What Bitcoin Did

Harry Sudock and Rory Murray from CleanSpark join the show to explain how Bitcoin miners are building entirely new treasury strategy around Bitcoin. Instead of simply mining Bitcoin and selling it for cash, companies like CleanSpark are now borrowing against it, generating yield from it, using it as collateral, and turning their Bitcoin balance sheet into a tool for expansion. We get into why Bitcoin may become the best collateral in global markets, how miners are using treasury strategies like covered calls and basis trades to increase returns, why Bitcoin backed lending markets are rapidly maturing, and how these strategies could completely reshape the way companies manage capital. We also discuss the AI data centre boom, why Bitcoin miners are expanding into AI infrastructure, how Bitcoin and AI are competing for energy, and why the future of Bitcoin mining may actually become more decentralised as AI grows. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CAPE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Harry Sudock: https://x.com/harry_sudock Rory Murray: https://x.com/sprainhill

Jonathan Pollock is Product Lead for Bitkey. In this episode, we get into wrench attacks, why physical coercion is a structural weakness of private key ownership, why seed phrases may be creating more risk than they solve, and why most self custody setups rely too heavily on users never making a mistake. We talk about the trade offs between security, privacy, recovery, inheritance, and ease of use, alongside BitKey’s new hardware update and the company’s plans to build time delayed vaults designed to protect users during violent attacks. We also get into collaborative custody, covenants, insurance, ETFs versus self custody and why permissionless money still matters. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CAPE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Bitkey: https://x.com/Bitkey

“Bitcoin can change the world because the world can’t change Bitcoin.” Jack Mallers is back on the show to break down his vision for 21, Strike, and the next phase of Bitcoin’s monetisation. Jack explains why he doesn’t want to build another pure Bitcoin treasury company or another crypto casino, but a full-stack Bitcoin business: financial services, lending, custody, infrastructure, mining, capital markets, and a balance sheet built around Bitcoin. We get into the proposed acquisition of Strike, Bitcoin-backed lending, proof of reserves, why profitability matters, and why he thinks the best Bitcoin company won’t simply be the one that owns the most Bitcoin. We also discuss where Bitcoin fits in a world moving towards war, inflation, energy shocks, multipolarity, and whether fiat can survive another crisis. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CAPE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Jack Mallers: https://x.com/jackmallers

“If your system can’t survive without inflation, the problem isn’t deflation.” Allen Farrington and Sacha Meyers return to the show to break down one of the most misunderstood ideas in economics: deflation. Allen & Sacha are the authors of Bitcoin is Venice, in this episode they get into their latest essay, Number Go Down, where they challenge the core assumptions behind modern macroeconomics. They argue that the idea inflation is necessary for a healthy economy is not grounded in reality, but in flawed models, bad incentives, and a fundamental misunderstanding of how growth actually happens. We get into why the 2% inflation target is arbitrary, how Keynesian economics confuses credit collapse with true deflation, and why falling prices driven by innovation might actually be the most important signal of a functioning economy. We also explore the paradox of thrift, malinvestment, and why distorted price signals lead to systemic fragility. Allen and Sacha explain why saving is the foundation of real growth, how deflation can drive investment rather than kill it, and why trying to “manage” the economy through measurement and intervention is fundamentally misguided. We also get into debt, why inflation acts as a hidden bailout mechanism, and what a world built on sound money might actually look like. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE CAPE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Allen Farrington: https://x.com/allenf32 Sacha Meyers: https://x.com/sacha_meyers

“Money on the internet is still broken.” David Marcus returns to the show to break down why moving money globally is still slow, fragmented, and expensive and how Bitcoin could fix it. David explains how the current system is built on disconnected networks that extract fees, delay payments, and capture data. His solution is a new kind of global account built on Bitcoin infrastructure that unifies dollars, Bitcoin, and stablecoins into a single system that works instantly across borders. We get into why platforms like Uber and YouTube could become financial hubs, how stablecoins might accelerate Bitcoin adoption, and why open networks tend to beat closed systems. Finally, we discuss the future of AI agents that can hold and move money on your behalf, and what that means for privacy, control, and Bitcoin as the underlying monetary layer. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE CAPE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\\\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny David Marcus: https://x.com/davidmarcus

