Bitcoin Takeover Podcast
by Vlad Costea
Latest episode
S17 E51: Martti Malmi on Iris, NostrVPN and Freedom Tech
S17 E51: Martti Malmi on Iris, NostrVPN and Freedom Tech
About this podcast
Bitcoin Takeover is part oral history, part workshop. Martti Malmi, Satoshi's first collaborator, on Bitcoin in 2009. Casey Rodarmor on the month Ordinals went live. Adam Krellenstein on Counterparty, the token layer that came before everything current. Roger Ver on what the block size wars cost him. Peter Todd and Paul Sztorc on the code fights that split the project. Seven years, 370+ episodes, and one rule that never changed: the guest did something notable, and the host asks the right questions.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 374 episodes
- S17 E51: Martti Malmi on Iris, NostrVPN and Freedom Tech · 1 h 13 min · Season 17 Episode 51Martti Malmi returns to Bitcoin Takeover in Amsterdam to talk Iris, NostrVPN, a bear-market Nostr, and the envelope of dollars Satoshi sent him as a student.
- S17 E50: Daira-Emma Hopwood on Zcash at 10, Halo, ZSAs and the Fight Over Grants · 2 h 4 min · Season 17 Episode 50Daira-Emma Hopwood of ZODL at Zcash's 10th anniversary: the ceremony laptop, Halo and the end of trusted setups, Crosslink, the ZCG grant fight, ZSAs, the Orchard bug fixed in 48…
- S17 E49: Kris Nuttycombe on Zcash at Ten, Hard Forks, the Dev Fund & Why Ossification Is Death · 2 h 23 min · Season 17 Episode 49Kris Nuttycombe of ZODL at Zcon7 for Zcash's 10th birthday: hard forks as a superpower, freezing Sprout, NU7, Tachyon, the Dev Fund, mining as arbitrage, testnet forks of…
- S17 E48: Robin Linus in the 1000 BTC Car, Driving to BitDevs Atlanta · 1 h 19 min · Season 17 Episode 48On our way to BitDevs Atlanta, Robin Linus and I are taking a ride in the Toyota Prius that got sold for 1000 BTC in 2013. Once we arrive, we meet Ekrem from Citrea, Christian…
- S17 E47: Tabconf 8 Livestream with Kevin Loaec, Ekrem Bal, Spaces Protocol & The Bitcoin Pivot (Bonus: Peter Todd) · 3 h 40 min · Season 17 Episode 47The second day of TABConf 8, live from Atlanta. Ekrem Bal talks Citrea privacy, Kevin Loaec explains Liana wallet, Spaces Protocol introduces BTC handles, Bitcoin credit unions…
- S17 E46: Livestream from Tabconf 8, Part 1 (feat. Paul Sztorc, Andre Beganski, Alex Lewin, Janusz, Christopher Allen, Will & Michael Tidwell) · 2 h 39 min · Season 17 Episode 46Live from TABConf 8 in Atlanta: Paul Sztorc demos a quantum-resistant soft fork, Christopher Allen on Blockchain Commons, Michael Tidwell on TABConf, plus Andre Beganski, Alex…
- S17 E45: Talking Tari with Naveen Jain, Fox & Marguerite de Courcelle · 2 h 56 min · Season 17 Episode 45After seven years of being in development, Tari finally launched in 2025. Why did it take so long and how many of the initial promises were delivered? Naveen Jain, Mr. Fox &…
- S17 E44: Marc De Mesel on Early Bitcoin Investing & Polygamy · 4 h 27 min · Season 17 Episode 44Marc De Mesel talks about on selling BTC for Bitcoin Cash in 2017, funding BCH devs for years, why BCH failed despite being the best big block version of Bitcoin, what's in his…
- S1 E4 Remastered: Omar Faridi on Bitcoin in Pakistan, Brain Drain & the Case for Moderate Thinking · 1 h 58 min · Season 1 Episode 4The 2019 conversation with fellow crypto journalist colleague Omar Faridi is now remastered: featuring Bitcoin in Pakistan, the Petro scam, brain drain economics, and why nothing…
- S17 E43: Mike Belshe on BitGo, Quantum & Clarity · 2 h 38 min · Season 17 Episode 43BitGo CEO Mike Belshe returns after 20 months to discuss the Clarity Act, BitGo's IPO and retail launch, quantum-resistant wallets, AI code auditing, and what changed since we…
