You, Me, And Btc: Liberty & Bitcoin

MP3, Links, and More: http://ymb.tc/e140This is episode 140 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!People often do disgusting things to make money. They plagiarize, deceive their customers, try to do as little work as possible, and much more. Even we do those things at times. But are they always that bad? This week’s show is all about business ethics and how companies can profit without exploitation.In part though, we’re here to defend certain aspects of those practices. Daniel will explain how online content can have true value, even if it’s not strictly original. And John will explain why “generic pop music” actually takes incredible skill to write.Then to wrap things up, we dive into a heated discussion about the morals of banking. Are bankers truly evil by definition? Is it possible to bring good morals (however you define them) to a somewhat seedy workplace?Tune in for our giant ethical argument! Your hosts are Daniel Brown, Tim Baker, and John Stuart. Enjoy!Leave a comment and tell us if

MP3, Link, and More: http://ymb.tc/e139This is episode 139 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!We’ve got all kinds of fun planned for today’s show. First up, we’ll cover, the rising price of BitCrystals, the in-game currency for Spells of Genesis. If you still haven’t heard about it, SoG is an upcoming trading card game that uses cards stored on the Bitcoin blockchain. It’s pretty darn cool.Then after that, we’ll chat about a crazy letter that an unnamed bank sent to a Bitcoin user. Apparently, this guy’s not even allowed on bank property without notifying the “Physical Security Department.” Is this legit? Is using Bitcoin sketchy enough to make a bank do this?Also in today’s show, we’ll read some nasty comments we received from our listeners and reveal how a blind man robbed banks daily.Tune in for an action-packed episode! Your hosts are Daniel Brown, Tim Baker, and John Stuart. Enjoy!Leave a comment and tell us if you think banks really hassle Bitcoin users!We’d also like to thank this e

MP3, Links, and More: http://ymb.tc/e138This is episode 138 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!We don’t think about it very much, but inflation is a serious killer. I recently had some retirement plans running through my head and wanted to see how much value my savings might lose throughout my career. A quick check informed me that the US Dollar has lost a whopping 75% of it’s buying power over the past four decades.We barely think about inflation from day to day, but over time, that rate is truly devastating. It means that even if you work hard for 40 years, invest well, and manage to save $2 million, that money will really only be worth about half a million dollars. So if you hoped to retire on $100,000 per year, you’d actually have to live on $25,000 per year. That’s insane.Today’s show is all about the hidden evils of inflation. We’re only in our 20’s and we’ve already seen pizza prices rise from $5 to $6. What can we do to prevent this incredible loss of value? Should we avoid fiat cu

MP3, Links, and More: http://ymb.tc/e137This is episode 137 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!Kim Dotcom has some serious plans for the futures of file sharing and Bitcoin. His three main projects right now are (supposedly) Megaupload 2.0, Bitcache, and MegaNet. The Internet celebrity certainly has a reputation for making wild claims that never come to fruition, but there is still a chance that these projects will revolutionize our digital lives. Dotcom claims he can create a decentralized internet and solve Bitcoin’s scaling problem, all in one go.Today’s show is all about the speculation regarding these plans. We’ll investigate the Tweets that started everything and do our best to guess what Dotcom might be working on. Some say it may have to do with Demon Saw, which seems quite similar to MaidSafe. But the truth is, no one knows for sure.Tune in for a fun time with plenty of digital speculation! Your hosts are Daniel Brown and Tim Baker. Enjoy!Leave a comment and tell us what you think

MP3, Links, and More: http://ymb.tc/e136This is episode 136 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!We’ve invested tons of time, sweat, money, and tears into numerous Bitcoin ventures over the years. We tried Bitcoin mining (http://ymb.tc/BFL), selling physical Bitcoins, day trading, hosting live Bitcoin news shows (http://ymb.tc/live), and more. And the truth is, many of those Bitcoin ventures completely flopped – at least in a way. But we haven’t given up.The great IP thief Thomas Edison once said something like this: “I didn’t fail. I discovered 2,000 ways to not make a light bulb.” And we agree. This podcast is all about what we learned from our failures. We’ll tell our stories and share the truth about how to succeed in the Bitcoin space (or in any space, really) when failure is so prominent.And here to offer some fresh perspective is hip hop artist and comic Baddy 3shoez. He’s only dabbled in Bitcoin but he has plenty of thoughts, commentary, and humor to share.Tune in for the best Bitcoi