“There’s a reality here that you guys are all asleep to… we are the only alternative path.” American HODL & Peter McCormack join the show to break down the growing divide across the West, the collapse of trust in institutions, and whether the current political system is already failing. We’re moving from a high trust to a low trust society, where incentives are broken, democracy is increasingly unstable, and the middle ground between left and right is disappearing. As countries like the UK decline economically and culturally, the risk isn’t just stagnation, it’s escalation. We get into whether this leads to conflict or some form of authoritarianism, why freedom is so difficult to sell politically, and whether Bitcoin can realistically act as an alternative system. We also discuss the collapse of the middle class, AI-driven disruption, the role of media in accelerating division, and whether Bitcoin arrives in time or simply becomes a hedge against what comes next. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE CAPE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\\\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny American HODL: https://primal.net/hodl Peter McCormack: https://x.com/PeterMcCormack

“Bitcoin has a chance of losing the energy conversation.” Michael Dunworth joins the show to break down what happens when AI and Bitcoin collide over the world’s most important resource: energy. Michael argues that as AI demand explodes, governments and corporations will prioritise data centres over Bitcoin mining, potentially rationing energy and pushing Bitcoin to the margins. At the same time, AI is set to drive massive job displacement, reshape global infrastructure, and concentrate power into a handful of dominant players. We get into whether this is an existential threat to Bitcoin or a hidden tailwind for decentralisation, how AI could reshape energy markets, why Bitcoin mining might survive as a balancing layer for AI grids, and whether AI itself ultimately chooses Bitcoin as its native money. We also discuss nation state adoption, the risk of governments seizing Bitcoin, the centralisation of custody, and why Bitcoin’s biggest risk right now might be losing focus. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE CAPE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\\\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Michael Dunworth: https://x.com/MichaelDunwort1

“Bitcoin’s values are easy to defend until they become inconvenient.” Rob Hamilton returns to the show to get into Bitcoin as a hero’s journey, and why its next great test may already be here. Rob explains how Bitcoin evolved from a cypherpunk rebellion into an institutional asset, and why that shift is creating a new fault line inside the network. As more Bitcoin moves into ETFs and corporate treasuries, the question is no longer just whether Bitcoin succeeds, but who defines what it is. We get into the debate around quantum computing, whether vulnerable coins should ever be frozen, and why that decision could trigger a chain split. Rob lays out the tension between protecting the network and preserving Bitcoin’s core principles, and why this may become the most important battle since the block size wars. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE CAPE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Rob Hamilton: https://x.com/Rob1Ham

"The days of imperial America as the global hegemon will be drawing to a close." Dr. Jeff Ross returns to the show to break down why the dollar system is ending and what comes next. Jeff argues we're already living through the collapse of the post-war financial order, the petrodollar is dying, oil is being traded in yuan, gold, and Bitcoin for the first time since the 1970s, and the US is entering a new era of yield curve control and structural inflation. We get into his three burners framework, why he thinks we're in World War III, the coming civil unrest from AI-driven job displacement, why Trump and Bessent are pushing stablecoins, and what it all means for Bitcoin. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE CAPE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Jeff Ross on Substack: https://substack.com/@jeffross191961

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE CAPE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Ansel Lindner: https://x.com/AnselLindner

“There's a 50% chance that by 2033, quantum computers can break Bitcoin.” Alex Pruden joins me to explain why the threat may be much closer than most Bitcoiners think, what a real quantum attack on Bitcoin would actually look like, and whether bitcoin developers are doing enough to prepare. We get into the real risk to self custody, exposed public keys, whether Satoshi’s coins could become a target, how a migration to quantum resistant signatures might work, and why this debate could become one of the most important and divisive fights in Bitcoin’s future. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\\\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Alex Pruden: https://x.com/apruden08