- S17 E42: Bob Summerwill on Ethereum Classic & Bitcoin's Fork Season · 4 h 0 min · Season 17 Episode 42Ethereum Classic veteran Bob Summerwill retells the DAO hack from inside the Foundation, explains why forks are features, and shares advice for Paul Sztorc's ecash launch, plus…
- S1 E3 Remastered: Zack Voell on Bitcoin & Politics · 1 h 35 min · Season 1 Episode 3The January 2019 Zack Voell crossover (he was hosting The Coin Pod) is now remastered: featuring opt-in money, gridlock as a feature, FDR's gold grab, Russia rumors & dating as a…
- S17 E41: Vik Sharma on Radar, Arbiter & Vibe Coding the Future of Cake Wallet · 1 h 23 min · Season 17 Episode 41Vik Sharma is best known as the CEO of Cake Wallet. But lately, he's built two new projects: a Signal fork with BTC tipping called Radar, and a perpetual trading app named…
- S17 E40: Richard Werner & Amir Taaki on Economics, CBDCs & Cypherpunk Tech · 1 h 23 min · Season 17 Episode 40Prof. Richard Werner is one of the best known economists in the world. Amir Taaki is one of the most famous cryptographers and cypherpunks of his generation. Together, they join…
- S1 E2 Remastered: John Carvalho on Bitcoin Politics · 1 h 50 min · Season 1 Episode 2Recorded in January 2019 and published alongside the rest of the Bitcoin Takeover Podcast Season 1 episodes in February 2019, this interview with John Carvalho is one of the…
- S1 E1 Remastered: Donald McIntyre on Bitcoin, The Teachings of Tim May & Nick Szabo, and the History of Money · 2 h 11 min · Season 1 Episode 1Donald Hugh McIntyre passed in 2025, but is remembered as one of the most insightful polymaths... while his blog Etherplan lives on. The episode came out in the first week of…
- S17 E39: Kurt Wuckert Jr. on BSV & Big Block Bitcoin · 3 h 39 min · Season 17 Episode 39Kurt Wuckert Jr. is best known for his work at Gorilla Pool and CoinGeek. In this interview, he explains why BSV formed from BCH, what are the biggest differences between the two…
- S17 E38: Keagan McClelland (Keags) on Lightning Metrics, Covenants, Consensus Politics & Verifying Bitcoin · 2 h 40 min · Season 17 Episode 38Keags co-founded Start9 Labs, worked on Sapio with Jeremy Rubin at Judica during the CTV saga, spent time at Lightning Labs maintaining LND, and is now building BTC Verified, a…
- S17 E37: Paul Sztorc on the eCash Three Stage Launch, Free Coins & 12 Drivechains · 28 min · Season 17 Episode 37Paul Sztorc joins the podcast for the 11th time, to talk about the 3-stage launch schedule for the eCash Bitcoin fork. He also mentions how users can try the drivechains today…
- S17 E36: Yonatan Sompolinsky on Kaspa Covenants, DAGKnight & Coordination Markets · 2 h 44 min · Season 17 Episode 36I met Yonatan Sompolinsky in Romania during his summer holiday, so we decided to do a roadtrip interview about covenants, the state of Kaspa development, why intents are more…
- S17 E35: Vinny Lingham on Bitcoin Post-Maximalism, Scaling Regrets & Saylor's Endgame · 1 h 25 min · Season 17 Episode 35Vinny Lingham is a Bitcoin OG who pioneered gift card payments in 2012 with Gyft, served on the board of the Bitcoin Foundation, spearheaded blockchain identity verification with…
- S17 E34: Cory Klippsten on Bitcoin Cafe, Swan & Big Bitcoin · 1 h 15 min · Season 17 Episode 34Cory Klippsten is the CEO of Swan Bitcoin, the promoter and former adviser of the Sequans BTC treasury, and also a big advocate for bitcoin-only maximalism. In this episode, we…
- S17 E33: Joël Valenzuela on Being Unbanked with Private Digital Cash · 4 h 51 min · Season 17 Episode 33Ever since he first received his first bitcoin in 2013, Joël Valenzuela has been on a quest to use free market electronic cash to pay for everything. Today, he is still unbanked…
