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"Many tellings of El Salvador’s story have largely overlooked and understated the role of the Lightning Network. But make no mistake: any country could have adopted bitcoin five or eight years ago. The base layer hasn’t changed much. The new ingredient, the innovation that has made this possible and is opening up all kinds of possibilities for the future, is Lightning.” - Roy SheinfeldToday we dive back into Lightning in another excellent article from Breez Tech founder Roy Sheinfeld exploring how Lightning has brought us to today, and how to scale it to the entire world. Even though it's often thought of as a part of the background regarding the recent El Salvador announcement, to the contrary, it's truly at the center of everything that is happening. With a major shout out to Michael Peterson from Bitcoin beach and the Lightning proof of concept, we read Roy's excellent article, "Scaling Lightning: To El Zonte... And Beyond!"Link to the article for further reading and links to related services:https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/scaling-lighting-el-zonteFor the best resource on news, information, essays, and education in the Bitcoin space, don't forget to check out the incredible BitcoinMagazine and the LTBNetwork for other shows all about the developments in this ecosystem!Check out tons of other great works & discussion at BitcoinAudible.com! Search the library for any topic or work you would like to hear, including other great pieces from Erik Cason.Don't forget your goodies from our awesome sponsors! 5% off the BitBox02 with code "GUY," your bank grade digital vault for your Bitcoin keys from Shiftcrypto.ch And secure your Bitcoin future by starting your automatic savings plan at SwanBitcoin.com/guy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Independence is financial,” Abukhdeir told me. “If we don’t have financial freedom, nothing is going to change.” - Alex GladsteinAnother brilliant addition to the Gladstein series from Bitcoin Magazine. Gladstein has been investigating Bitcoin's benefits for people all over the globe, those in the first world, the third, connected to the modern banking system, the entirely unbanked, those stuck under oppressive regimes, monetary colonialization, & behind walls of political tyranny. Today he takes a deep dive into Palestine and how they have ben bled dry of their capital and manufacturing base over 50 years in significant part through a monetary and banking system completely controlled by external powers. And how Bitcoin may be a spark of hope to begin changing that harsh reality.Could Bitcoin be Palestine's Currency of Freedom?https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/can-bitcoin-bring-palestine-freedomFor the best resource on news, information, essays, and education in the Bitcoin space, don't forget to check out the incredible BitcoinMagazine and the LTBNetwork for other shows all about the developments in this ecosystem!Check out tons of other great works & discussion at BitcoinAudible.com! Search the library for any topic or work you would like to hear, including other great pieces from Erik Cason.Don't forget your goodies from our awesome sponsors! 5% off the BitBox02 with code "GUY," your bank grade digital vault for your Bitcoin keys from Shiftcrypto.ch And secure your Bitcoin future by starting your automatic savings plan at SwanBitcoin.com/guy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A great piece today detailing out the different kinds, the nuances & the long history of inflation. What misconceptions do we still have about inflation? What are the major correlating factors? And what can we do to protect ourselves in different environments? All this and more in another of Lyn Alden's incredible pieces from her investment newsletter.The Ultimate Guide to Inflation:https://www.lynalden.com/inflation/#investingCheck out tons of other great works & discussion at BitcoinAudible.com! Search the library for any topic or work you would like to hear, including other great pieces from Erik Cason.Don't forget your goodies from our awesome sponsors! 5% off the BitBox02 with code "GUY," your bank grade digital vault for your Bitcoin keys from Shiftcrypto.ch And secure your Bitcoin future by starting your automatic savings plan at SwanBitcoin.com/guy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Owning bitcoin is often put in contrast to owning stock in a company that produces a good or service. In virtue of the company producing a good or service and receiving money for the good or service, stock in that company is said to have intrinsic value. Methods of calculation of the intrinsic value of a stock usually involve calculating the value of the assets the company has and/or the expected future earnings. Bitcoin is not a company and produces no goods or services — so it lacks intrinsic value. So goes the criticism." - Bradley RettlerWhy is it so difficult for people to wrap their heads around the idea of Bitcoin's value? Its always met with criticisms like "but it doesn't have intrinsic value," or "but its not backed by anything." In this context, what does intrinsic value even mean, and does Bitcoin have any of it? Dr. Bradley Rettler brings us a great breakdown at Bitcoin Magazine on the philosophy of value & what, if anything, actually has intrinsic value at all.Another Way to Think About Bitcoin's Value:https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-intrinsic-value-definitionCheck out tons of other great works & discussion at BitcoinAudible.com! Search the library for any topic or work you would like to hear, including other great pieces from Erik Cason.Don't forget your goodies from our awesome sponsors! 