I host the Kiwi Bitcoin Builders monthly catchup for August 2024 (Recorded 25 August). We talk about upcoming Bitkiwi events, Lightning Pay, Alby, as well as other things people have been working on.

Ollie Sapsford is a professional rugby football player from New Zealand, currently signed with the Super Rugby ACT Brumbies. We talk about how Ollie’s rugby career started, his Bitcoin story, and the proof of work of professional sports.

Don Brash was the former Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand from 1988 until 2002. Don was also a Member of Parliament, and leader of the New Zealand National Party. We discuss Don’s work at the Reserve Bank, which came at a pivotal time alongside the economic reforms of the late 80s. Don shares the history of the famous 0 - 2% inflation target that he helped implement, and we talk more broadly about the state’s understanding of inflation, its causes, and the role of Central Banking. We go on to talk about Don’s current focus looking at both the geopolitical situation New Zealand faces in-between the US and China, as well as his work with Hobson’s pledge looking at democracy issues closer to home.

Dr. Murray Rudd is an environmental economics and policy researcher by training and now Science Advisor for Satoshi Action Education, providing input on economics and environmental science as it relates to Bitcoin. We discuss Murray’s background and work, his new project The Bitcoin Distillery, which is a resource for following and understanding developments in Bitcoin. Finally we explore the way the academic world can engage with Bitcoin in terms of research and collaboration opportunities.

Cain The Oricle is a freelancer visual designer who has recently worked with Fedi on their launch and conference brand identity design. We discuss the importance of creativity alongside the technological and monetary revolution that is Bitcoin. We talk about the role of art, whether it is visual, writing or music, to communicate and reflect big ideas back to society. We also talk about how artists can be empowered by Bitcoin thinking through self-patronage and the ability to work on meaningful long-term projects and get away from the fiat grind.

Max Hillebrand is a Bitcoin builder, educator, and privacy advocate. Max has contributed to open-source Bitcoin projects including BISQ, JoinMarket, and Wasabi Wallet, while also talking about individual freedom and self-sovereignty.We dive straight into the concept of The Second Realm, which is focussed on building parallel economic systems in which sovereign individuals are empowered to pursue life, liberty and happiness without the harassment of the State. Along the way we discuss anarchy, agorism, praxeology, and natural law.

In this episode I talk with Umi Miyahara, Business Development Lead at Breez. Breez is a self-custodial Lightning-as-a-Service company bringing peer-to-peer bitcoin payments to apps and services globally with the free and open-source Breez SDK. We talk about Umi’s journey through traditional finance and fintech startups, her Bitcoin story, and the evolution of the Lightning Network.

I talk with Trey Sellers, VP of Enterprise Sales at Unchained. Unchained are global leaders in collaborative custody solutions for Bitcoin with their Unchained Vault product that uses a multi-sig arrangement so that there is never a single point of failure for your Bitcoin. We discuss some of Trey’s writing about the FIRE movement: Financial Independence, Retire Early, and how a low-time-preference strategy of saving and investing can help you achieve financial independence earlier in life. We also discuss some of the fundamental metrics for tracking Bitcoin adoption. Finally Trey shares Unchained Connections, a new way to help friends and family to custody their own Bitcoin and get it off of exchanges.

In this episode I catchup with Dr. Simon Collins. We discuss some new research that Simon has contributed to in his new affiliation with the Digital Assets Research Institute along with the Satoshi Action Fund, providing academic insight for measuring and understanding Bitcoin adoption. We talk about the next steps for Simon’s Bitcoin mining company, Stackr, as they look to expand their operations in some exciting new directions internationally. Finally we discuss Lightning Pay, which is creating an amazing merchant payment system, and which offers the fastest and most cost-effective exchange experiences for buying Bitcoin in New Zealand.

This episode is a release of the “Bitcoin in New Zealand” live panel talk in collaboration with Bitkiwi at their event at Dux Central in Christchurch, July 20, 2024. We had three awesome guests, James Viggiano, Brad Henderson, and Andrew Wells.There are some great Bitcoin projects happening in New Zealand and I’m excited for the future. A big thank you to everyone who attended the event, it was great to catchup in person and for me to get back home for a little bit.