- S17 E32: Perry E. Metzger on Bitcoin in 2008, Cypherpunk Culture & AI Optimism · 1 h 53 min · Season 17 Episode 32In October 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper on the Metzdowd cryptography mailing list: where the founder and moderator is Perry E. Metzger! In this…
- S17 E31: Alex Waltz Reveals Bitcoin's First Miner · 4 h 6 min · Season 17 Episode 31Alex Waltz recently launched the ”First Bitcoin Miner” project in order to question whether or not Hal Finney truly was the second mining node on the Bitcoin network. In this…
- S17 E30: Martin Matejka on Firefish, BTC-backed Loans & Bitcoin's Purpose · 1 h 28 min · Season 17 Episode 30Martin Matejka is the CEO of Firefish, a company which offers a platform where BTC holders can connect with fiat borrowers in order to achieve the ”never sell your bitcoin”…
- S17 E29: Grafton Clark on Vibe Coding, Privacy & Bitcoin Culture · 2 h 12 min · Season 17 Episode 29Grafton Clark is best known in the Bitcoin world for his work at Satoshi Labs and Vexl. Recently, upon discovering vibe coding, he became excited about building everything that…
- S17 E28: Josh Swihart on Zcash & ZODL · 1 h 54 min · Season 17 Episode 28Josh Swihart is the founder of ZODL: the Zcash Open Development Lab. Basically a for profit reincarnation of the old Electric Coin Company, which inherited the dev teams and…
- S17 E27: Kieran Mesquka on Railgun & Building Privacy · 1 h 42 min · Season 17 Episode 27Kieran Mesquka is a contributor to privacy projects, best known for his work on Railgun for Ethereum. He is also an advocate for freedom-maximizing technologies and a connoisseur…
- S17 E26: Steve Thurmond, Calin Culianu & The Phenomenal Big Blockers · 8 h 14 min · Season 17 Episode 26Almost 9 years since the big split of the Bitcoin community, it's time to learn more about how the Bitcoin Cash chain developed. Calin Culianu, Steve Thurmond & an entire roster…
- S17 E25: Milan De Reede on Nano GPT, AI & Vibe Coding · 1 h 24 min · Season 17 Episode 25Milan De Reede is the co-founder of Nano GPT: a service that allows you to access all the premium (as well as free) AI models from the same interface, as you pay with bitcoin. In…
- S17 E24: Zach Herbert on AI & Hardware Wallets · 2 h 36 min · Season 17 Episode 24Zach Herbert is the CEO of Foundation, the company that recently shipped the Passport Prime hardware wallet: a device that's focused on being the all-in-one security tool for…
- S17 E23: Hunter Beast & Mark Karpelès on Bitcoin's Quantum Upgrade · 1 h 4 min · Season 17 Episode 23Hunter Beast is the author of BIP360, the most popular proposal to add quantum resistant signatures to Bitcoin. Mark Karpelès is the former CEO of Mt. Gox and the creator of…
- S17 E22: Jeremy Rubin on CTV, Char & Building on Bitcoin · 1 h 23 min · Season 17 Episode 22Jeremy Rubin is the author of BIP 119 (OP_CTV) and co-author of BIP 348 (CSFS). In this episode, he talks about the challenges he faces as a Bitcoin builder, why he never stops &…
- S17 E21: Paul Sztorc Hard Forks Bitcoin to Launch Ecash with Drivechains! · 2 h 7 min · Season 17 Episode 21Ecash launches at block height 964000, in August 2026. The mastermind behind it is Paul Sztorc, the Drivechain proponent who recently got fed up with Bitcoin Core and is now…
- S17 E20: Talking Privacy with Amir Taaki, Harry Halpin & Christopher Cialone · 2 h 42 min · Season 17 Episode 20Privacy in the era of AI surveillance is quite a challenge: both technically and legally. Nym CEO Harry Halpin, DarkFi mastermind Amir Taaki, and Tornado Cash supporter…
