The Peter McCormack Show

Maajid Nawaz is a UK-based counter-extremism activist, author and content producer. In this interview, we discuss his membership of a fundamentalist pan-Islam political group, imprisonment in Egypt, and returning to the UK to work on counter-extremism. We also discuss being forced to leave his position as a presenter on LBC. - - - - Maajid Nawaz experienced first-hand the rise of Islamic extremism...

Matthew Mežinskis is the creator of the Crypto Voices podcast and Porkopolis Economics website. In this interview, we discuss the definition of money, the importance of credit and fractional reserve banking, and how "not your keys, not your coins" equally applies to bank deposits. - - - - WBD528, "Everything You Know About the Economy is Wrong with Jeff Snider", was one of our most discussed shows...

Junseth is an OG Bitcoiner and the former co-host of Bitcoin Uncensored. In this interview, we discuss how the early days of Bitcoin mirror the issues we're seeing in the ecosystem today: over leverage, unsustainable returns, greed and excessive confidence that the party won't end. - - - - The contagion in the DeFi market over the past few months has seemed unprecedented. Major companies wiped out...

Paul Sztorc is an independent Bitcoin researcher. In this interview, we discuss drivechains, his 2015 proposal that's the focus of BiP 300 and 301. Drivechains facilitate sidechains on Bitcoin, providing a bridge to new coins. The aim is to enable developer creativity atop Bitcoin. - - - - In October 2014 Adam Back and other prominent Bitcoin developers introduced the concept of sidechains to Bitc...

Jason Maier is a teacher and progressive Bitcoiner. In this interview, we discuss his inspiration for writing a book setting out his case, as a progressive, for Bitcoin. The public narrative and FUD around Bitcoin are antithetical to progressives, yet, its utility is aligned with progressive ideals. - - - - Bitcoin should be a broad church. The original cypherpunks philosophy was predicated on ana...

There is a growing a powerful backlash against Bitcoin mining. In the past 2 months: New York's legislative assembly established a moratorium on mining based on PoW; Dick Durbin, the second highest ranked Democrat in the Senate, tweeted that Bitcoin mining uses "obscene amounts of energy"; the European Central Bank indicated that a ban on PoW is likely by 2025. The problem is that the growing move...

Hyperbitcoinization has long been discussed within Bitcoin circles. To some it is an inevitability, to others, it is a pipedream. Notwithstanding the differences of opinion, it is generally assumed the process requires top-down nation-state actions. In the meantime, adopting, using and living with Bitcoin is a 'side hustle' to the practical reality of having to operate within a fiat economic syste...

David Morris is the Chief Insights Columnist at CoinDesk. In this interview, we discuss the contagion that has ripped through the crypto market, and how it mirrors the worst failings of the 2008 financial crisis. Is regulation required for crypto to protect people from getting rekt? - - - - Over the past few months, the crypto industry has experienced a series of seismic events resulting in yet un...

Lyn Alden is a macroeconomist and investment strategist. In this interview, we discuss the fundamentals of the current global economy: the Eurodollar system, central banks, money printing, debt, inflation and deflation. - - - - WBD528, "Everything You Know About the Economy is Wrong with Jeff Snider", was very popular with listeners. It raised the concept of the global economy being controlled by...

Dan Weintraub is a retired history teacher, author and Bitcoin advocate. In this interview, we discuss how fiat money results in a cycle of increasing consumption to meet our need for stimuli, destroying our neurological systems, and how Bitcoin arrests and reverses this cycle. - - - - Previous societies had been more spiritually centered and had long regarded the roots of materialism (i.e. pride,...

Steven Lubka is Managing Director of Private Client Services at Swan Bitcoin. In this interview, we discuss the true meaning of inflation, the different types of inflation, and why this means Bitcoin is the best hedge against monetary inflation. We also discuss the crazy alchemy of bonds. - - - - Given Bitcoin's fixed monetary policy and increasing scarcity, it has long been promoted as being a re...

Pete Rizzo is the editor of Bitcoin Magazine, and one of Bitcoin's leading journalists. In this interview, we discuss Bitcoin maximalism in terms of how it should be defined and rationalised, the moral lens of maximalists, and maximalism's advantages and limitations. - - - - Following our interview with Udi to discuss Bitcoin Maximalism, we now host another interview on the topic with Pete Rizzo....

