All Episodes

Bayani Mills is the Secretary & Acting CEO at the Australian Bitcoin Industry Body, providing advocacy on behalf of their Bitcoin industry members and advancing the adoption and understanding of Bitcoin in Australia. We take a deep dive into Bayani’s work with the industry body: educating politicians, making submissions on bills before parliament, and trying to carve out a clear space for Bitcoin in the minds of the public and politicians.

Hubertus Hofkirchner is an economist and entrepreneur from Austria. Hubertus hosts the monthly Austrian Economics Salon at Vienna's Hayek Institute and he shares some fascinating insight into the nature of base money and credit money, how we can understand these from a Bitcoin and Austrian economics perspective as well as what he sees as the next step for growing the Bitcoin circular economy.Hubertus is a key figure in developing the Bitcredit Protocol, an open-source initiative focussed on building a flexible credit money layer on top of Bitcoin for enabling businesses to finance working capital needs, using bills of exchange, e-cash, and the proof of the work of the real economy.

Win Ko Ko Aung is a refugee from Myanmar formerly known as Burma, Human Rights fellow at the Bitcoin policy institute, as well as associate at the Human Rights Foundation. Win shares the story of the ongoing civil war in Myanmar under the control of the military junta and the crackdowns and human rights abuses that are taking place. Win also talks about how Bitcoin helped him escape Myanmar, what it can mean for the people, as well as some of the real infrastructure and tech challenges people face trying to get their money out of the country.

Something special for one hundred episodes. Thank you for listening. Vires in numeris.

Samson Mow is the former Chief Strategy Officer at Blockstream and current CEO at Jan3, focussed on Nation-state Bitcoin adoption as well as developing the Aqua Bitcoin wallet. Samson is well known for advising various governments and heads of state about Bitcoin adoption, including in El Salvador with their plan to issue Bitcoin Bonds. We discuss the game theory and approaches to nation-state Bitcoin Adoption, including the Bitcoin mining and energy story and how smaller countries like New Zealand can approach Bitcoin at both a grass roots and state level.

Andrew M. Bailey is a Professor and co-author of Resistance Money: A Philosophical case for Bitcoin. We discuss the book’s approach to communicating the idea of Bitcoin from a global perspective, providing strong arguments for Bitcoin’s value as a net good for the world. We also talk about the history of political philosophy and how ideas spread as well as the new interdisciplinary Bitcoin Research Institute at the University of Wyoming where Andrew will be taking on a role as Professor of Philosophy.

Gareth Farry is a creative producer and currently the Partnerships and Special Projects Manager at Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand. We touch on questions of law, sovereignty and the relationship with the state, as well as what we can learn from Māori culture as it relates to self-sovereign communities. Finally we discuss alternative understandings of identity and money through a Bitcoin and freedom technology lens.

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. 

I talk with Sam Kivi, CTO and Director at Grid Share, a New Zealand company building flexible load infrastructure centred around renewable energy and Bitcoin mining. We talk about Grid Share’s Bitcoin mining operation at Monowai Hydroelectric Power Station in the South Island of New Zealand, their plans to grow the business to explore methane capture from landfills enabled by Bitcoin mining, and the broader opportunities for demand response and renewable energy infrastructure growth in New Zealand.

Jason Crowe is a business leader who has worked with Iconic New Zealand product brands such as phil&teds, Garage Project, and Goodnature. We discuss Jason’s time working in the banking world and his decision to leave it, as well as how he has come to understand Bitcoin and how it impacts business and finance.Finally we talk about the proof of work of sports and how athletes and sports teams may be able to incorporate Bitcoin thinking into the way they fund and organise themselves, and our new search to find New Zealand’s top Bitcoin sportsperson.

In this episode I talk with Dr. Simon Duff, a Research Economist and Bitcoiner. We discuss what a high-value agricultural sector may look like for New Zealand, and the opportunities for exporting premium products to the world, perhaps even priced in Bitcoin.

I talk with Bitkiwi Paul, co-organiser of Bitkiwi, New Zealand’s premier Bitcoin events. We talk about quite a few things: minimalism in what we own, the work of Art in the Age of AI, meaning making and the role of sports in the nation state, all seen through a Bitcoin lens.

