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Loly ⚡ 💜
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Bitcoin 🧡
Replying to Avatar Peter McCormack

The studio is ready, Danny's flights are booked, and next week we’ll begin recording episodes for our new podcast.

I wanted to share the reasons behind this shift as many have been asking. Three primary factors influenced this decision:

1. I hate making remote shows—I never want to do them again. These interviews need the intimacy of being in person.

2. Traveling constantly has been detrimental to my health and my family.

3. My commitments here with the football club and local community are growing.

So, the solution was clear: build a studio in the UK and produce the show locally.

We’ve secured a fantastic space in Soho, London, and we’re ready to go but given the limited number of Bitcoin guests available in the UK or those willing to fly in, it’s time to retire What Bitcoin Did.

Our new podcast will be similar in feel but will cover a broader range of topics. While some episodes will focus on Bitcoin (though less frequently), most will explore other interesting topics or people.

Having made nearly 900 episodes covering a wide range of #bitcoin topics and guests, we’re now aiming higher. By diversifying our content and guests, we hope to introduce more people to the concept of sound money through podcast osmosis. If we get this right, it will be a bigger show, if we get it wrong, well we tried.

For a long time I have felt there is a need to get out of the #bitcoin corner of the party. Real Bedford FC was a way of integrating sound money into a traditional business model. CheatCode purposely did not include Bitcoin in the title, so changing the show feels like a natural next step.

Sometimes when stuck in the #bitcoin landscape you can lose site of how other people in the world think, lose empathy for the complexities of the world. I have felt this. I'd come home from spending two weeks with Bitcoiners and be with friends and family locally and notice a distinct difference in how we see the world. As everything feels like it is going to shit, I feel like there is a bigger job to do now.

The Bitcoin podcast landscape is well served, from Marty and Odell to Natalie and Preston, from The Blue Collar guys to Stefan Livera and anyone I haven't mentioned. There’s no shortage of high-quality Bitcoin podcasts.

However, there seems to be some fatigue in the space, with similar guests and topics being revisited. With our new show we want to bring fresh perspectives and ideas, aligning with sound money where relevant—think of the shows we’ve had with the likes of Eric Weinstein and Michael Malice.

On a personal note, I’m need the challenge, test myself wider, get fit and find a good woman. I can't do this travelling all the time.

When I started the podcast my life was a shit show - divorced, coming off drugs, heading towards bankruptcy. I've had an incredible 7 years, travelled the world, made amazing friends and got to live my dream by buying my local football club.

To everyone who has helped us get this far - the guests, the listeners, the sponsors, we could not have done this without you. I am forever in your debt.

I hope you’ll check out the new show and enjoy it, though it may not be for some of you. Regardless, Danny and I will work hard to deliver the best show possible, like we always have.

Roll on The McCormack Show!

Looking forward!! 🫂 🔥

Here is my talk, "A Bitcoinized Africa," from last week's nostr:npub1yul83qxn35u607er3m7039t6rddj06qezfagfqlfw4qk5z5slrfqu8ncdu Baltic Honeybadger '24 conference #BH2024

This year, I decided to give a more concise presentation, based on a lot of feedback and requests, on why Africa will continue to play a significant role in Bitcoin's overall development and future success.

Share this presentation with anyone curious about "what material benefits Bitcoin brings to humanity" or "what Africa's role is in the future of Bitcoin."

"Africa will not only continue to show what Bitcoin can do but, more importantly, it is going to show what we can do with Bitcoin" 🔥

Full video 🎥 (15 mins)

https://v.nostr.build/23YW9Ad3A0SIP223.mp4

Excellent talk!! Bullish on Bitcoin adoption in Africa!! 🫂

Replying to Avatar Gigi

GN

GN!! 🫂 💜

Replying to Avatar Gigi

I was just walking down the street, coffee in hand, suddenly realizing how "normal" it all is already. Like most days, I went to a coffee shop that accepts lightning. Like most days, I paid directly with sats that someone zapped me here on nostr. Like most days, neither the merchant nor myself thought twice about it, or took a minute to marvel at what just happened.

So, allow me to do just that. Marvel at what just happened. While everyone is having a fantastically crazy time at #nostriga, uncountable people are using bitcoin in a myriad of ways. Some for savings, large and small; some for transactions, large and small; some for other stuff. Bitcoin is slowly but surely entering the world stage. Some commentators will tell you that this is good. Some commentators will tell you that this is bad. Whatever the case may be, it is unavoidable.

I see nostr under a similar light. As platform-based manipulation and censorship ramps up—which it inevitably will—the usage of nostr will ramp up too, and with it the usage of zaps and everything else that comes with it. And soon enough, buying a coffee (or breakfast, lunch, and dinner) with zap-based income will be normal. Just like it's "normal" to be an "influencer" today, or a "YouTuber" or whatnot... It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a normal thing. Anyone can do it.

Back to my coffee. I remember when I had the "oh my god, I can live on bitcoin here!!!" experience for the first time. It was in Bitcoin Jungle, a couple of months after the initiative was launched. I stayed there for 2 weeks or so, buying the necessities of daily life with sats outright. And it worked. Flawlessly. I had zero payment failures, and was exclusively using Zeus with my own node. It was incredible.

Why is this incredible, you ask? Shouldn't stuff just work? Yes, it should. But building out the tech and the infrastructure to make it all work is BLOODY HARD. I remember the first Lightning Conference in Berlin, in 2019. Everyone came, everyone had all their channels and wallets and everything prepared, and ~50% of payments failed. For... reasons.

Fast-forward to today: I go to one of the 100+ merchants in the city that accept bitcoin, a quick tap on the PoS device & QR code scan, boom, done. Is it always perfect? Of course not. Will it get better still? 100% it will. Very soon these merchants will have NFC-enabled devices, and the tap-to-pay experience that people are used to with cards & Apple pay will be normal for bitcoin payments too. If you are in Riga right now, you'll experience this first-hand thanks to Bolt cards and BTCPay Server. It's awesome, it's open-source, and it works. And it will get better still.

We are truly living in the best and weirdest timeline; a timeline where shitposting on the internet can buy you lunch and dinner; a timeline that spawns amazing technological movements like #nostr; a timeline that, every ~10 minutes, allows for a small miracle to happen. A timeline where "magic internet money" is a normal thing; a timeline that, thanks to the magic dust of cryptography, enables anyone to speak about anything, without having to ask for permission. I'm grateful.

Thank you, Satoshi. 🙏🧡

Beautiful!! ⚡ 💜 🫂