The Charlie Shrem Show

Once a year there is a festival where people can truly be free from the oppression of government. This episode my guest George Mandrik shares how he made a living at the Porcupine Festival selling Baklava. Back in 2012 the Porcupine festival with guns, drugs, and wild parties I met George Mandrik and offered him a job with my company BitInstant. George Mandrik shares his work life with me at BitIn...

We all know what the 3 properties of money are, but did you know there is a 4th property of money? Andreas M. Antonopoulos has been a Bitcoin champion since the beginning. In this episode of Untold Stories, Andreas explains what the 4th property of money is and how Bitcoin defeats it. In doing so, the IRS decided to make Bitcoin unusable for retail transactions. Andreas shares how States in the US...

Crypto trading has changed a lot since the beginning. Anyone who joins an exchange today really can’t appreciate how much trading Bitcoin back in the day was like the wild, wild west; full of scams and Ponzi schemes. In this episode, my guest Bitfinex CTO, Paolo Ardoino shares with me the innovations he’s used to improve the Bitfinex platform and prevent hacking. After the Bitfinex hack, I found t...

Have you ever wondered what measures exchanges take to prevent or stop hacking? In this episode, my close friend Konstantin Gladych founder of Changelly & CEO of AtomicWallet gives us insights on what goes on behind the scenes when an exchange gets hacked. He talks about his decision to leave Changelly and create AtomicWallet and why AtomicWallet starts with an A. Kona explains why he has a Love/H...

Do you feel like it’s too late to get into crypto? In this episode financial guru Kris Marszalek shares how he worked with Visa card from the financial technology sector in 2016 to bring fungibility to crypto currencies. I share my mistakes in trying to do the same in 2013. Starting in Hong Kong, Kris Marszalik talks about the phenomenal growth of crypto.com and the deep data insights user transac...

Going to federal prison was one of the toughest things I’ve ever done. Fortunately, my guest on this episode, Michael Kimelman, had already experienced it and was able to give me sound advice. We both discuss the path that led us to prison and our different strategies of fighting through trial vs. admitting guilt. Michael exposes the corruption in the federal court system and how he was targeted b...

In this episode Vinny Lingham gives an outline of how Bitcoin could collapse the world economy and be banned forever. As the founder of Gyft, he shares how allowing gift card purchases using Bitcoin gave him deep metrics and insights into the usage and movements of Bitcoin. Charlie and Vinny discuss how Vinny’s creation of Civic Coin affects privacy and what’s the difference between privacy and an...

Have you met someone who has fundamentally changed your worldview? In this episode of Untold Stories, Charlie Shrem talks with Erik Voorhees, who was the poster boy for bitcoinism before he launched Shapeshift. With a goal to change the financial system of the world, Erik knows that bitcoin is going to take over the world... and when it does, the federal reserve is going away. However, Erik also k...

Satoshi may have invented Bitcoin, but it was trailblazer and BnkToTheFuture Founder Simon Dixon who laid the groundwork for crypto-innovators to raise capital in the emerging space. But Simon isn’t doing battle with the traditional banking system as much as he is helping to create a way around it to a better monetary future. Early on, he saw clearly how Bitcoin could solve the problems he was, at...

Join Charlie and BitPay Founder and CEO Stephen Pair, who gave up a brilliant career with IBM to found BitPay, the oldest crypto payment company. They share their unique perspectives on Satoshi, the gorgeous simplicity of the white paper and how it gave rise to Bitcoin, using existing technology and coding language. They tackle the role of banks in crypto and the pros and cons of mining Bitcoin ve...

Join Charlie and eToro CEO Yoni Assia, who at 25, founded the company that leveled the playing field for investors, eliminating the need for middlemen and giving regular people the tools to grow wealth. Yoni has an idea and a vision for a new future of wealth in which blockchain and a crypto-backed universal basic income play a role. He is an oracle on the topic of global wealth and income, having...

Few Crypto OGs have the chops of Charlie Lee. He founded Litecoin and spent his early career at Google and Coinbase. These days, he spreads the gospel of Litecoin through the Litecoin Foundation and is a respected voice on Crypto Twitter. -----This episode of Untold Stories is sponsored by Scott Offord, a broker of ASIC mining gear and the creator of CryptoMining . You can find him on twitter @off...

Bobby Lee, Genuine Bitcoin OG and Founder of Bitcoin China Introduces Ballet Wallet, the first non-electric wallet for the tech novices to geeks. He talks to Charlie about its unique features and functionality as well as diving into China’s unique and evolving relationship with Bitcoin. -----This episode of Untold Stories is sponsored by Scott Offord, a broker of ASIC mining gear and the creator o...

