The Coin Bureau Podcast: Crypto Without the Hype

We only scratched the surface of what Ethereum is all about in the last episode, so it’s time to dive deeper. Last week was mostly about the early history of Ethereum and the colourful characters who came together to create it. Before we pick up that thread though, it’s worth taking a look at what Ethereum makes possible.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the cryptocurrency space has been transformed almost beyond recognition thanks to Ethereum. From tokens to NFTs to decentralised finance and more, Ethereum opened up a world of possibilities and established itself as one of the structural pillars of cryptocurrency.

So in this episode, we’ll explore a few of the things Ethereum has pioneered, and how they have grown into fully-fledged sub-sectors of the wider cryptocurrency industry. Then, we’ll carry on looking at the history of the Ethereum project and delve into one of its most challenging episodes. As ever, there’s a lot to discover.

As with the last episode, the two books on Ethereum by Camila Russo and Laura Shin are bith excellent reads and well worth checking out:

The Infinite Machine (2020) by Camila Russo

The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze (2022) by Laura Shin

*Side note: when we talk about gas fees, Guy mentions that they can run into the hundreds of dollars. This is an understatement. Gas fees can run into the thousands and reach some truly eye-watering sums. It’s just that Guy himself is far too penny-pinching to even countenance paying such a price.

We hope you enjoy the show.

Producer for iHeart Media: Noel Brown

Editor: Sam Moult

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week highlights from Coin Bureau’s YouTube channel focus on two critical macroeconomic issues - China and its stance on Taiwan and concerns around global oil prices. Both of these factors will be weighing on any investor’s portfolio in some way.

You’ll almost certainly be aware of the fact that China has long coveted Taiwan and aims to unite the two countries - by force, if necessary. This dispute has rumbled on for decades, but tensions are currently higher than they have been for a long time. As Chinese president Xi Jinping consolidates his absolute power by securing a third term in office - meaning he is effectively president for life if he so chooses - the likelihood that China will make its move is becoming uncomfortably high.

In the first part of today’s episode, we look at some of the main reasons as to why China could be on the brink of invading Taiwan. As US president Joe Biden has repeatedly pledged military support for Taiwan in such an eventuality, the stakes could not be higher for all three countries and the wider world. As we’ll see, there are many reasons why China could be readying for a strike and just as many reasons why such a move would have dire consequences for the world.

Next up, we take a look at why oil prices are also something we should all be concerned about (there’s not much in the way of good news this week, sadly). The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries - OPEC - the powerful international cartel that sets global oil prices, recently decided to cut production by 2 million barrels a day, meaning the price of oil is set to climb. This obviously has serious consequences for the global economy.

There’s also the uncomfortable fact that the US has recently tapped its Strategic Petroleum Reserve - SPR - to make up for the disruption to oil production caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This has helped to combat inflation caused by rising energy costs and insulate Americans from higher prices at the pump. But it also means that the US has decreasing amounts of oil in reserve for an emergency, such as, for instance, a war with China over Taiwan.

So, find a safe spot behind the sofa and have a listen.

We hope you enjoy the show.

Producer for iHeartMedia: Noel Brown

Editor: Semir Mutapcic

Theme music composed by: Noel Brown

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been talking about Bitcoin for a while now, but then there’s a lot to discuss. After the dark days of Mt Gox and the furore surrounding Silk Road, you might think Bitcoin’s difficult days were behind it. As we’ll see in this episode, there was plenty of drama still to come.

As well as bringing Bitcoin’s history up to the present day, we also talk about the wider Bitcoin community and its often conflicting views on the whole project. Nowhere were these differences more pronounced than during the infamous 'blocksize war' which tore the community apart and gave rise to the first hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain.

We also cover some more recent events and milestones in the history of Bitcoin and crypto, bringing us (almost) bang up to date.

Further reading:

The Blocksize War (2021) by Jonathan Bier

Bitcoin Billionaires (2019) by Ben Mezrich

The other podcast mentioned is Peter McCormack's excellent 'What Bitcoin Did' which can be found on all major podcast platforms.

We hope you enjoy the show.

Producer for iHeart Media: Noel Brown

Editor: Sam Moult

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve gone for a bit of a change of pace this week and are bringing you something a little different.

The annual Bitcoin Conference is one of the biggest events in the crypto calendar and this year, as in 2021, it was held in Miami, FL. For those who don’t know, Miami is aiming to position itself as the capital of cryptocurrency and its mayor, Francis Suarez, is one of the most pro-crypto politicians in the United States. As such, it felt only right for us to go and see what all the fuss was about.

So, in this episode, we discuss everything we did, saw and heard on our visit to Bitcoin 2022 in the Magic City. We talk about our impressions of Miami, the conference itself, the people we met there, the talks and discussions we listened to and what all of the above says about the current state of the crypto industry.

It was great to hit the road after such a long period of travel restrictions and it was a trip we won’t forget in a hurry. If you’d like to watch footage of the conference and the events we talked about, then you can visit Bitcoin Magazine’s YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/BitcoinMagazine for some of the highlights.

We hope you enjoy the show.

Producer for iHeart Media: Noel Brown

Editor: Sam Moult

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The story of Bitcoin starts to get a lot spicier! After looking last time at some of the unsung heroes who were so pivotal in Bitcoin’s early days, it’s time to gauge the impact of some rather more controversial characters.

To many, Bitcoin is still synonymous with hacking, scandal and crime - perceptions that are hard to shift. Much of this bad press is down to two ill-fated projects that wereinspired by Bitcoin but ultimately ended up staining its reputation.

So, in this episode, we take a look at the sorry tale of the Mt Gox exchange and the even darker story of the Silk Road marketplace. For a long time, Mt Gox was the place to buy bitcoins and Silk Road was the place to spend them. The rise and fall of both are stories that still haunt the crypto space to this day. Understanding the role both played in the story of Bitcoin - and vice versa - helps make sense of a lot of today’s cryptocurrency landscape.

The stories of Mt Gox and Silk Road are rich in detail, so if you want to dig further into what happened in both cases, the following resources may be of use:

Books:

American Kingpin (2017) by Nick Bilton (all about Ross Ulbricht and Silk Road)

Bitcoin: The Future of Money? (2014) by Dominic Frisby

Digital Gold (2015) by Nathaniel Popper

A great documentary about Mt Gox by Vincent Gonon and Xavier Sayanoff can be found on YouTube at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E-8-oVXV9A

There’s also a short piece from The Guardian on Silk Road here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FknwWMzc96A

We hope you enjoy the show.

Producer for iHeart Media: Noel Brown

Editor: Sam Moult

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.