The Kevin Rooke Show

Dhruv Bansal is a physicist, entrepreneur, and the co-founder of Unchained Capital. In our conversation we explored the idea of scaling Bitcoin in layers, the importance of distributed markets on Bitcoin, Lightning, and beyond, and we touched Nostr, Tor, Ordinals and frameworks for understanding Bitcoin. → The Bitcoin Stack Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlV5_udJkC0 → Unchained Capi...

Nicholas Gregory is the CEO of CommerceBlock, the company using Statechains to power their product Mercury Wallet. In our conversation, Nick explained the concept and utility of statechains, Mercury Wallet’s upcoming Lightning integration, and we also discussed LSPs and Bitcoin transaction fees. → Mercury Wallet: https://mercurywallet.com/ Sponsors → Voltage: https://stacksats.how/voltage → Stakwo...

Morgen Rochard is the founder of Origin Wealth Advisers, a CFA, CFP, and a well-known Bitcoin advocate. In our conversation, we spoke about the challenge of preserving one’s wealth on a fiat standard, the things Bitcoin does and does not fix, and regulations and tax implications of Bitcoin and Lightning Network payments. As always, the best way you can support this show is by sending in sats over...

Paul Sztorc is the Founder and CEO of Layer 2 Labs, as well as the author of BIP 300 and 301 and a Drivechain advocate. In our conversation, we explored Drivechain history, the pros and cons of sidechains on Bitcoin, and the work Paul is doing at Layer Two Labs to help scale Bitcoin. → Drivechain: https://www.drivechain.info/ → Layer Two Labs: https://layertwolabs.com/ Sponsors → Voltage: https://...

John Carvalho is the CEO of Synonym, a company working on a number of Bitcoin and identity products and protocols including their Bitkit wallet, their Blocktank LSP, their Slashtags protocol, and their collaboration with Holepunch on Pear Credit. In our conversation we talked about the business case for building an LSP, the unique features of Bitkit, the vision for Pear Credit, and the identity la...

Calle is a Lightning developer who has worked on a handful of Lightning projects, including Lightning Tip Bot, LNBits, and Cashu. In our conversation we talked about the Cambrian explosion of Lightning development happening lately, the importance of open source software, e-cash mints, and we did a deep-dive into the work Calle is doing on LNBits and Cashu today. → LNBits: https://lnbits.com/ → Cas...

Evan Kaloudis is the founder of Zeus, an open-source and self-custodial mobile Lightning wallet. We talked about building Zeus and the new features it offers, the tension between custodial and self-custodial Lightning wallets, and the roadmap and business model for Zeus looking forward. → Zeus: https://zeusln.app/ Sponsors → Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinrooke&utm_medium=Youtu...

Ben Carman is a Lightning privacy researcher, working on a handful of Lightning projects including Mutiny Wallet, The Bitcoin Company, and Vortex. We talked about the state of Lightning Network privacy, the challenge of improving one’s privacy, and the work Ben is doing to bring Lightning wallets directly to your browser with Mutiny. → Mutiny Wallet: https://mutinywallet.com/ → Lightning Privacy R...

Will Reeves is the CEO and co-founder of Fold, a platform that helps users earn Bitcoin rewards whenever they shop or use the Fold app. We talked about the challenge of building a resilient Bitcoin business in all kinds of market conditions, Fold’s strategy of giving away hundreds of Bitcoin to users, and the ways in which the Lightning Network needs to differentiate itself from other payment plat...

Caitlin Long is a Wall Street veteran, and the Founder and CEO of Custodia, a platform for digital asset banking, custody, and payments. We had a wide-ranging conversation examining how banks might interact with Bitcoin in the future, the importance of stablecoins, Lightning adoption, and much more. → Custodia: https://custodiabank.com/ Sponsors → Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinroo...

Ben Price is the co-founder and CEO of The Bitcoin Company (TBC), an app that allows anyone to earn Bitcoin for all their shopping. In our conversation, we discussed how TBC’s app works, the challenge of disrupting credit card and loyalty point networks all over the world, the importance of the Lightning Network, and the work Ben is doing on OpenSats. → The Bitcoin Company: https://thebitcoincompa...

Albert Buu is the founder of NeutronPay, a company building a Lightning-powered API and mobile app for moving money around the world. In our conversation, we discussed NeutronPay’s product and vision for their API, why they’ve decided to initially focus on the Vietnam market, and the adoption and addressable opportunity for Lightning remittances. → NeutronPay: https://neutronpay.com/ Sponsors → Vo...