5% off the BitBox02 with code "GUY," your bank grade digital vault for your Bitcoin keys from Shiftcrypto.ch And $10 in sats for FREE by starting your automatic savings plan at SwanBitcoin.com/guy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"For decades, economists have pointed to 17th-century tulipmania as a warning about the perils of the free market. Writers and historians have reveled in the absurdity of the event. The incident even provides the backdrop for the new film Tulip Fever, based on a novel of the same name by Deborah Moggach.The only problem: none of these stories are true." - Lorraine BoissoneaultWhat if every single time Bitcoin critics derided the Bitcoin phenomenon as nothing but market madness, a mirror of the obvious insanity of the Tulip craze in 17th century Dutch markets... what if they were actually referring to something that never really happened? What was the Tulip bubble really and was it exactly what it was made out to be? Or something far more boring?Dont miss this excellent article from Smithsonian Mag and author Lorraine Boissoneault that digs into the truth behind the myth, and about the not so manic Tulip Mania.Link the the original article, plus the source work by Anne Goldgar who did extensive research and found out the truth behind the myth:https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/there-never-was-real-tulip-fever-180964915/https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo5414939.htmlCheck out tons of other great works & discussion at BitcoinAudible.com! Search the library for any topic or work you would like to hear, including other great pieces from Erik Cason.Don't forget your goodies from our awesome sponsors! 5% off the BitBox02 with code "GUY," your bank grade digital vault for your Bitcoin keys from Shiftcrypto.ch And $10 in sats for FREE by starting your automatic savings plan at SwanBitcoin.com/guy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Bitcoin (BTC, the currency) in its current form can scale – enough to process every txn in the world! It just needs the right combination of layer2s." - Paul SztorcWhat would it look like if we could use sidechains today to scale Bitcoin to the worldwide payments capacity? Paul Sztorc, proponent and developer for Drivechains & BIP300 to bring this model to the Bitcoin ecosystem, lays out his vision for a future with the Thunder Network; sidechains with heavier data throughput to bridge to act as huge transaction aggregators that enables the quick deployment of any desired feature, an open landscape for design & privacy technology, & will allow Bitcoin to scale to every user in the world, and beyond.Sidechains for Scaling, Thunder Network:https://www.truthcoin.info/blog/thunder/Check out the "Lessons from Bittorrent Series" covered on the show that was mentioned in the commentary:https://bitcoinaudible.com/why-bittorrent-mattered-lessons-for-crypto-1-of-4/Check out tons of other great works & discussion at BitcoinAudible.com! Search the library for any topic or work you would like to hear, including other great pieces from Erik Cason.Don't forget your goodies from our awesome sponsors! 5% off the BitBox02 with code "GUY," your bank grade digital vault for your Bitcoin keys from Shiftcrypto.ch And $10 in sats for FREE by starting your automatic savings plan at SwanBitcoin.com/guy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Of course, “developing your own cryptosystem” is the purview of only cranks and researchers, so it was reasonably assumed that none of these “altcoins”, as they were called, could ever be plausibly presented for public use. Boy, were we ever wrong on that one" - Andrew PoelstraHow did we find ourselves in an environment where people copy/paste "crypto tokens" on a daily basis, and foundational cryptographic infrastructure is tossed around like casino chips? Prior to the days of Bitcoin, no one would have ever taken such projects seriously, but enter the ability to make money off fools and everything changes. Dont miss an incredible piece from Bitcoin developer Andrew Poelstra atempting to break down the major flaws and failures of philosophy on the entirety of what is know today as "altcoins."A Treatise on Altcoins:https://download.wpsoftware.net/bitcoin/alts.pdfCheck out tons of other great works & discussion at BitcoinAudible.com! Search the library for any topic or work you would like to hear, including other great pieces from Erik Cason.Don't forget your goodies from our awesome sponsors! 5% off the BitBox02 with code "GUY," your bank grade digital vault for your Bitcoin keys from Shiftcrypto.ch And $10 in sats for FREE by starting your automatic savings plan at SwanBitcoin.com/guy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Perhaps Bitcoin can help Americans reflect on our history and remember that our true glory, in Adams’s words, is “not dominion, but liberty,” and that our true march is “of the mind” and not the sword." - Alex GaldsteinHappy Independence Day fellow Audionauts! This is the day to celebrate the American experiment and the ideals which it sought to achieve. An ideal of "all men created equal," individual liberties, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and so many more revolutionary principles that have been the foundation for the outlaw of slavery, the civil rights movement, & human rights movements around the world.So where do we separate "America the idea" from "America the political system?" What was missed in the founding documents that allowed the experiment to still fail so many? Does Bitcoin have a role to play by re-empowering these core principles of individual liberty?Another brilliant piece from Alex Gladstein & Bitcoin Magazine, don't miss today's show!https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-and-the-american-ideaCheck out tons of other great works & discussion at BitcoinAudible.com! Search the library for any topic or work you would like to hear, including other great pieces from Erik Cason.Don't forget your goodies from our awesome sponsors! 