Rajeev Chandrasekhar is a member of the Indian Parliament and a billionaire. Five years into helping retool the Indian government, Rajeev talks about how technology is changing life in India and the world, including: How the crypto revolution is well underway, parallels between the 1980s early internet and early crypto, dealing with “anti-innovators,” the benefits of self-regulation before governm...

Charlie and Blockstream’s Samson Mow discuss Bitcoin surviving China’s attempts to stifle it and the quirkiness of the crypto space, including:The Bitcoin Deep StateFees and Network SecurityTroll Armies and Why There’s Not One for Bitcoin Bitcoin Blockchain, Liquid and LightningThe False Narrative Around Bitcoin Energy UseThe Uncalculated Energy Use of Gold and FiatThe Trade Off Between Privacy an...

Fortune Magazine named Amber Baldet a top 40 under 40 for leading JP Morgan’s blockchain program, founding Clovyr and being a leading thinker in the space. Listen in as she and Charlie cover topics like:Her thoughts about ZCash and the ZCash FoundationUnderstanding the spectrum of total centralization to total decentralizationHow blind faith leads to blind spots Why permissioned blockchains don’t...

OpenBazaar founder Brian Hoffman talks about leaving his elite government job to grow a startup but covers some fascinating ground as well as: How he took the good ideas and good tech of Silk Road and DarkMarket to create OpenBazaar, how far ahead government technology is than we know, what it’s like to go from privilege to understanding the wider world, how building large, peer-to-peer networks t...

No one knows the behind-the-scenes crypto stories like Courtney Shrem, Charlie’s wife. Listen in for her unique insights on things like: Watching diversity grow in crypto, how she and Charlie started dating, Courtney’s take on the throw up story, how fast she fell for Charlie, sticking by Charlie through prison and beyond, and tips for long-term relationships (if you can travel together and not wa...

Crypto giant Ian Balina is one generation away from a Ugandan village. Hear how he and his family worked their way from remote village to amazing success on this week’s Untold Stories, along with: How death threats changed his point of view, why you should “burn your ships,” why low self-esteem creates the best salespeople, how taking responsibility and educating yourself is the surest path to fre...

Join Charlie and guest Alena Vranova, Trezor founder, head of strategy for CasaHODL and one of the true innovators in crypto, as they discuss all things crypto, including: How she discovered Bitcoin, her experience of communism’s fall, how mass surveillance culture pushes people to crypto, the birth of the first crypto hardware wallet, the true meaning of updates that will come “in two weeks”, the...

On this week’s Untold Stories, Binance’s CZ sits down with Charlie to talk about his life, leaving China, Binance’s inner workings and his vision for the future evolution of crypto exchanges, including:The founding of binance and the rationale behind itHow crypto-to-crypto trading changed the spaceHow Biance fundamentally changed how exchanges operateWhy CZ’s family had to flee China and how that...

On this week’s Untold Stories, Charlie and ByteFederal CTO Lennart Lopin tackle out-of-this-world topics like:Bitcoin and interplanetary commerceLennart’s life in communist East GermanyHis life as a Buddhist monkBlockchain helping capitalism achieve communism’s dreamByteFederal’s ATMs offering more than just BitcoinThe promise of public blockchainsPrefer to read the interview? Check out the full t...

On this week’s Untold Stories, join Charlie and Casascius Coin Creator Mike Caldwell for a fresh take on topics such as: - The best ways to make Bitcoin understandable to newcomers. - Creating cryptography projects like SwipeClock that solve problems. - What makes some Casascius coins much more valuable than others. - How Casascius Coins are like the Golden Calf in the Bible — in a good way. - Luc...

Listen in on Charlie and NABC founder Mo Levin looking at how crypto challenges the norms to make the space stronger. They discuss:Why crypto types are different from other entrepreneurs. Why being psychologically unemployable is a win. How demographics are shifting in crypto. How some of the idealism is slipping away. The strong web of connection in the crypto community. -----If you enjoyed this...

This week’s Untold Stories delves into MyCrypto.com and coming features with founder Taylor Monahan. We cover a lot of ground on tech, privacy, crypto corporate culture and other topics you won’t want to miss, like:• Taylor’s take no prisoners approach to life• Why your Uber driver might be a CEO• The true measure of success — and failure.• Taylor’s dream job and Charlie’s all time favorite job. -...