“You’ve been deceived your entire life.” Jeff Booth returns to the show to break down Bitcoin, AI, inflation, debt, deflation, and the kind of systemic chaos that could reshape everything people think they know about money. If Jeff is right, we are heading into a period of supply chain shocks, inflation spikes, mass money printing, job destruction from AI, and a brutal repricing of the global economy. In this episode, Jeff explains why the natural state of the free market is deflation, why Bitcoin is the only real path to agency, why trusting digital credit and custodians could end in disaster, and why most people still cannot see the system they are trapped inside. We also get into whether Strategy and the digital credit thesis are dangerous for Bitcoin, why AI changes everything faster than most people realise, and what a true Bitcoin economy might actually look like. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Jeff Booth: https://x.com/JeffBooth

“This is like DEFCON 5. This is a catastrophe.” The debt crisis is already here. Governments are spending far beyond their means, inflation is quietly eating away at living standards, and the only real escape route is more debasement dressed up as growth. Add in an energy shock, AI driven job losses, and rising social unrest, and the question stops being whether the system is breaking. It becomes how long they can keep it going. In this episode, I sit down with Lyn Alden to break down the real state of the global economy. We get into why sovereign debt crises are a slow moving process, why the US has already crossed into a new era of fiscal dominance, and why Lyn believes the Strait of Hormuz is the biggest macro risk in the world right now. We also discuss inflation, war, food and energy shortages, AI replacing white collar work, the path toward UBI, and whether this debt cycle could be the one that finally pushes the fiat system to its limit. Plus, Lyn shares the personal story behind her rise, from homelessness as a child to becoming one of the most respected macro thinkers in the world. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE CAPE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Lyn Alden: https://x.com/LynAldenContact

“We’re subject to monetary domination. We can’t do without money because the vast majority of people have absolutely no say over how money works. That’s an injustice.” In this episode, I sit down with philosopher Bradley Rettler in Bedford to explore two questions that are going to define the future: what AI is doing to human thought, and whether our monetary system is fundamentally unjust. We get into what thinking actually is, whether LLMs are really thinking, and why using AI as a substitute for your own reasoning may make you worse at reasoning for yourself. Bradley explains why this matters, not just for productivity, but for education, moral agency, and the risk that a small number of companies could end up shaping how millions of people think. We then turn to Bradley’s new paper on monetary justice. He breaks down the idea of monetary domination, how the Fed and the commercial banking system concentrate power over money creation, and why that leaves most people trapped inside a system they have no meaningful say over. We also get into where Bitcoin fits into all of this, whether it offers an escape from monetary domination, and why the divide between Bitcoin as freedom money and Bitcoin as digital gold is becoming harder to ignore. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Bradley Rettler: https://x.com/rettlerb

"No innovation will ever change the world more than 2%. Even Bitcoin." Junseth is a Bitcoin OG who's been here since a week after pizza day. He returns to challenge every narrative the tech world is selling you, from AI replacing all jobs to the metaverse that never existed. Junseth makes the case that the future is being imagined by people who think the best state of the world is living in your bedroom and never coming out, and that the rest of us don't have to elect to live in that world. He explains why AI adoption will be far slower than anyone thinks, why the people predicting the end of jobs are still hiring programmers, and why the Gell-Mann amnesia effect means you shouldn't trust any of the expert timelines. We also get into whether Bitcoin has actually done anything yet, why Bitcoin is boring and that's a good thing, the emergence of political factions and BIP 110, whether AI consciousness and belief in God are diametrically opposed, why the agent economy might reshape the internet, and why if you lose your job you should just go start a trash bin cleaning business. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Junseth: https://x.com/verysmallclaims

