Humans of Bitcoin (HOB) is off to a rousing start in its second season on the Bitcoin.com Podcast Network, diving deeply into Bitcoin pioneers over two installments. The current episode features crypto evangelist Jeffrey Tucker, Editorial Director at the American Institute for Economic Research, in a fast-moving interview exploring his intellectual development and discovery of bitcoin. Friday, May 11th, HOB will release a fascinating and compelling discussion with these pages’ CEO, Roger Ver, revealing a personal side to the man few have heard. Tying them both together, interestingly enough, is Shapeshift’s founder Erik Voorhees.
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Revealing, Deeply Personal Interview with Roger Ver Released This Friday, May 11th
Arguably the definitive history of bitcoin’s early years is documented in Brian Patrick Eha’s, How Money Got Free: Bitcoin and the Fight for the Future of Finance (Oneworld). Its detailed and cinematic style make for great reading, but more than that it informs: principals such as Roger Ver and Erik Voorhees get their due, warts and all.
So it’s fitting Humans of Bitcoin podcast, a non-technical dive into the real life world of crypto, host Matt Aaron would choose Mr. Eha’s document to guide his interview of Bitcoin.com CEO, Roger Ver (set for airing Friday, May 11th). Mr. Ver (rhymes with ‘beer’) has been interviewed a zillion times, from pasty dudes’ lowly Youtube channels to giant, worldwide media conglomerates. There seems to be nothing more to learn about Mr. Ver, aside from maybe his investment advice; but that can be found, too, elsewhere.
Indeed, Mr. Aaron is also an employee of Mr. Ver’s, so that makes it doubly hard in terms of entertainment: how to craft a listenable show without coming across as a sycophant or toadie. On this score, Mr. Aaron is wildly successful. He asks questions listeners might have been intensely curious about, but never had the chance. Imagine asking a boss about their prison experience, and why Mr. Ver was known to advise “Never enter prison on a Friday.” The answers are both hilarious and harrowing. Mr. Aaron then brings in Erik Voorhees of Shapeshift fame, asking about his and Mr. Ver’s complicated and at times heroic history.
The episode really gets moving as the two weave headlong into the assorted controversies Mr. Ver presently finds himself embroiled: being personally hacked and then having his person and family threatened, bitcoin core’s deviation, whether noobs are really confused about what Bitcoin.com is, how many coins has he lost through hacks over the years, why he continues in crypto even though he’s financially well off, and even his famous bets. Ultimately he compares his life to a science fiction novel, and this excites Mr. Ver to no end. There’s so much more to the episode, and it premieres this Friday, May 11th, here.
Jeffrey Tucker’s $27,000 Bowtie
While waiting for the Roger Ver episode, readers are encouraged to click the HOB current offering with Jeffrey Tucker. He too is well known within the ecosystem, and gives of his time generously to all manner of interview formats. Like Mr. Ver he is an easy guest to promote, along with being someone who can draw out answers in an interesting way.
The problem, again, is how to make the interview enjoyable for listeners both new to and familiar with Mr. Tucker. Mr. Aaron shines here, again. The hook he uses is how badly bitcoin back in the day needed an economist to endorse the project. It had code slingers and tech geeks. Mr. Tucker gives an air of respectability to crypto, and that starts with his dress, his iconic style, right down to his bowtie.
Careful not to turn the discussion into a fashion segment, Mr. Aaron gets the scoop on how Mr. Tucker came about his formal dress, and it makes for pretty cool listening. From there, the two discuss Mr. Tucker’s varied and terribly compelling career prior to being known for bitcoin and crypto evangelism. His enthusiasm for sound money goes as far back as the early 1980s, and lands Mr. Tucker as a research assistant for then-congressman Ron Paul (who would later run for US president twice).
The conversation returns to crypto and bitcoin with a recounting of just how Mr. Tucker was given his first coins. Back in 2013, Erik Voorhees and cohorts cornered him, demanding he listen to their bitcoin pitch. They set him up with a wallet, and asked he sell them something in return for the decentralized currency. Mr. Tucker offered his famous bowtie, which he pegged at roughly $45. Mr. Vorhees then zapped him 3 bitcoin, and Mr. Tucker describes his own acceptance of the transaction as something of a revelation. It was instant. No third party. No onboarding. No minder. Mr. Tucker believed he had been given a vision of the future. Oh, and that 3 bitcoin for one bowtie? That’s now a $27,000 tie at current prices. Just stop whatever you’re doing and click the episode for goodness sake.
Who is your favorite bitcoin/crypto pioneer? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock.
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