MP3, Links, and More: http://ymb.tc/e135This is episode 135 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!If you’ve listened to our show before, you know that we have a love-hate relationship with philosophy. In many ways, it’s fascinating, but it can also feel incredibly pointless because professional thinkers rarely agree. This episode is all about trolley problems – some of the toughest philosophical questions in history.In the original problem, a trolley is about to slaughter five people tied to its tracks and we are given the option to direct it onto a different path where only one man is tied down. So we could save five lives, but in a way, we would be responsible for the death of the sixth man. What would you do?But the fun doesn’t stop there. We’ll dive into the Trolley Problem Memes page on Facebook, which has a huge list of similar conundrums. The dilemmas include Harambe, Buddhism, the non-aggression principle, and much more. Some are comical, some are confusing, and all of them are intere

MP3, Links, and More: http://ymb.tc/e134This is episode 134 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!To kick off today’s show, we’re covering yet another Bitcoin exchange hack. Last Tuesday, Bitfinex was taken for at least $60 million worth of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin price subsequently fell as much as 20%. Although we’ve said this countless times before, we can’t stress enough the importance of safely storing your coin, since events like this are far too common. (http://ymb.tc/e54)Then later in the show, a special guest joins us to chat about some Bitcoin basics. Ryan Tofil is a complete Bitcoin newbie and will share what he thinks he knows about Bitcoin and what he doesn’t. We’ll chat about everything from mining to the blockchain to transacting using the simplest terms we can come up with.Tune in for a healthy dose of humor from Mr. Tofil! Your hosts are Daniel Brown, Tim Baker, and John Stuart. Enjoy!Leave a comment and tell us how you keep your cryptocurrency safe from hacks!We’d also like to t

MP3, Link, and More: http://ymb.tc/e133This is episode 133 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!This week’s show is all about the Ethereum hard fork and what it might mean for Bitcoin. With the help of a hard fork, the Ethereum community has now officially erased The Dao Hack (http://ymb.tc/e128) from their blockchain. They now have two versions of their cryptocurrency. The old chain respects the original rules of the network and lets the hacker keep his money. The new one respects the decisions of the community instead, and lets innocent DAO investors recover their funds.This raises some serious concerns because many Bitcoin lovers praise cryptocurrency for working without trust. But if the blockchain can be forked by majority, don’t we have to trust that the rest of the network won’t manipulate the rules? Have we all been fooled into joining a system that is just as flawed as our “democratic” government? The Bitcoin community needs to address these issues and today, we’re here to do just t

MP3, Links, and More: http://ymb.tc/e132This is episode 132 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!First up today, Daniel sits down with The Liberty Radio Network‘s Ian Freeman to chat about his 2016 satellite fundraiser. LRN.FM hosts a number of liberty-oriented shows including Ian’s own show, Free Talk Live, and of course, You, Me, and BTC.The network already broadcasts 24/7 on numerous AM and FM radio stations and on two satellites covering North America, Central America, and Sub-Saharan Africa, but Ian knows the world can always use more liberty talk. So he started an Indiegogo campaign to raise money for a new satellite channel in Europe. Today, Ian will explain why he created LRN.FM, how it helps share the message of liberty across the globe, and how you can help him achieve his goals.Then after that, Tim will rant about terrorism, political powers, and Pokemon GO (http://ymb.tc/e131). Everyone knows that there are some serious issues in our world, but Tim’s not sure we all deal with the

MP3, Links, and More: http://ymb.tc/e131This is episode 131 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!As you probably know, Pokemon GO is taking the world by storm. It’s only been available for a few weeks and by some counts, it’s already nearly as popular as Twitter. Today’s show is about how, like Bitcoin, this technology can help set the world free.Actually, none of Pokemon GO’s tech is especially new. It’s just been combined and designed in a revolutionary way. The game has convinced millions of users to start running around their communities, exploring and meeting new people. It’s got the masses strategizing, socializing, competing, and cooperating. It’s brought so much good to the world more efficiently than any government could ever hope to.Are there any catches though? How does Nintendo plan to monetize the new app? Will they spy on us and sell all of our data? Maybe. Is that a bad thing?But before we get to that, we’ll chat about last weekend’s Bitcoin Halvening. The block reward officia

