles

This is both the first and the last episode in our series on NFTs - Recorded on March 11th, the day of the Beeple sale (which we learned was a 'signaling event' during our conversation with MetaKovan,) you'll hear the hosts react and explore recent events in real time.

Link to the story Adam mentioned: 

https://letstalkbitcoin.com/blog/post/tokens-and-the-family-car

This episode features Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy, Jonathan Mohan and Adam B. Levine.

Apr 18, 202137:57
SOB #461 - Infinite NFTs and What Comes Next

SOB #461 - Infinite NFTs and What Comes Next

On this episode of Speaking of Bitcoin, NFT early adopter MetaKovan (Vignesh Sundaresan) joins the hosts for the final of our three part exploration. This time we discuss how the NFT market is developing in the aftermath of the Christie's $69.7M Beeple auction.

Apr 11, 202126:13