I talk with G Sovereignty, a Bitcoiner based in Hong Kong and developing applications on Nostr as well as host of the Nostrovia Podcast. We talk about a presentation that G gave titled Bitcoin vs. The State: Four Phases of War, exploring the power dynamics of Bitcoin, its security model, and the steps that the state may enact as it begins to comprehend the true implications of Bitcoin upon its exorbitant privileges. We also discuss the future of Bitcoin-powered economies and what these might look like.

Cecilia Macaulay is a permaculture designer from Australia. We discuss what permaculture means, her story, and how aspects of Bitcoin thinking have entered into her practice. We talk about the State as a predator in the ecosystem of humanity as well as the importance of cleaning up your house and building social capital and communities, especially when times get tough.

I speak with Ian from the Victorian Bitcoin Technology Club, a not-for-profit incorporated club supporting Bitcoin education and grassroots bitcoin adoption in the state of Victoria, Australia. We discuss the background to starting the club, how it acts as a backwards-compatible organisation for interfacing with the legacy world while also embracing Bitcoin principles. We also talk about the club’s mission, their plans for the future, and how they are trying to operate on a Bitcoin standard.

Dr. James Kierstead is a Research Fellow with the New Zealand Initiative focussing on higher education policy, including academic freedom. James co-hosts Free Kiwis!, a podcast dedicated to free speech in New Zealand, and also has a background in classical studies, in particular democracy in Ancient Greece. We talk about the declining state of New Zealand universities and the impact this has on graduates bringing their ideologies into the public sector. We also dive into the importance of language learning and, the economies of ancient Greece city states, and what we can learn from the past.

I host the Kiwi Bitcoin Builders monthly catchup for May 2024. There was just a few of us this time talking about running our own Bitcoin Lightning nodes, self Sovereign AI, silent payments, PayNyms and more.

I speak with Antony Dapiran, a prominent Australian lawyer and award-winning author, who has become widely known for his writing and commentary on the protest movement in Hong Kong and the reaction from the State. We talk about his book City On Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong, we explore the history of the city and its unique monetary and political situation, as well as the role of censorship, Bitcoin, freedom technology, and more.

I speak with Brad Loewen, host of Beyond the Price, exploring Bitcoin adoption in East Asia. Brad and I both attended the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong recently, organised by BTC Inc, the same company behind Bitcoin Miami, Bitcoin Amsterdam, Bitcoin Magazine, along with their investment arm UTXO Management. Now it was clear that there would be some ordinal-related discussions at the conference which I wanted to verify for myself, however I was not expecting the sheer degree of emphasis on these, as well as the overall VC, compliance & KYC, public mining, and financial services direction of the conference. As we explore, I have come to question BTC Inc's motivations, their choice of sponsors and programming, and their commitment to Bitcoin as freedom and privacy tech.

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.

I host a Kiwi Bitcoin Builders call with a few people working on Bitcoin businesses, education, and projects in New Zealand. We debrief on the success of the recent Bitkiwi meetup event in Queenstown and also share some of the things that people are working on.

Andrew L. Wilson is an Author and Professor of History of Christianity as well as host of The Disentanglement Podcast, exploring privacy tech and the surveillance state. We discuss in detail severals books about the origin of the state and money, including James C Scott’s, “Seeing Like A State”, Rees-Mogg and Davidson’s “The Sovereign Individual”, and David Graeber’s “Debt: The First 5,000 Years”. We discover some interesting parallels between the unconfiscatable nature of Bitcoin and the origins of state power with its ability to tax easily countable grain crops versus something like a potato which grows underground.We also talk about the history of the printing press as it relates to inflation within the church, and Andrew's personal proof of work undertaking a 1000-mile pilgrimage in the footsteps of Martin Luther from Germany to Rome.

I talk with James Viggiano about recent comments made by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Not soon after we spoke, James shared a clip that went viral of the governor talking frankly about the exorbitant privilege of money printing that the central banks and governments have. James and I talk about some of the game theory from the perspective of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to defend the Kiwi Dollar and their attempts to talk down inflation, and shift the narrative even as the cost of living crisis continues. We also talk about the opportunity for what New Zealand could look like on a Bitcoin standard and how that could interface with the legacy financial system.

