Stephan Livera Podcast

Stephan Livera
  • 4.9 (396)
  • Technology
  • Updated Semiweekly

Join Stephan as he interviews the sharpest economic and technical minds in Bitcoin & Austrian Economics to help you understand how money is changing and evolving. Leading names in the world of Bitcoin join the show to share their insights, whether they are developers, CEOs, economists, authors, analysts and more.

  1. 1d ago

    Institutional Custody, Multisig & the War on Cash | Mike Belshe SLP773

    Mike Belshe, co-founder and CEO of BitGo, walks through how institutional Bitcoin custody actually works in 2026: qualified custody, self-custody co-signing, and why BitGo still centers a 2-of-3 model after pioneering P2SH multisig in 2013. BitGo now operates as a US-regulated qualified custodian and public company, while still offering the same wallet stack individuals can run in self-custody mode. The conversation covers what “institutional security” means in practice — HSM-backed co-signing, open-source recovery paths, multi-jurisdictional key storage (including how BitGo moved WBTC when US regulation looked hostile), and why on-chain multisig still beats vendor-locked MPC for cold ops. They also dig into the political and operational risks around large Bitcoin holdings: KYC and PII as honeypots, France tying names to amounts, the war on cash reaching Bitcoin, and whether an EO 6102-style confiscation risk still belongs in the threat model. On the institutional side, Belshe pushes back on multi-custodian setups that add failure modes, explains insurance limits versus the size of the Bitcoin market, and why splitting wallets matters after events like Bybit. Timestamps 00:00 — Intro: Mike Belshe of BitGo 00:59 — Don't Lose Self-Custody's Power 05:41 — Retail Deserves Institutional Security 07:16 — Humans Are Terrible at OpSec 09:56 — 2-of-3 Protects Theft and Loss 14:35 — Retail Pays 160 Basis Points 19:22 — Why People Drift Toward Banks 20:35 — Self-Custody Is Never Trustless 23:39 — Why BitGo Sticks to 2-of-3 30:31 — A Public CEO Holds Zero at Home 31:27 — KYC Leaks Are Government Honeypots 39:28 — France Doxed Bitcoin Holdings 41:30 — War on Cash Reaches Bitcoin 43:45 — Multi-Jurisdictional Key Storage 45:29 — Executive Order 6102 Could Return 47:43 — Quantum-Resistant Wallets Today 49:27 — Multisig Beats MPC 53:33 — Splitting Custodians Adds Failures 58:29 — 2-of-2 MPC Can't Recover Loss 01:00:57 — $5–7B Insurance vs $1.6T Bitcoin 01:03:35 — Bybit Lost 10x by Not Splitting 01:05:21 — Multi-Institution vs Qualified Custody Links:  https://x.com/mikebelshe https://x.com/bitgo Stephan Livera links: Follow me on X: @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe to Substack