MP3, Links, and More: http://ymb.tc/e130This is episode 130 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!As much as some people hate it, Facebook really can see just about everything. The social media giant knows your deepest secrets – at least it thinks it does.We recently discovered Facebook’s ad preferences page, where it lists the criteria that is uses to target ads to us. It covers categories like “Hobbies and Activities” and “Shopping and Fashion” and even explains why it chose each interest. It knew I was in a long distance relationship and that I live away from my family. It knows what kind of phones we all use. If you have a Facebook account, you really need to explore this page for yourself (https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/).But the system it certainly not perfect. It claimed that I was a huge mustard fan and that John was interested in childbirth, neither of which are particularly true.For today’s show, we’ll list some of these interests, have some laughs, and share our feelings

Main Page: http://ymb.tc/e129This is episode 129 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!Could that possibly be true? Do we only need Bitcoin because it helps us escape the clutches of our violent overlords? Would truly free human beings have any need for cryptocurrency? Maybe. Today’s podcast is all about those questions.Several avid Bitcoiners (most notably, one of our biggest fans, Cyril Blanc) recently had a heated debate on Twitter about whether or not the title of this episode is true. One of the most relevant tweets is below.----Your point @kyletorpey was @derosetech's thesis amounts to: "assholes/nap violators help make Bitcoin valuable" - @1cyrilblanc1 - 7:18 PM - 27 Jun 2016----As part of the discussion, we’ll consider how the free market is supposed to work in the first place. Does every free trade really create value for each party involved? We’ll also investigate externalities and fungibility and how such concepts can affect the value of Bitcoin.Then to wrap things up, we’ll have a

Main Page: http://ymb.tc/e128This is episode 128 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!We haven’t actually had a chance to cover the DAO yet, but now the news is bigger than ever and we can’t pass it up. It’s been hacked. A clever codester was able to siphon off millions of dollars worth of ether because of a bug in the program. Today, we’ll chat about the DAO’s structure, its purpose, what exactly made this exploit possible, and much more.We’ll also have to spend some time thinking about the future of the DAO. Is there any hope of recovering the stolen funds? Some have proposed rolling Ethereum’s blockchain back in time. Would that nullify the truth of the blockchain? What the heck is truth anyway? Is it acceptable for us mere humans to step into the reality of the blockchain and change it?Tune in for some serious philosophical musings! Your hosts are Daniel Brown, Tim Baker, and John Stuart. Enjoy!Leave a comment and tell us if you think the blockchain represents digital truth!If this Bitco

Main Page: http://ymb.tc/e127This is episode 127 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!Our schedule has been a little off lately but the YMB team is officially back in town! For this week’s podcast, we’re taking a gander at personal financial responsibility. We’ll chat about credit cards, credit card rewards, and common attitudes towards the banks that provide these services. Most Bitcoiners probably agree with John, who sees no reason to get a credit card, but Daniel and Tim think there can be benefits.Then later in the show, we’ll spend some time chatting about car registration. Daniel recently jumped through the hoops because he was worried about getting pulled over and fined for not telling the gub’ment what car he was driving. Is it bad to fear the police? Should he have taken the opportunity to exercise some civil disobedience?Tune in for an incredibly entertaining conversation about all of that and tons more! Your hosts are Daniel Brown, Tim Baker, and John Stuart. Enjoy!Leave a commen

Main Page: http://ymb.tc/e126This is episode 126 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!This week’s incredibly special guest is Kyle Torpey, a Bitcoin writer/researcher who has covered a number of Bitcoin’s biggest stories. He’s here today to weigh in on all sorts of important Bitcoin topics, old and new.Seriously, you name it, and we’ll cover it today. Is Craig Wright (http://ymb.tc/e123) likely to be the real Satoshi? How can segregated witness (http://ymb.tc/e106) improve Bitcoin? What’s up with the Bitcoin block size (http://ymb.tc/tag/bitcoin-block-size/)? Is Bitcoin journalism healthy right now? What the hell is JoinMarket?Tune in for expert opinions on all of that and tons more! Your hosts this week are Daniel Brown, Tim Baker, and John Stuart. Enjoy!Leave a comment and tell us if you think Bitcoin journalism is flawed in any way!If this Bitcoin podcast was interesting, entertaining, or anything else, please use the share buttons to let others know that it exists! Every little bit of su