Andrew Begin is Director of Marketing at Galoy, a company building Bitcoin-native banking infrastructure for organisations. We talk about Galoy’s Bitcoin projects including the open-source Blink Wallet, made popular through Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador. I learn about the vision for the product as well as its Stablesats functionality and how this work. We discuss the power of communities taking ownership of their financial infrastructure, and the opportunities for grassroots Bitcoin adoption in Africa and Latin America. Finally we talk briefly about permaculture and regenerative farming and the connections with Bitcoin thinking.‍

I talk with Dash of the Tokyo Citadel Builders Podcast & Community. We dive deep into some of the game theory and scenarios that Bitcoin and hyperbitcoinisation presents, as well as what the broader economic landscape may look like in the future. Just as the internet has become far more than merely digital version of letters and newspapers, Bitcoin may not just be digital money as we know it, but an entirely new paradigm of value transfer and wealth storage that is difficult to fathom while we still exist within in the current system. Thus it is important to broach these ideas and have creative discussions to try and paint a picture of what may come to pass. I also talk with Dash about the role of faith, and purpose and meaning more broadly in these trying and changing times.

Prince Filip of Serbia is a prominent Bitcoiner, and Chief Strategy Officer at Jan3. We talk about Prince Filip's work at Jan3 engaging in high-level conversations about Bitcoin with nation-state leaders as well as his thoughts on monarchy, democracy, and culture. We discuss the role of Bitcoin and sound money and the chance presented for smaller countries such as Serbia and New Zealand to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. I also extend an invitation to Prince Filip and the Jan3 team to come visit and help spread awareness about what Bitcoin could mean for New Zealand, in particular its connection to energy and infrastructure.

Nicolas Dorier is founder and maintainer of BTCPay Server as well as NBitcoin Library. We talk about the BTCPay Server roadmap for the coming year, including Bitcoin Service Provider functions, and the bigger vision for the platform. We also discuss Nicolas experience going through the Blocksize War and how it prompted the development of BTCPay Server, his approach to assessing proposed changes to Bitcoin, and how he gets his technical information. We also talk about the impact of transaction fees and Layer 2 solutions.

Kishin Kato is a Japanese Bitcoiner working on various Lightning and Bitcoin education-focussed projects, and heavily involved with the Bitcoin community in Japan. We discuss some of the broad connections between Japan and New Zealand, including the state of agriculture, free trade, financial gatekeepers, as well as the emergence of different Bitcoin narratives.

Bitkiwi Dan is one of the co-founders of the BitKiwi meetup events in New Zealand. We canvas a range of topics from government decision-making and how political neutrality works in the public sector to what it might take to form a new Bitcoin political party in New Zealand. Dan is also a Chartered Accountant and we discuss the opportunity around businesses wanting to hold Bitcoin on their balance sheet, integrating with legacy banks, and how the bitcoin circular economy could develop.

Brandon Bucher is a Bitcoiner based in New Zealand working on several Bitcoin-related projects and an important figure in the local Kiwi Bitcoin community. We zoom out to discuss the recent high on-chain transaction fees, and what we can expect from discussions about scaling solutions moving forward. We talk about how rough consensus works for making changes to Bitcoin and what the situation was like during the period of the Blocksize Wars and SegWit activation from 2015 to 2017. Finally we discuss the importance of education and support for self-custody of bitcoin.

I talk with Bitkiwi Paul, co-organiser of the Bitkiwi Meetup Events. We are coming up to the end of the year and it is a good time to think about what has come to pass and spend time with family and friends. Bitcoin is just a bit of code, some words, a computer network, but for many people it can be a catalyst for profound personal change. Looking at health, introspection, self-development, and a reassessment of ones role in the community and in life. You can call it meaning making or finding purpose, but there is something about the idea of Bitcoin that is powerful, and I do hope you enjoy this exploration with Paul.

Palash is an Indian Bitcoiner sharing his thoughts on how to bring Bitcoin adoption to the world’s largest democracy. We talk about the sudden demonetisation of certain cash notes by the Indian government, the new unified payment interface and Indian CBDC. Palash also discusses how households approach savings, purchasing and gifting gold, and the social roles of money.

