In this episode I speak with Mikey Smith, a Kiwi Bitcoiner working in the world of mortgages and finance. Mikey gives some perspectives on the New Zealand housing situation, the slow train wreck that is the Government, and what the longer term outlook might be for the country. We also dive into personal responsibility, creating value, and fishing off of Norfolk Island.
Andrew L. Wilson is an Author and Professor of History of Christianity as well as a Bitcoiner and host of The Disentanglement Podcast, exploring privacy tech and the surveillance state. We talk about infrastructure, AI, money, and democracy: the challenges of our generation. We also discuss an article that Andrew wrote from before he knew about Bitcoin, about local currencies and circular economies that has some interesting parallels.
Ben Jarvie is a writer and kiwi Bitcoiner working for Amber App, a Bitcoin-only exchange. We talk about Ben’s recent travels to El Salvador and Madeira, and we reflect on the declining situation of my beloved home country, New Zealand, and in particular the economic violence that the State and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand continues to unleash upon the people through its egregious manipulation of the money. But that said, we know that Bitcoin fixes this, and we are here to build bridges and meet people where they are at!
I talk with Brad Henderson, a Power System Engineer and Head of Engineering and Design at ElectroNet, a New Zealand-owned consultancy firm. Brad share some exciting details about a new Bitcoin mining facility that his firm has been involved with on the West Coast of New Zealand. We discuss what energy sovereignty might mean for New Zealand, including the importance of electrifying the economy and how Bitcoin mining and solar power may help create energy abundance.
I host the Kiwi Bitcoin Builders monthly catchup for April 2024. This is a way to bring together people working on awesome Bitcoin businesses and projects in New Zealand. We share what we have been working on and what has been happening in the space. We hear about the Bitcoin Alive conference that was held over in Sydney, follow up on the success of the Lightning Pay beta, as well as hear from Satflow, a new Kiwi Bitcoin business exploring MEV on Bitcoin.
I talk with Matyáš Kuchař, co-founder of BTC Prague in the Czech Republic, Europe’s largest Bitcoin event.We talk about BTC Prague’s origin and Matyáš's connection to New Zealand.We also discuss the Bitcoin scene more broadly in the Czech Republic, with a number of well-known Bitcoin companies and projects emerging from the country.I will be attending BTC Prague 2024, in June which is going to be awesome. There are some great speakers lined up including Adam Back, Michael Saylor, Parker Lewis, Peter Todd and many others.🎉 Use discount code TTOV to get 10% off your BTC Prague tickets!
I talk with Christian Lewe from Blockstream Research. Christian is working on Simplicity, a more robust programming language designed as an alternative to Bitcoin Script. The project that has been in the works for over ten years and has been described by Adam Back as “the last soft fork”, and as Christian shares, enabling simplicity could bypass a lot of the contentious soft fork discussions about things like covenants as this functionality is possible with Simplicity.
I talk with Rupert Carlyon, Founder and Managing Director of Kōura Wealth KiwiSaver. KiwiSaver is the voluntary retirement savings scheme for New Zealand and Kōura Wealth offers a Carbon Neutral Crypto Fund KiwiSaver product, which is Bitcoin only. This is a way for everyday kiwis to get some kind of Bitcoin exposure with government and employer matched contributions and tax benefits. New Zealand was very late to the game with retirement savings schemes and the impact of this is beginning to be felt with very low savings, and old-age poverty issues. With all the talk about the Bitcoin ETFs globally, it is interesting to explore how traditional finance in New Zealand interfaces with Bitcoin, and the regulatory challenges they have had to overcome to get this product launched.
I talk with Brett Scott, author of The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance and Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto and the War for our Wallets. Brett does a lot of work supporting the protection of physical cash, and I reached out to him about an article he wrote “The War On Informality” which explores the implication of financial surveillance by credit cards and private banks.This is a thought-provoking episode. We explore the Commodity Theory of Money vs Credit Theory of Money, power dynamics, the importance of cash, and more. Brett offers some interesting critiques of certain Bitcoin narratives and provides some alternative frameworks for looking at how money works.
I talk with Kieran Nolan about his work combining Bitcoin, teaching, and open-source technology. Kieran’s official role is STEM Wizard, teaching at a primary school in Melbourne, Australia. He has been able to bring tech and learning together into the classroom, including helping kids to run Bitcoin nodes, building projects on Nostr, setting up Minecraft servers with other schools, and more. We discuss teaching and learning, and how kids can be better equiped for our rapidly changing world as well as the challenges with bureaucracy and standards-based education in government schools. Kieran is involved in a huge range of other Bitcoin and education projects including the Mornington Peninsula Bitcoin Group, The School of Bitcoin, the Digital Playhouse Foundation, and more.
Hello. I am Cody Ellingham, host of The Transformation of Value Podcast.
The show was formed from a desire for meaningful conversations about Bitcoin and its role as the future of money as well as its impact on the economy, art, and culture. I am interested in exploring the broader changes that are taking place in New Zealand and the world through open and constructive conversation.
I ask questions and try and seek out truth in this world of noise and chaos. I combine my background as a creative director and photographer to dive deep into the fabric of the conversation about Bitcoin and what it means - Tying to explore new territory while discovering new ideas and insight with my guests.
Popular episodes of the show have focussed on topics such as Bitcoin Adoption by Nation States, Sustainable Bitcoin Mining, Māori empowerment through Bitcoin, Bitcoin as an Everyday Investment, and decentralised dairy farming.
When I am not working on Bitcoin, I also run a digital design company, One Project Studio, focussed on design strategy for Bitcoin-related businesses, as well as a creative photography practice that has enabled me to photograph and travel the world.
Do you have more questions about Bitcoin or how to get started?
Check out Kiwi Bitcoin Guide as a starting point for learning about Bitcoin in New Zealand!
There is also a great amount of Bitcoin information from choosing wallet, to the way Bitcoin works available on lopp.net