What is Bitcoin? With Parker Lewis, Robert Breedlove & Vijay Boyapati

WBD265 - What is Bitcoin - Large Banner.png

Where to find the show

Download Episode MP3 File
The file will open in a new window. Click down arrow to download the file.

“Of anything I have ever looked at in my life, I would put Bitcoin as nearest to inevitable as I could.”
— Robert Breedlove

SHOW DESCRIPTION

Location: Squadcast
Date: Tuesday 22nd September
Company: Unchained Capital, Parallax Digital & Independent
Role: Head of Business Development, Founder, Software engineer and Austrian economist

If you ask 100 people what Bitcoin is, you will likely get 100 different answers. Whether it is a medium of exchange, gold 2.0, a hedge against inflation or purely as a speculative asset, all of these answers are valid. 

The decentralised nature of Bitcoin means that it has no owner and no single leader who decides what it is or how to use it. Bitcoin is an entirely personal experience based on the needs of the individual. As such, since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin has had many narratives. 

Championed initially as being a tool for digital commerce, with the advent of the Silk Road and other dark markets it's censorship-resistant property grew in popularity. More recently, Bitcoin is widely considered as gold 2.0 and a must-have asset to protect your wealth against inflation. 

With the absence of a central narrative, infighting is typical in Bitcoin, most notably in 2017 with the contentious Bitcoin Cash fork over what some believed the purpose that Bitcoin should serve. However, central to Bitcoin is its permissionless nature and therefore any Bitcoiner can choose to use it however they wish.

In this interview, I am joined by Parker Lewis, Robert Breedlove and Vijay Boyapati to answer the question: what is Bitcoin? We discuss the use cases, what money is, institutional investors and the path to hyperbitcoinisation.

TIMESTAMPS

00:03:58: Introductions
00:09:18: Cash explained
00:10:42: Bitcoin for commerce
00:18:37: What is money?
00:27:20: Reactions to MicroStrategy's purchase of Bitcoin
00:37:37: Austrian economics
00:39:21: Potential risks of mass adoption of Bitcoin
00:46:39: Thoughts on the end goal for Bitcoin
00:50:19: Problems with the gold standard
00:53:47: The potential for a Bitcoin standard
01:01:52: The road to hyper-bitcoinisation
01:04:49: The hurdles to overcome
01:12:55: The risks involved
01:20:51: What to say to the doubters
01:26:52: Final comments

 

SUPPORT THE SHOW

If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show my doing the following:

If you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.

SPONSORS

 
 
 

SHOW NOTES

PodcastPeter McCormack