Sam Kivi is the CTO and Director at Grid Share, a New Zealand company building flexible load infrastructure centred around renewable energy and Bitcoin mining. We talk about how flexible load works, and the benefits that it provides to the power grid, how it interacts with renewable power generation, and what the opportunities and challenges are, given New Zealand’s unique energy mix. We also discuss the emerging opportunities for landfill methane capture, and what it actually takes to put in the proof of work to stand up a mining operation as Grid Share have done. Sam also shares a new initiative from the company, offering hosting services for Bitcoin miners in New Zealand.

Rabble is a software developer and hacker based in Wellington, New Zealand. Rabble was lead engineer at Odeo, where he hired Jack Dorsey into the company, which would later pivot into becoming Twitter. Since then he has been focussed on building impactful projects and social media with the open & decentralised vision that Twitter originally had in its early years but which was eventually lost. Rabble has created the Nostr client Nos.social, and is involved with ⁠Ahau.io⁠, a Māori community tool built on Nostr’s predecessor protocol, Secure Scuttlebutt.

I talk with gSovereignty, based in Hong Kong, going deep into questions about individual sovereignty and freedom. We also discuss the relationship with the legacy nation state and how Bitcoin and Nostr may interface with collectivist societies such as China. We talk about the Hong Kong protests, the dynamics of state and media, and Bitcoin’s eventual showdown with the Cantillon Pyramid. We also talk about G’s work in Nostr, including running the Nostrovia podcast, and building nostr.rocket – helping Bitcoiners organise projects in a way that is not beholden to the state.

Roland Bewick is a kiwi Bitcoiner and Lightning Developer working on Alby and Lightsats. We talk about Roland’s background and how he become involved in Bitcoin, how value4value and new kinds of revenue models for creators could work in the future, as well as the other possibilities that Bitcoin enables as the money of the internet.

I talk with Nathan Seiuli, Outreach and Events Coordinator at the Free Speech Union in New Zealand. Over the past few years, it’s become evident that many New Zealanders are both unaware of how vital freedom of speech is, and how dangerous some of the moves are to exclude its protections. We talk about the work the Free Speech Union is doing in New Zealand, including campaigns to promote debate and critical thinking in schools, providing feedback and advice to government, and calling out actions that infringe upon freedom of speech. We also talk about how technology such as Bitcoin and Nostr can provide protection for Freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

Zed is a Bitcoiner originally from the Czech Republic, but now living in Wellington, New Zealand, where he organises a Local Bitcoin meetup.We dive into Zed’s story, leaving the Czech Republic to go to London around the time of the occupy movement where he first discovered Bitcoin.We talk about Bitcoin art and the role of popular culture in sharing new ways of thinking, as well as the cultural background that Zed brings to Bitcoin, having being born into a communist system. We also talk about how people such as the Gypsies of Europe or the New Zealand Māori represent a different kind of relationship to the state that we can learn a lot from.

I talk with Jimmy Djabali of Swiss Bitcoin Pay, an app for easily accepting Bitcoin payments at point of sale. This is an important area of development, and unfortunately there are still not that many solutions out there for making accepting Bitcoin as a business easy. Swiss Bitcoin Pay seeks to fix this with a simple interface that is suitable for shops, restaurants, or any kind of customer-facing business.Jimmy shares how the project came about and his vision for it, as well as the Bitcoin merchant situation in Switzerland including the city of Lugano which has over 300 merchants accepting Bitcoin already. 

I talk with Bitkiwi Paul about the next Bitkiwi meetup that is happening on Saturday October 28th in Auckland. We also discuss the social layer of Bitcoin in New Zealand and how it has grown enormously over the last 12 months. This time last year I didn’t really know any Bitcoiners in person, but here we are with a thriving community of Bitcoin projects, businesses, and collaborations that I am involved in, and I know there are many others out there doing the same. A lot of Proof of Work has gone into building on Bitcoin over the last few years and that is going to be important as more and more people start finding and learning about Bitcoin.

I talk with Rob Clarkson about scaling Bitcoin’s Layer 2 Lightning protocol, and how changes happen to Bitcoin more generally. Rob provides a technical introduction to some of the proposals such as ELTOO, APO, CTV, and we talk a bit about what covenants and vaults mean in Bitcoin.