  2. 2d ago

    Trustless Swaps Across Bitcoin Layers | Walter Maffione SLP772

    Walter Maffione, CEO and co-founder of KaleidoSwap, join me to explain how the project grew from an RGB Lightning DEX into a broader swap engine and LSP stack — Lightning as rails between Liquid, Arkade, Taproot Assets, Spark, and RGB — plus KaleidoSDK, desktop app, and browser Extension. We dig into web app and SDK integrations for merchants and unified-balance wallets, how HTLC atomicity works across layers, BOLT 12 multi-asset offers and Nostr discovery for competing providers, Bitcoin-only scope with Flashnet and Utexo bridges for external stables, and a product lineup of desktop app, browser extension, and dual SDKs. Walter also covers agentic payments via MCP plugins, self-sovereign local models with Tether’s QVAC, fee ranges around 0.5–1%, and a one-to-three-month mainnet launch path for the extension, swap provider, and web app. Timestamp: 00:00 — Intro: Walter & KaleidoSwap 00:50 — From RGB to Multi-Layer Swaps 02:14 — LSP Plus Swap Provider Stack 03:42 — Merchants, Stables, Unified Balance 05:38 — Why Swap UX Took Over Wallets 06:42 — Liquidity Ops and Mainnet Path 07:58 — AI Attacks After Boltz Shutdown 10:23 — Defending Non-Custodial Swaps 12:18 — How Atomic Swaps Actually Work 13:36 — RGB, Liquid, Arkade, Spark  14:36 — Open Spec, BOLT 12, Nostr Discovery 18:23 — Pay Anything via the SDK 19:34 — Bitcoin Layers Only + Bridges 22:05 — Desktop, Extension, Dual SDKs 25:05 — UX That Adapts to the User 26:32 — Agentic Payments and QVAC 33:22 — MCP Plugins, Keep Your Own AI 35:11 — Fees Around 0.5–1% 35:57 — Launch Timeline: Next 1–3 Months 37:05 — Find KaleidoSwap Online Links:  https://x.com/bit_walt https://x.com/kaleidoswap https://docs.kaleidoswap.com/whats-kaleidoswap/introduction Stephan Livera links: Follow me on X: @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe to Substack

    Trustless Swaps Across Bitcoin Layers | Walter Maffione SLP772

  3. Sep 10

    Bitcoiners Must Remove Single Points of Failure | Dhruv Bansal SLP771

    Recent attacks exposed how even large, educated Bitcoin holders remained exposed through single-vendor setups. The core lesson is that self-custody alone does not remove single points of failure; deliberate design is required. Dhruv Bansal, co-founder and CISO of Unchained, joins to examine these incidents and the practical barriers that keep most hardware wallet users on single sig despite years of warnings. The conversation covers the gap between theoretical multisig knowledge and actual adoption, the trade-offs between anonymity and regulated inheritance paths, why newer layers attract attacks first, and the need for human review of AI-generated code at Bitcoin firms. Bansal argues that cryptographic hardware will become ordinary infrastructure for everyone in an AI-driven internet, not a niche Bitcoin tool, and that mature risk systems rely on fractal networks rather than centralized controls. Timestamps: 01:42 — No Single Points of Failure Allowed 05:34 — Even Large Holders Skip Multisig? 09:14 — You Could Be Your Own Failure Point 13:35 — Anonymity vs KYC 16:27 — Don't Half-Ass Your Bitcoin Security 21:23 — One Wallet, True Multi-Vendor Security 24:24 — Single Sig Can Still Lose Everything 30:26 — Why Everyone Will Need Hardware Wallets 32:06 — Why Attackers Hit Bitcoin L2s First 36:32 — Bitcoin Firms Must Human-Review AI Code 40:05 — Bitcoin as Humanity's AI Defense System 42:59 — Remove Single Points of Failure Forever 45:25 — Hardware Wallets at Every Gas Station 47:34 — Bitcoiners and Key Entropy Links:  https://x.com/dhruvbansal https://x.com/unchained https://www.unchained.com/ Stephan Livera links: Follow me on X: @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe to Substack

    Bitcoiners Must Remove Single Points of Failure | Dhruv Bansal SLP771

  4. Sep 3

    Interviews at Origin Seoul 2026 | SLP770

    00:00 - Interview with Gabriele Vernetti of Stratum V2 @gitgab19 15:38 - Interview with Jimmy Kostro @jimmykostro 29:30 - Interview with James Check of checkonchain Links: https://x.com/gitgab19 https://x.com/jimmykostro https://x.com/_checkonchain https://x.com/_checkmatey_ https://x.com/stratumv2 Bitcoinchiangmai.org

    Interviews at Origin Seoul 2026 | SLP770

  5. Aug 31

    Bitcoin Asia (HK) 2026 Day 2 Interviews | SLP769

    Interviews at Bitcoin Asia 2026 Day 2 00:00 - Piriya Sambandaraksa 05:14 - Alexander Mann 11:04 - Shone Anstey of LQWD 17:03 -Liam Eagen from Ideal Group Links:  https://x.com/piriya https://x.com/idealgroup https://x.com/liameagen https://x.com/LQWDTech https://x.com/shoneanstey https://x.com/alex_singh_mann Stephan Livera links: Follow me on X: @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe to Substack