"If there's going to be printing, it's going to be the hardest printing they've ever done. There isn't another option." Eric Yakes returns to break down the macro landscape as global debt hits historic levels, private credit shows real cracks, and the commodity shift accelerates under geopolitical fracture. Eric explains why the gold rally isn't about one event but a structural inflection point decades in the making, why private credit could be the next financial crisis and how the only path forward likely involves the hardest printing central banks have ever done. We also get into AI's second-order effects on startups and job markets, why the agent economy could be a major bridge to Bitcoin adoption, the death of proprietary software, the quantum narrative versus the actual threat, and why Bitcoin at $70K is deep value. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Eric Yakes: https://x.com/ericyakes

At 5am, Lauren Rodriguez woke to laser sights, a drone flying through her house, and 40 armed federal agents raiding their cottage, all because her husband built a Bitcoin wallet. Keonne Rodriguez co-founded Samurai Wallet in 2015, a non-custodial Bitcoin wallet with privacy features including Whirlpool, their CoinJoin implementation. For nearly a decade, the wallet operated openly on the Google Play Store with no issues. Then on April 24th, 2024, the FBI and IRS launched coordinated raids on the Rodriguez home in Pennsylvania and co-founder Bill Hill's home in Portugal. The charges: conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money service business and conspiracy to money launder. The problem: FinCEN's own guidance stated that non-custodial wallets are not money transmitters. And six months before indictment, prosecutors asked FinCEN directly whether Samurai was a money service business, FinCEN said no. The prosecutors buried that answer, a Brady violation. Lauren walks through the full story; the raid, the discovery process involving 17 terabytes of evidence, the sudden judicial switch from a neutral judge to a former chief of the SDNY criminal division, the five-minute hearing where every defense motion was denied without explanation, and the impossible math of a plea deal versus a 25-year trial exposure with a hostile judge. Keonne is now serving a five-year federal prison sentence. Lauren is fighting for a presidential pardon for both Keonne and Bill. Sign the petition and support their case at BillandKeonne.org. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Lauren Rodriguez: https://x.com/leamuirleyn Sign the Petition & Donate: https://billandkeonne.org/

"5 to 10% is going to cause immense damage. When cash flows stop at the margin, everything collapses because of leverage." Nik Bhatia returns to break down the macro landscape as war in Iran sends oil to $100, the dollar surges, and volatility clouds the outlook. Nik explains why he's wiped the slate clean on his macro thesis, why the US economy may still avoid recession despite the chaos, and how the Genius Act could reshape the global dollar system through stablecoins. We also get into AI job displacement, why treasuries are still the bedrock of global finance, Bitcoin's decoupling signal, and whether the four-year cycle is finally dead. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Nik Bhatia: https://x.com/timevalueofbtc

Is Bitcoin's four-year cycle still intact, and what does that mean for the next six months? In this episode, I sit down with The Rational Root to break down where we are in Bitcoin's cycle, why on-chain data is flashing bear market signals despite Bitcoin holding up through the Iran war, and what the bottom formation could look like from here. We discuss the shift from retail hype to institutional adoption, why OTC buying from ETFs and treasury companies dampened this cycle's price action, how gold and AI stole Bitcoin's mindshare, and whether passive flows from the likes of Saylor could prevent another leg down. Root walks through his key on-chain charts and explains why he thinks there's still a probability of one more drop before Bitcoin starts its next move up. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny The Rational Root: https://x.com/therationalroot

"Our entire financial system will blow up without their factories, without their oil. And they know that. So they can wait." Luke Gromen is a macroeconomic analyst, investor and founder of FFTT. In this episode, we get into whether the Iran war exposed a far bigger geopolitical shift than most people realise, why Luke thinks missiles and drones may have changed global power forever, and what all of this means for oil, markets, Bitcoin and the future of the dollar system. We also get into why Bitcoin held up better than expected during the conflict, why Luke still thinks risk assets face serious danger ahead, and how AI could trigger a major credit event faster than almost anyone expects. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN CLUB ORANGE FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Luke Gromen: https://x.com/LukeGromen