Dr Matthew Birchall is a Research Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative. The New Zealand Initiative is a policy think tank conducting independent research on a wide range of issues. We talk about Matthew's report “Paving the Wave: Learning from New Zealand past to Build a Better Future.” The report explores how the country effectively tackled infrastructure projects in the past, and offers guidance on how the country can rediscover this talent.

I talk with Rigel Walshe, who gave a speech at the Baltic Honeybadger conference this year titled “Bitcoin as a Religious Phenomenon”. We explore this topic and how in many ways Bitcoin provides meaning and purpose in a chaotic world. Whether it is the rapid growth in local bitcoin meetups post-covid, the spread of ideas such as self-sovereignty and rules for moral action, or the state of Bitcoin Culture on Twitter, the development of the social layer of Bitcoin is undeniable in recent years. 

James Swarbrick is the director of Swarbricks, a Bitcoin-accepting law firm in New Zealand. We talk about his thoughts from a legal perspective about the recent collapse of the Dasset crypto exchange, as well as discuss an article he wrote about how the hack of another exchange, Cryptopia, helped develop law in New Zealand. Finally we talk about the role of self-custody and inheritance planning for Bitcoin.

I share a conversation I had on Darcy Ungaro’s podcast, NZ Everyday Investor. Darcy has kindly allowed me to share the show with you here. I am on the other side of the mic, talking about my thoughts on housing in New Zealand, what it means to be a sovereign individual, and some bold reckonings about the future of the nation state project.

I talk with Paul from Bitkiwi, who are organising New Zealand’s premiere Bitcoin meetup events. We talk about focussing on Proof of Work in your personal life, unplugging from the utter distraction of legacy media, and really asking fundamental questions about the future state of government and society.

I talk with Oscar Merry, co-founder of Fountain, one of the most popular Podcasting 2.0 apps. We talk about the future of open podcasting and breaking out from the walled gardens of big tech, how the Bitcoin Lightning Network can enable streaming value directly to content creators, and we also discuss some of the upcoming features that the Fountain team are working on.

I talk with Kevin Whitmore from Callaghan Innovation. We discuss payment innovations with the Lightning network, Bitcoin, Nostr, and more. I am encouraged to see an interest in Bitcoin technology from the New Zealand Government. I welcome Callaghan’s approach of objectively looking at everything that comes their way and making judgements based on first principles. Ultimately having a vehicle like Kevin’s work at Callaghan Innovation could be one of the ways New Zealand becomes a first mover in adopting Bitcoin. I am quietly encouraged to see the label "Web3" reclaimed by genuinely decentralised tech such as Nostr, Lightning Zaps, and Fedi.

Jason Maier is the author of A Progressive's Case for Bitcoin: A Path Toward a More Just, Equitable, and Peaceful World. The book introduces Bitcoin to a progressive audience focussed primarily on the United States. Jason talks about how Bitcoin can actually help bring about positive social change, and he also dispels some of the common misconceptions about Bitcoin that would otherwise slow adoption among those who need it most.

Andrew Cummins formerly worked for Bitcoin Magazine as the Growth Marketing & Analytics Manager, and he shares the journey that took him from New Zealand to Colorado Springs, including his Bitcoin story, being on the ground at the Bitcoin Miami Conference, and his future plans.

James Scaur has a great story, first discovering Bitcoin in high school, teaching himself programming and starting a business, before going on to work at Cryptopia and Easy Crypto while travelling through Europe and Brazil. He is now launching some exciting projects including bringing ⁠Azte.co⁠ Bitcoin vouchers to New Zealand, and making Bitcoin more accessible in Te reo Māori.

I talk with Kieran Nolan and Chris Pollard, two Bitcoiners based in Melbourne, Australia. Kieran Nolan is a Bitcoin educator. He is the technology specialist at a primary school in Australia, teaching Bitcoin and STEM topics, including getting Andreas Antonopoulos to do a video lesson with his students Kieran is also part of the theschoolofbitcoin.com, blockchain academy international, and other projects. Chris Pollard join us a little bit later on the episode and is active in helping organise the Bitcoin meetups in Melbourne, running bitcoinonly.store, as well leading a new project to create a permanent bitcoin space: unspent.space. With both my guests I was blown away by the range of impactful projects they are working on.