    Bitcoin Asia (HK) 2026 Day 2 Interviews | SLP769

  6. Aug 29

    Bitcoin Asia (HK) 2026 Day 1 Interviews | SLP768

    In this episode, I interviewed several people at Bitcoin Asia 2026. Timestamps: 00:00 - Interview with Adam Poulton 06:28 Interview with Giovanni Santostasi 15:18 Interview Jeff Walton of Strive 34:11 Interview with Alex B from ArkLabs Links:  http://x.com/Giovann35084111 http://x.com/adampoulton http://x.com/bergealex4 http://x.com/arklabshq http://x.com/punterjeff http://x.com/strive Stephan Livera links: Follow me on X: @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe to Substack

    Bitcoin Asia (HK) 2026 Day 1 Interviews | SLP768

  7. Aug 25

    Wallet Playground for learning Bitcoin self custody with Piers Macrae | SLP767

    In this episode, Piers Macrae demonstrates Wallet Playground and explains why hardware wallets are signing devices, not wallets. Timestamps: 01:10 — Teach Me vs Do It For Me 03:23 — Test Any Wallet Free in Browser 09:09 — Coldcard Drama Forced Early Release 14:03 — Generate Seeds Using Your Webcam 17:52 — Hardware Wallets Aren't Real Wallets 21:52 — Only 1% Use Multisig for Life Savings 25:33 — Self-Custody Like Firearms Drilling? 27:30 — Only Tiny Percentage Will Self-Custody Links:  X: @mineracks — https://x.com/mineracks Wallet Playground: https://walletplayground.com/ mineracks: https://www.mineracks.com/ Stephan Livera links: Follow me on X: @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe to Substack

    Wallet Playground for learning Bitcoin self custody with Piers Macrae | SLP767

  8. Aug 22

    Dice Rolls, Entropy, and SeedSigner | Keith Mukai SLP766

    In this episode, Keith Mukai of SeedSigner joins to explain why 1.4 percent variance in cheap dice still delivers full 128-bit entropy and how to verify rolls across devices. Timestamps: 03:10 — Cheap Dice Only 1.4% Unfair? 06:29 — Shake Multiple Dice in a Box 08:26 — Verify Dice Rolls Across Devices 11:02 — Verify Dice Seeds With Fake Rolls 13:50 — Multiple Test Rounds Foil Attackers 16:36 — 90% Users Choose Easy RNG Mode 19:08 — Jade's D&D Dice Method? 21:53 — Build Your Own: Avoid Mailing List Leak 24:48 — Stateless Device: Evil Maid Gets Nothing 26:45 — Hand-Drawn SeedQR: Skip Typing 24 Words 29:02 — SeedSigner: Built for Long-Term Cold Storage 31:30 — Evil Maid SD Card Swap Destroys Security 35:27 — Why Multisig Beats Single-Sig + Passphrase 37:14 — Scan Sparrow PDF QR to Load Multisig 42:16 — No One-Size-Fits-All Security 46:41 — Understand Dice Rolls Yourself 49:13 — Take Baby Steps to Multisig Links:  https://seedsigner.com/ https://x.com/keithmukai https://x.com/SeedSigner Stephan Livera links: Follow me on X: @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe to Substack

    Dice Rolls, Entropy, and SeedSigner | Keith Mukai SLP766
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4.9
out of 5
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About

Join Stephan as he interviews the sharpest economic and technical minds in Bitcoin & Austrian Economics to help you understand how money is changing and evolving. Leading names in the world of Bitcoin join the show to share their insights, whether they are developers, CEOs, economists, authors, analysts and more.

Information

  • Creator
    Stephan Livera
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    773
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Stephan Livera
  • Show Website
    Stephan Livera Podcast

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