Main Page: http://ymb.tc/e125This is episode 125 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!You read that right, folks. The one and only Donald J. Trump now officially wants to make Bitcoin great again.As he put it, “I absolutely believe in Bitcoin as the future of money. I love Bitcoin. I’ve been saying we should be using this stuff for awhile now, but if we’re gonna compete with, say, China, who controls 83% of Bitcoin mining, were gonna have to invest. I don’t want my grandchildren growing up in a world where Mao’s face is on their money. I have no problem with China but I don’t think it’s an accident that they called it the Silk Road. We all know they’re keeping their little eyes on Bitcoin.”We probably couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Tune in for all the details!Daniel’s been out of town for awhile so your hosts this week are just Tim Baker and John Stuart. We apologize for having to skip a week and hope that this gem of an episode makes up for it. Enjoy!Leave a comment and tell us if

Main Page: http://ymb.tc/e124This is episode 124 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that the FBI could obtain a warrant to access and monitor any device running Tor (http://ymb.tc/e46) or other anonymity software. At first, this sounds awful. People certainly don’t want to be watched without cause, especially if they might not even know that they’re under investigation.But today, we’ll challenge this reaction. Sure, it sucks that they can watch us all the time and for almost any reason, but shouldn’t we expect this? We know that the government can and will observe our actions when we do things they don’t like, so shouldn’t we constantly maximize our use of encryption and anonymity? Shouldn’t we protect our privacy (http://ymb.tc/e69) whether the government can legally give itself permission (obtain a warrant) to hack into our computers or not?Tune in for the exciting debate! Your hosts are Daniel Brown, Tim Baker, and John Stuart. Enjoy!Leave

Main Page: http://ymb.tc/e123This is episode 123 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!This week’s fantastic show is all about Craig Wright (http://ymb.tc/e103), the man who claims to be the inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.. According to BBC News, Wright recently proved this claim by signing a message with one of history’s earliest Bitcoin addresses, which should belong to Satoshi.Do we really believe him? Is BBC’s report enough proof for us? Not quite. Tim and Daniel recently set up a bet (http://ymb.tc/e120) regarding this proof, and they’ll significantly increase the stakes in this episode.Then later in the show, for anyone new to cryptography, we’ll provide a brief overview of how it works and how someone can mathematically prove their identity with public and private keys. Your hosts this week are just Daniel Brown and Tim Baker. Enjoy!Leave a comment and tell if you think the real Satoshi has finally been revealed! If so, will it affect Bitcoin in general?We’d also like to thank t

Main Page: http://ymb.tc/e122This is episode 122 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!Fist up today, we’re chatting about Japan’s official recognition of digital currencies and Europe’s approval of Bitstamp. Has Bitcoin finally reached the point where governments can tolerate it or even support it? Is that a good thing, or are we worried about over-regulation?Then after that, we’ll cover the Nasdaq’s list of real Bitcoin use cases. Cryptocurrency has been around for quite awhile now, so it should be easy to see where it’s truly useful.Then to wrap things up, we’ll cover an incredibly cool use case, Spells of Genesis. Imagine a digital card game with cards that live on the blockchain. That seems pretty awesome, and it allows a truly free economy to exist for the game. Your hosts this week are Daniel Brown, Tim Baker, and John Stuart. Enjoy!Leave a comment and tell us what you think are Bitcoin’s best use cases!We’d also like to thank this episode’s sponsor, LuckyBit.If this Bitcoin podcast wa

Main Page: http://ymb.tc/e121This is episode 121 of You, Me, and BTC – your liberty and Bitcoin podcast!For years, we’ve praised Bitcoin because it gives more power to the people. In general, that’s a great thing, but should we be worried that it gives power to serious criminals as well? At the request of Dustin, the creator of the Bitcoin Art Gallery, we’re addressing the possibly disastrous fact that evil people, like sex traders and child pornographers, can use Bitcoin to their benefit.But before all that, we’ll chat about an upcoming Crackle original centered on digital currency. We don’t know all the details yet, but we’ll have fun speculating about whether the show’s creators will glorify cryptocurrency or exhibit its darker side.Your hosts this week are Daniel Brown, Tim Baker, and John Stuart. Enjoy!Leave a comment and tell us if you think Bitcoin really allows more evil to exist in the world!We’d also like to thank this episode’s sponsor, LuckyBit.If this Bitcoin podcast was interesting, entertaining