Alex Busarov is the founder of Heatbit, a company building an electric heater that mines Bitcoin. In our conversation, we discussed how the Heatbit heater works, whether this home heating use case can introduce new people to Bitcoin mining, when Heatbit plans to integrate Lightning Network payouts, as well as the vision and roadmap for the company. → Heatbit: https://www.heatbit.com/ Sponsors → Vo...

Azz is the 16 year old founder of Valera, a company uniting hardware and software to bring Lightning payments to billions of people around the world. In our conversation, we discussed Indra, Valera’s Lightning node runtime for enabling near-zero cost Lightning nodes, we discussed the concept of connecting cold keys and wearable devices to your Lightning node, and we explored the idea of integratin...

Alex Adelman is the CEO & co-founder of Lolli, a Bitcoin-back rewards platform that has helped over 600,000 people stack sats while shopping. We had a wide-ranging conversation that covered Lolli’s aim to increase Bitcoin adoption, why Lolli has chosen not to integrate the Lightning Network yet, and why Alex believes smart contracts on Bitcoin are a big net positive for the ecosystem. → Lolli:...

Bastien Teinturier is the VP of Engineering at ACINQ, the team behind the Eclair Lightning implementation and the Phoenix mobile wallet. We spoke about collaboration and competition between Lightning implementations, the task of building Eclair and Phoenix, as well as a discussion about Lightning business models and Lightning adoption. → ACINQ: https://acinq.co/ Sponsors → Voltage: https://voltage...

Austin Mitchell is the co-founder and CEO of Synota, a platform providing instant payments for energy generators, distributors, and consumers by leveraging Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. In our conversation we discussed the complexity of the energy value chain, the risks associated with the cash lags that energy companies are exposed to, and we discussed how Synota’s technology will reduce risks and...

Julian Fahrer is the co-founder and CEO of Apollo, a platform for discovering and writing reviews of your favorite products, where quality reviews are rewarded with Bitcoin. In our conversation we grappled with the ideas that information should be free but time should not, we explored the issues with review platforms today, and we talked about how Lightning Network payments can help Apollo generat...

Marco Argentieri is the co-founder of Fuji Money, a non-custodial platform for issuing Bitcoin-backed stablecoins and synthetic assets using the Lightning Network and Bitcoin’s Liquid sidechain. In our conversation we discussed how Fuji works, the concept of over-collateralized lending, and why Fuji is building on Lightning and Liquid. → Fuji Money: https://fuji.money/ Sponsors → Voltage: https://...

Sam Wouters is a Bitcoin Research Analyst at River, where he has recently put together an in-depth report on River’s Lightning Nodes. In our conversation we discussed Sam’s findings from studying the payments flowing through River’s node, River’s API service, and the future of payments on the Lightning Network. → River’s Lightning Report: https://river.com/learn/files/river-lightning-report.pdf Sp...

Chase Perkins is the founder of Impervious, a Lightning-powered, P2P internet browser that recently launched their alpha version. In our conversation we discussed censorship and privacy on the internet today, we explored how Impervious works, the importance of peer-to-peer communication, decentralized identifiers, and the Lightning Network. → Impervious: https://www.impervious.ai/ Sponsors → Volta...

John Light is a Bitcoin researcher who recently published a paper exploring how Validity Rollups might work on Bitcoin. In our conversation, we first explored what zero-knowledge proofs and rollups are, we discussed the different ways in which rollups could be implemented, the risks and rewards to implementing rollups on Bitcoin, and the ways in which rollups and the Lightning Network could be com...

Johns Beharry is a Bitcoin designer building a platform for Lightning builders called Bolt. Fun. In our conversation, we explored the importance of design in Bitcoin, the state of the Bitcoin builder ecosystem, and the Legends of Lightning tournament being hosted by Bolt. Fun to get more builders working on Lightning to accelerate global Bitcoin adoption. → Bolt. Fun: https://makers.bolt.fun → Leg...

James Andrew is the CEO & Technical Director of Global Liquidity, the company building a product called Lightning Bridge to connect apps like Cash App and Strike with crypto over the Lightning Network. In our discussion, James explained exactly how Lightning Bridge works, why the Lightning Network is the perfect payment rail for currency swaps and transfers, and we discussed Web3, Taro, and mo...

Vijay Boyapati is the author of The Bullish Case for Bitcoin, and one of the brightest Bitcoiners around. In our discussion, Vijay explained his thesis on the evolution of money, we explored where Bitcoin is in this four-phase evolution, and specifically covered the role of the Lightning Network and Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. → The Bullish Case for Bitcoin: https://www.bullishcaseforbitcoin....