- S17 E19: Deadalnix (Amaury Séchet) on Forking Bitcoin & Ecash · 4 h 29 min · Season 17 Episode 19Amaury Séchet is the developer who created Bitcoin Cash in August 2017 and Ecash (XEC) in 2020. In this episode, he reflects on his decision to break away from Bitcoin and…
- S17 E18: Dr. K (Karl Kreder) on Quai & Scaling Proof of Work · 3 h 46 min · Season 17 Episode 18Karl Kreder, better known as Dr. K, is the architect of the Quai network: a layered blockchain stack which maximizes the power of proof of work to enable high transaction…
- S17 E17: Lukas Hozda on BIP110, Bitcoin & Rust · 1 h 38 min · Season 17 Episode 17Lukas Hozda is the incumbent genius at Braiins mining: the Jack of all trades who's been with the company since he finished high school and can get assigned to any project. He…
- S17 E16: Summer Meng on Bitmars & Selling Bitcoin ASIC Miners · 1 h 3 min · Season 17 Episode 16Summer Meng is the CEO of Bitmars: the largest distributor of Bitmain ASIC miners in Europe and North America. Often described as the ”ASIC Queen”, she is the person to contact…
- S17 E15: OPNET Smart Contracts on Bitcoin L1 with Danny & Chad · 1 h 46 min · Season 17 Episode 15Chad Masterson & Charlie Plainview are the co-founders of OPNET: a protocol that brings smart contracts, DeFi & stablecoins to Bitcoin's base layer. No tokens, wrappers, or…
- S17 E14: Kristian Csepcsar on Braiins & The History of Bitcoin Mining · 1 h 42 min · Season 17 Episode 14Kristian Csepcsar is the Chief Propaganda Officer at Braiins: the first Bitcoin mining pool and also the oldest Bitcoin company in existence. In this episode, he talks about the…
- S17 E13: Charlie Spears on Blockspace, Bitcoin Culture & OP_NEXT · 2 h 3 min · Season 17 Episode 13Charlie Spears is the co-founder of Blockspace Media and a long-time bitcoiner who's been organizing local meetups for longer than a decade. In this episode, we talk about the…
- S17 E12: Ray Youssef on Fighting for the Global South · 2 h 14 min · Season 17 Episode 12Recently, NoOnes founder and now-former CEO Ray Youssef got arrested in Mexico and was sent to the US for trial. His crime? Trying to bring financial freedom to the global south…
- S17 E11: John Carvalho on Bitcoin Depression, Bitkit & Pubky · 3 h 6 min · Season 17 Episode 11John Carvalho is the CEO of Synonym: the company behind the Bitkit wallet and the Pubky social tagging protocol. In this episode, he talks about the progress he's made with his…
- S17 E10: Mark Karpelès on Mt. Gox, 79956 Bitcoins & Chief P*ssy · 2 h 30 min · Season 17 Episode 10Mark Karpelès is the former CEO of Mt. Gox, the defunct Bitcoin exchange. Recently, he requested the Bitcoin community to hard fork the chain in order to recover 79956 BTC that…
- S17 E9: Cameron Robertson on Burner & Bitcoin in 2010 · 1 h 56 min · Season 17 Episode 9Cameron Robertson first discovered Bitcoin in 2009, after reading a post on hacker website Slashdot. About a year later, he started mining and mingling with other Bitcoin…
- S17 E8: Riccardo Spagni on Bitcoin, Monero & Privacy · 2 h 4 min · Season 17 Episode 8Between 2014 and 2019, Riccardo Spagni (aka Fluffy Pony) led the development and engineering efforts of the Monero privacy. But he's also been a prominent bitcoiner since 2011…
- S17 E7: Colin Harper on Bitcoin Mining, Epstein E-mails & Journalism · 1 h 21 min · Season 17 Episode 7Colin Harper is a veteran journalist who has been writing Bitcoin-related articles since 2017. Currently, he co-hosts the Blockspace Podcast and specializes in topics related to…
- S17 E6: Vik Sharma on Ending Wars Among Privacy Coins · 1 h 48 min · Season 17 Episode 6Cake Wallet is now the Swiss Army knife for privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies — a description that should be an oxymoron. CEO Vik Sharma joins the show in order to explain how…