Blair Walter is the Renewable Energy Leader at Aurecon, a global design, engineering, and advisory firm. He is also the Chair of the New Zealand Wind Energy Association. Blair shares his experience developing and financing renewable energy projects globally, and the opportunities that he sees for Bitcoin mining to accompany the build-out of new energy assets and infrastructure.

A special mid-winter Matariki episode. I catchup up with some of the Wellington Bitcoin crew here at the studio: Bitkiwi Paul and Konrad Hurren, and Troy joins us at the end.

We talk about Jame Viggiano's project Orange, which hosts a server in the popular multiplayer survival game “Rust”, where you can trade and learn about Bitcoin, have virtual meetups, and complete missions to earn sats.

Evan Lin is a New Zealand software engineer currently working on the Bitcoin Dev Kit (BDK). We talk about Evan’s journey to get funded by Spiral to work full-time on open-source Bitcoin projects, his experience working and living in Taiwan, and how we can encourage emerging developers to put their time and effort into Bitcoin.

Dash is part of the Tokyo Citadel Group, who I was able to meet when I was travelling through Japan recently. My impression from the Tokyo Citadel was that there was real interest in privacy, security, and the potential threats that Bitcoiners personally face from the nation state. Now this is not unfounded, and we have seen people being detained over things like coinjoins and through chain analysis. But I wanted to understand this perspective more and compare it with the situation in New Zealand.

Today I talk with Paul from Bitkiwi who are organising New Zealand’s premiere Bitcoin meetups. This episodes roams across a wide range of topics, from politics and nostalgia for the old days, to the importance and value of real-life Bitcoin meetups.

In this episode I talk with Faris Mali about his journey growing up in the Middle East and North Africa, working in the academic world in Australia, and his upcoming book ‘Bitcoin Begins, beginner's guide to money, currency and Bitcoin’. Faris is the co-host of ⁠The Bitcoin Basics Podcast⁠, based out of Nelson, New Zealand and he also runs a company providing info about Bitcoin risk mitigation.

Devon Lazelle has a background in banking and finance. We talk about her Bitcoin story and what is important to her, including the Proof of Work of motherhood, and exploring the best ways to enable children to learn and thrive in this changing world.

Niko Laamanen is the founder of Konsensus Network, a company that focuses on localising and distributing important literature about bitcoin, Austrian economics, and sovereignty. Niko recognised the importance of being able to convey the Bitcoin message into other languages.

Today I talk with Mike Lazelle, Founder & VP at Red Phase, a New Zealand-based EV fast charging startup, and Brad Henderson Head of Engineering and Design at ElectroNet. Both of my guests are Bitcoiners and have an extensive background working in the energy sector in New Zealand and abroad. We talk about how the NZ grid and electricity market works, and some of the details of how new generations assets are built, and what the future of energy infrastructure might look like in New Zealand.

Te Kahukura Boynton is a young wāhine studying law and running the blog and podcast Māori Millionaire, documenting the journey of learning about financial independence and empowerment for Māori.

Jeff is a Senior Lecturer for Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. He is also a Bitcoiner, and we discuss how he has been teaching Bitcoin to his students, including sharing Satoshi’s White Paper and exploring the technology of the lightning network.

Today I talk with Nicki and James in El Salvador. The couple left New Zealand, buying one-way tickets to El Salvador just over a year ago! We talk about what it is like in their new home and the hope and optimism that they see around them.

Today I talk with the Kiwi Bitcoin Builders. This New Zealand-based group connects people working on various Bitcoin projects, from tools for merchant acceptance of Bitcoin, through to mining businesses, Bitcoin meetups, education, and even developing on the lightning network.

Today I talk with Simon and Jason, 2 British Bitcoiners who are involved in organising meetups and events throughout the UK, as well as promoting merchant adoption of Bitcoin. Simon also known as @hodlsolo, is part of the LaserEyesCards project, is the co-founder of Bridge2Bitcoin, and organises the Northhamptonshire Bitcoin meetup. Jason is the organiser of the Suffolk Bitcoin meetup.

