The Bitcoin Way Podcast
Self-custody, education, and interviews with Bitcoin builders.
Recent episodes
Iran Demands BITCOIN for Hormuz Safe Passage
- Iran's Bitcoin adoption signals geopolitical shift: Iran's launch of Hormuz Safe, a Bitcoin-backed insurance product reportedly generating $10+ billion in revenue, demonstrates how sanctioned nations bypass the weaponized dollar system through Bitcoin adoption. Speakers predict other countries (Russia, India) will follow. - U.S. CBDC development continues covertly: Former CFTC chair Timothy Massad revealed the U.S. is exploring CBDCs behind closed doors despite Trump's public opposition, potentially through Bank for International Settlements coordination. Stablecoins may serve as a "Trojan CBDC" pathway. - South Carolina bans CBDCs but skepticism remains: While South Carolina passed legislation protecting self-custody and banning CBDCs, hosts question its practical effectiveness given federal commerce dominance and government ability to redefine terms like "self-custody." - Australia's crypto travel rule intensifies surveillance: Effective July 1st, Australians must identify ownership of self-custody wallets when moving crypto off exchanges. The requirement creates data concentration risks, with information held for seven years and potentially shared across government agencies and subject to data breaches. - Inflation significantly understated: CPI projects 5% inflation, but commodity prices tell a different story—coal, diesel, gasoline, and heating oil up 11–97% since the Iran conflict began. Real cost-of-living increases likely double-digit or higher. - FBI sting operation exposes market maker scams: The FBI created a fake Ethereum token to catch market makers engaging in pump-and-dump schemes and fake liquidity generation, resulting in arrests. Retail investors in the token face losses with no refund mechanism.
Why The Google Quantum Narrative is a Myth | Jimmy Song
- Multiple Bitcoin implementations needed — Song argues Bitcoin development should move away from a mono-implementation model (where Core dominates 90% of nodes) toward competing, well-maintained implementations that serve different constituencies (merchants, miners, exchanges, plebs). This allows users to "vote with their feet" rather than being forced into controversial changes. - Core development process lacks user feedback — The OP_RETURN change to 80 bytes and other decisions were made without genuine consensus, driving users to Knots as a protest vote. Song contends that in a mono-implementation world, developers must listen to users; in a multi-implementation world, user choice becomes the feedback mechanism. - Production Ready as non-profit incubator — Production Ready (a 501c3) aims to fund conservative Bitcoin implementations that prioritize sound money properties and reject changes without consensus (e.g., keeping OP_RETURN at 80 bytes, excluding BIP 110 until consensus exists). It is not an implementation itself but an organization funding development. - Quantum computing threat is vastly overstated — Song argues quantum remains theoretical and faces severe engineering barriers. No quantum computer has factored the number 6 without cheating; decoherence limits gate operations. Hype is driven by rent-seeking incentives in quantum labs rather than credible progress. Real innovation typically comes from engineers, not hyped research. - BIP 361 (Satoshi coin freeze) based on poor economics — Freezing pay-to-pubkey outputs to prevent hypothetical quantum theft of Satoshi's coins assumes price crash if they enter circulation. Song argues private buyers, delayed sales, and resolution of supply uncertainty could actually cause a bull run—citing the 2013 Silk Road shutdown as precedent. - Bitcoin is Christian money — Song's closing unpopular opinion, framing Bitcoin through Christian values of sound money and decentralization.
Hantavirus Hype is Bullish For Bitcoin | Bitcoin Banter
- Government distraction narratives: Hosts discuss Hantavirus as a potential pretext for monetary expansion, comparing it to COVID-19 rhetoric and suggesting governments use crises to justify currency debasement. - Trump's proposed Golden Dome: A $1.2 trillion space-based and ground-based missile defense system proposal; hosts view it as wasteful spending and symptomatic of fiscal dysfunction. - Indian Prime Minister's gold-buying warnings: Modi urging citizens to avoid gold purchases and international travel to preserve foreign exchange reserves for energy imports; framed as a currency crisis signal. - Age verification circumvention: UK children bypassing facial recognition age checks with fake facial hair; hosts celebrate human ingenuity in defeating regulatory overreach. - French ID agency breach by 15-year-old: A teenager allegedly hacked France's ID database and attempted to sell citizen data on the dark web, exposing risks of centralized personal data collection. - Bitcoin ordinals and spam: Leonidas (Hort.io founder) shut down operations after threatening a spam attack over BIP110; presented as "Donkey of the Week" for poor execution and misunderstanding Bitcoin's purpose.
The EU Just Declared WAR on Your Wealth!
- European Commission released research on wealth taxes, inheritance taxes, and exit taxes designed to extract more revenue from citizens without triggering mass emigration. - Netherlands moving forward with unrealized gains tax (Box 3 accrual tax) beginning January 2028, taxing asset appreciation before sale—a departure from traditional capital gains taxation. - U.S. national debt has exceeded GDP for the first time since World War Two, signaling critical fiscal deterioration and historical precedent for system collapse. - Michael Saylor stated MicroStrategy may sell Bitcoin to pay shareholder dividends, contradicting his previous "never sell" messaging but arguably demonstrating Bitcoin's utility as money. - Peter Schiff's continued criticism of Bitcoin's $78,000 price dismissed as fundamentally flawed, given his failure to account for perpetual fiat debasement against Bitcoin's fixed 21 million supply cap. - Fort Knox gold audit remains unavailable; suspected impure gold holdings underscore Bitcoin's superior auditability and transparency compared to legacy assets.