Aaron Daniel is an Appellate attorney and author of The Bitcoin Brief, a newsletter analysing Bitcoin's effect on law and society. In this interview, we discuss the legal arguments around making Bitcoin US legal tender, and whether it would actually confer any meaningful benefits. - - - - It is assumed that for Bitcoin to become widely adopted within the US, it would need to be made legal tender....

In this interview, I talk to Jeet Sidhu and we discuss whether the promotion of obviously deficient ESG standards is a signal of a wider societal malaise: decivilisation, overregulation, political incompetence and consistent policy failures. Is human flourishing on the ropes? - - - - Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) is a framework that was established by the UN in coordination...

Udi Wertheimer is an independent developer and consultant, and an active member of Bitcoin's Twitterverse. In this interview, we discuss the evolved status and definition of Bitcoin maximalism, what success for Bitcoin means, and how Bitcoiners should interact with crypto investors. - - - - Nearly 2 years ago I interviewed Udi to discuss Bitcoin, Ethereum and maximalism. He's an important voice as...

Jeff Snider is co-host of the Eurodollar University podcast and Head of Global Research at Atlas Financial Advisors. In this interview, we discuss the fundamentals of money, how the Eurodollar controls the global monetary system, and signals of a deflationary depression. - - - - The common narrative about the global economy is bleak. Money printing by central banks has been out of control. This ne...

Eric Weiss is CEO of the Blockchain Investment Group, and the man who orange-pilled Michael Saylor. In this interview, we discuss the current malaise in the Bitcoin price, why regulation will change this and be good for Bitcoin, and why Bitcoin provides value to all Americans. - - - - As Bitcoin continues to track sideways, with a current sentiment of extreme fear and continued reports of its demi...

Adam Wright is a Co-Founder and CEO of Vespene Energy. In this interview, we discuss using landfill methane to power Bitcoin mining, turning waste into an asset, reducing greenhouse emissions, building decentralised baseload energy facilities, and orange pilling local government. - - - - According to the Environmental Defense Fund, a leading environmental nonprofit organisation, methane has more t...

Gabriel Shipton is a Film Producer & advocate for his brother Julian Assange; Stella Moris is a lawyer & wife to Julian Assange. In this interview, we discuss the unprecedented State assault on Assange's freedom, the effects on his mental & physical well-being, & the threat to journalism. - - - - On March 15th 2006, US forces dropped from helicopters onto the roof of a house in a village north of...

David Zell is a co-founder of the Bitcoin Policy Institute and Director of Policy at BTC Inc. In this interview, we discuss fighting to make congress aware of Bitcoin's social value, the strategic benefits of Bitcoin for the US and how our rights are being erased in a digital world and Bitcoin's defence. - - - - On June 1st a letter in "Support of Responsible Fintech Policy" was sent to Congress....

Andrew Dessler is a Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University. In this interview, we discuss the settled science of climate change, the polarisation of the climate change debate, our need for more energy, and the market inevitability of wind and solar-dominated grids. - - - - In April, WBD interviewed Alex Epstein who stated humans need access to more low-cost energy. Energy enable...

Craig Warmke is a philosopher and fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute. In this interview, we discuss the biases and pressures that distort opinions about Bitcoin, and a framework for enabling objective evaluation of Bitcoin's value and risk to individuals and society. - - - - Bitcoin has proved itself to be the hardest money ever created at a time when the world's monetary systems are under unp...

Lyn Alden is a macroeconomist and investment strategist. In this interview, we discuss the rise and role of Central Banks: their intermittent role in the US's history, the piecemeal erosion of a gold standard, the new era of easy money, and whether Bitcoin could replace Central Banking. - - - - Central Banks have played such a dominant role in our societies it's easy to assume that they are requir...

Seth for Privacy is a privacy advocate and host of the Opt Out Podcast. In this interview, we discuss how financial privacy protects all other rights, the current limitations with Bitcoin's privacy, and Monero's protocol privacy that some Bitcoiners find beneficial. - - - - Most people have slowly acquiesced to the undermining of personal privacy by tech companies. There has been a trade-off: free...

Avik Roy is president of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity think tank and a policy Editor at Forbes. In this interview, we discuss the Lummis Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act, inflation's compounding impact on the poor and why Bitcoin provides optimism. - - - - On June 7th Republican Senator Lummis and Democratic Senator Gillibrand introduced the Responsible Financial...