Today I talk with Darcy Ungaro. Darcy is a financial advisor, a Bitcoiner, and he also hosts the NZ Everyday Investor Podcast. This episode is very much a crossover where we talk about our views on Bitcoin and what the future may look like.

Today I talk with Ben Jarvie. Ben is a Bitcoiner working for Amber App, a Bitcoin-only exchange, and he is also a writer. In this episode we talk about a piece that Ben wrote for Bitcoin magazine titled "New Zealand's Past, Pūtea, and Future: CBDC vs Bitcoin".

Today I talk with Andy, Dash, and Mike from Tokyo Citadel. The group’s goal is is to move bitcoin adoption, use and knowledge forward in Tokyo. They run a Bitcoin podcast and organise regular meetups and events. In this episode we discuss Bitcoin in Japan and its perceptions by the public, as well as the bitcoin development and innovation that is taking place and what the current economic & political landscape is.

Today I talk with Dr. Simon Collins from Stackr, a New Zealand Bitcoin mining company. In this episode we discuss Simon's thoughts on Jason Lowery's latest book about power projection in a Bitcoin world. We also explore the abstract category of "value transfer" and how the vantage point of Bitcoin can provide a way to explore this, similar to how the internet provided a new way to look at communication.

I talk with Paul from Bitkiwi, who organise New Zealand's premiere bitcoin events. In this episode we talk about how children and young people learn about and interact with money, and how these early experiences can shape their world-view and their understanding of value.

I talk with Roberto Osegueda, a Salvadorian living here in New Zealand. We talk about Roberto's experience growing up in El Salvador among the backdrop of the civil war and gang violence, and how the country has managed to massively change its image over the last few years for the better. El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021 and Roberto shares a very

I talk with Glen Herud, the founder of Happy Cow Milk Company. Glen is focussed on decentralised dairy farming, where individual farmers are able to process and pasteurise their milk themselves using Glen's hardware specs, and connect in with a platform for supply and distribution of dairy products directly to businesses and consumers.

I talk with Paul from Bitkiwi who are organising NZ’s premiere Bitcoin events. We reflect on the most recent Bitkiwi event that was held in Wellington earlier in February. The next event will be held in Christchurch on March 25th from 2pm at the Bealey Quarter, 263 Bealey Avenue, Christchurch.

A down-to-earth and impromptu catchup with HG, a local Bitcoiner from Christchurch who flew up to be at the Bitkiwi meetup in Wellington recently. We discuss Bitcoin in NZ, local initiatives, and who we think is the one kiwi we would like to see get orange pilled!

I talk with Konrad Hurren, a New Zealand Economist. We cover a lot of topics, looking at Austrian economics and how it can be considered in a New Zealand context, the challenges and inherent biases with trying to measure an economy with things like GDP and CPI, and the difference between the science and practice of economics.

I talk with Hanoz Bilia, the founder of The Altruist, a new Bitcoin education and community space based in the Auckland CBD. The Altruist is NZ's first dedicated Bitcoin space and is a great project helping connect Bitcoiners and people interested about Bitcoin in real life! We discuss Hanoz's motivation to start the space, the importance of providing resources for people to learn and

I talk with Bitkiwi Paul about my new year's resolution to use more cash and how Bitcoiners might align with it in an increasingly cashless world where surveillance and tracking is normalised.

I talk with Dr. Simon Collins, founder of Stackr, a sustainable Bitcoin mining company based in New Zealand. We talk about NZ's unique renewable energy mix, the importance of miner collaboration, and future opportunities to integrate Bitcoin mining with industrial heat processes.

I talk with SJF, a Sound Artist based in the U.K. We explore questions about privacy and the panopticon of surveillance as we move on from the chaos of 2022, and how Bitcoin's Proof of Work ethos can help inspire and enable creative endeavours.

I talk with Rob Clarkson, a Bitcoin Educator and Merchant Adoption Facilitator based in Queenstown, New Zealand. We talk about Rob's work running workshops, helping people get their first sats and even buying their first coffee with Bitcoin. We also discuss merchant adoption and what the opportunities are for this in New Zealand.