The Bitcoin Standard Podcast Dr. Saifedean Ammous

In this episode Saifedean talks to Knut Svanholm, author of Bitcoin: Sovereignty through mathematics and Bitcoin: Independence reimagined. They discuss what a “hyperbitcoinized” world might look like, to what extent it might reduce the need for human labor, and how quickly its economy might grow. Both Saifedean and Knut also talk about Austrian School economists Mises, Rothbard and Hoppe, and how key concepts in their writing – such as time preference and scarcity – can be applied to bitcoin. In the Q&A, Knut shares his views on the likelihood of greater sovereignty on the high seas, whether global government control is increasing or decreasing, and why the next big battle within the bitcoin community could be over the design of the satoshi symbol!

Lecture delivered on Sept 17, 2021, to the Property and Freedom Society in Bodrum, Turkey, at the invitation of Professor Hans Hermann Hoppe. In this lecture, Saifedean discusses the relationship between time and preference and hard money. Saifedean argues that the ability to hold a form of money that holds its value into the future reduces the uncertainty surrounding the future, leading to less discounting of the future and thus a lower time preference. The lowering of time preference is what allows for the process of civilization to take place, with increasing capital accumulation, rising productivity, and improving living standards. Drawing on his research into the gold standard, the fiat standard, and the bitcoin standard, Saifedean illustrates several societal and economic trends which illustrate this relationship. 

October 4th 2021.
In this episode Saifedean talks to bitcoin journalist Pete Rizzo about bitcoin maximalism, altcoins and Satoshi. They discuss objectivity in journalism, what constitutes a “neutral” stance on altcoins for journalists, and how bitcoin differentiates itself from other cryptocurrencies through its high degree of decentralization. They also discuss the role that Satoshi and his disappearance had in shaping today's bitcoin, and whether Satoshi was motivated by studying Austrian economics. They also discuss the late Mircea Popescu's underrated role in articulating and demonstrating bitcoin's immutability, resistance to capture, and sovereignty. In the Q&A session, Pete answers questions about potential attack vectors for bitcoin and explains his views on the likelihood of hyperbitcoinization.

In this episode, Saifedean takes questions from regular seminar attendees on bitcoin fungibility, bitcoin price models and central bank digital currencies. The discussion focusses on whether the ability of governments and private analysts to monitor on-chain bitcoin transactions poses a threat to its fungibility, and whether this matters. Saifedean also answers questions on how PlanB’s stock to flow model has so accurately predicted bitcoin price movements and what CBDCs have in common with the currency of the Soviet Union.

In this interview with the Mises Institute's Economics for Business podcast, Saifedean discusses his entrepreneurial work on saifedean.com: what is the business model, why he decided to leave behind the malinvestment of academia and work independently, how bitcoin was instrumental in this move, the benefits of independent knowledge entrepreneurship, and why this is the beginning of a growing trend worldwide.

In this episode Saifedean talks to Dr Terence Kealey, adjunct scholar at The Cato Institute, about government funding of science. They discuss the history of technological development including how the Industrial Revolution was able to take place in Britain at a time of limited government and no significant state support for science. They cover how western government involvement in science accelerated during the atmosphere of panic that followed the 1957 launch of Sputnik, and why the misguided policies that followed were based on flawed economic assumptions. Terence and Saifedean also critique some popular misconceptions about how scientific progress happens, including the influential work of Philippe Aghion, Ken Arrow and Mariana Mazzucato.