Humans Of Bitcoin

Meet XDite. Taiwan's world class Ruby On Rails Hacker, founder of the world's largest online coding camp & the power behind crypto exchange OTCBTC. Prior to the exchange, she started ico.info, an ICO Kickstarter that raised 200M in 2 months until it was shutdown by the government. A self taught Bitcoin millionaire, this superwoman is unstoppable.  Check out her announcement to run for mayor of Taipei here

This week’s guest is a 6th grader from Wellesley, Massachusetts and the author of recently released book called The Early Bird Gets the Bitcoin: The Ultimate Guide to Everything About Bitcoin. We chat with Andrew about what it’s like to become and expert in something so complex at such a young age, the reception of the book at his school, and we even nerd out about who we really think Satoshi Nakamoto was/is. Andrew also gives advice on how to tackle learning new things that may be intimidating at first, and what he sees as the most exciting new technologies out there. Guest: Andrew Courey Host: Cady Voge Produced by: Matt Aaron and Cady Voge

The full interview from Juan Pinto, a Venezuelan miner, recently featured in WIRED Magazine, about using cryptocurrency to survive in Venezuela’s crippling economy. Life is not easy in Venezuela. Hyperinflation has resulted in Venezuela’s currency losing 98% of its value against the US dollar. The value of people’s life savings is disintegrating, the minimum wage is worth roughly $5, and many people are even rummaging through the trash for food. Juan and so many other Venezuelans are turning to mining, trading, and investing in cryptocurrencies as a way to avoid restrictions on holding foreign currencies and a way to survive. Juan even started a business to help people in Venezuela support entire families on the income from just one mining computer. Bitcoin may be volatile, but in Venezuela it’s much more stable than their alternative, and Juan sees the spread of cryptocurrency as the one positive outcome of the crisis. Our guest this week does an excellent job of explaining what life is really like on the gr

This week our guest is Lyn Ulbricht, the activist-mother to Ross Ulbricht. Ross was the founder of the famous Silk Road platform, a site on the Dark Web known best as a marketplace where you could buy and sell drugs using bitcoin. The Silk Road website had a massive impact on the rise of bitcoin because it was one of the first places where it was tested and used as a real currency. Lyn discusses how her life has changed since the day Ross was arrested, how she keeps fighting, where the case stands now, and her theory about how the government is more scared of bitcoin than drugs. Check it out! Guest - Lyn Ulbricht of freeross.org Host - Cady Voge Producers Matt Aaron, Cady Voge, Laurie Rice, Claire Woodcock

This week we talk to Swedish entrepreneur, Sergej Kotliar about his belief that people should be able to pay for just about anything with bitcoin and how he’s working to make that happen. His company, BitRefill, allows people in 163 countries to top up their prepaid phone balances using bitcoin. 70% of the world uses prepaid phones rather than paying a monthly flat rate plan! That’s huge. We chat about why phone technology might be a good avenue for popularizing the use of bitcoin as money, and how someone (me?) should start a podcast all about either awkward silences and/or gambling! Check it out! Learn more about Sergej’s company here: www.bitrefill.com Producers: Cady Voge Matt Aaron Host: Cady Voge

This week we explore the topic of crypto-art with artist Nanu Berks. Nanu used to be completely disinterested in money and just wanted to make art, now she’s spreading the message of cryptocurrency through murals, paintings, virtual reality galleries and five-senses installations. She tells us about living in the jungle, traveling all over South and Central America, and how she first discovered bitcoin. Learn about her art, how she pays the rent, and how viewers experience her five-senses exhibitions. To learn more about her work: http://nanuberks.com/ Host: Cady Voge Producers: Matt Aaron + Cady Voge   Check out the rest of the Bitcoin.com podcasts at www.bitcoin.com/podcast

This week we explore bitcoin and blockchain solutions to sending money across borders. We talk to Luis Buenaventura, a Filipino entrepreneur, and Hugo Cuevas Mohr, a strategy consultant for the money transfer industry. 2 billion people in the world are un-banked - How can bitcoin help serve these people in ways that traditional financial institutions have failed them? To check out Luis’ illustrations, take a look at Coindesk’s 10 Most Influential in Blockchain in 2017 Host: Cady Voge Guests: Luis Buenaventura and Hugo Cuevas Mohr Producers: Matt Aaron and Cady Voge

Sterlin Lujan had been working for Walmart for 10 years and was trying to finish up his Bachelor’s degree when he was arrested for possession of 500 pills of MDMA and 26 grams of cocaine. Now he travels the world talking about bitcoin and anarchism.   Host: Cady Voge Guest: Sterlin Lujan, Communications Ambassador at Bitcoin.com Producers: Matt Aaron and Cady Voge