5% off the BitBox02 with code "GUY," your bank grade digital vault for your Bitcoin keys from Shiftcrypto.ch And $10 in sats for FREE by starting your automatic savings plan at SwanBitcoin.com/guy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We had an awesome discussion on Twitter spaces, getting some major Bitcoiners and Libertarians together to talk about the tools available to us in the endless fight for liberty, & why Bitcoin should be at the center of it all. Hope you guys enjoy this discussion as much as I did, and sorry for the minor audio hiccups and lack of censoring. As an open discussion there is some language so don't have your kids around if you don't want them to hear.Thanks to @BranchFloridian for putting this together and hope to be able to do this again soon!Check out tons of other great works & discussion at BitcoinAudible.com! Search the library for any topic or work you would like to hear, including other great pieces from Erik Cason.Don't forget your goodies from our awesome sponsors! 5% off the BitBox02 with code "GUY," your bank grade digital vault for your Bitcoin keys from Shiftcrypto.ch And $10 in sats for FREE by starting your automatic savings plan at SwanBitcoin.com/guy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Bitcoin over the last ten years has create a single global movement that is loyal to no nation-state, no government, no military anywhere on the planet; but towards an ethics of a commonality of wealth. Through the radical protection cryptography offers to this new form of property found within bitcoin, the bonds of a new commonwealth have been formed." - Erik CasonAnother great piece from cypherpunk extraordinaire, Erik Cason. On the theological idea of money, the manifestation & understanding of human liberty external to the state apparatus, & how Bitcoin changes the nature of political law, forever. Get ready, the rabbit hole is about to get crazy.Dont' forget to check out tons of other great works at BitcoinAudible.com! Search the library for any topic or work you would like to hear, including other great pieces from Erik Cason.Don't forget your goodies from our awesome sponsors!5% off the BitBox02 with code "GUY," your bank grade digital vault for your Bitcoin keys from Shiftcrypto.chAnd $10 in sats for FREE by starting your automatic savings plan at SwanBitcoin.com/guy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've all heard the criticism, sound money can't work because people will simply "hoard it." Obviously, per the Keynesians' demands, it is critical that we incentivize consumption and investment or the economy will fall into chaos and poverty. But how sound is this idea really? Does a money that keeps its value and isn't debased REALLY destroy the economy? What if this statement is simply.... wrong?All this and more in today's Guy's Take to break down the concepts of natural deflation, its differences with credit deflation, the boogeyman it's been confused with, & what sound money gives to the economy that uses it.Some other great episodes mentioned in today's show to expand on the ideas & go further down the rabbit hole: The Use of Knowledge in Society https://bitcoinaudible.com/hayeks-use-of-knowledge-in-society-part-1-2/ Guy's Take #18 - A Story of Booms and Busts https://bitcoinaudible.com/a-story-about-booms-busts/ Guy's Take #36 - Walking Tall https://bitcoinaudible.com/guys-take-36-walking-tall/ Our amazing sponsors for today's show, keeping Bitcoin Audible alive! The BitBox02 hardware wallet for the trifecta of ease of use, security, & open source key storage. SwanBitcoin.com for the automatic Bitcoin savings plan, automatic withdrawal, & low fee sat stacking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"As Victor Hugo reminds us: nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come. Bitcoin is here to stay; and Bitcoin’s time is now." - DerGigiAnother chapter in Gigi's upcoming book 21 Ways, today's article covers some of the prehistory, the origins, the breakthroughs, and the meaning of the Bitcoin system. Gigi always comes through with excellent work, and this one doesn't disappoint. Check out his patreon to stay up on his other projects and support his content. Plus the incredible body of work on his website at the links below.https://www.patreon.com/dergigihttps://dergigi.com/2021/06/13/bitcoin-is-an-idea/Explore the entire library of audio works at BitcoinAudible.com, plus vote for your favorites to be heard on the show!Our amazing sponsors for today's show, keeping Bitcoin Audible alive!The BitBox02 hardware wallet for the trifecta of ease of use, security, & open source key storage.SwanBitcoin.com for the automatic Bitcoin savings plan, automatic withdrawal, & low fee sat stacking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Monetary repression continues to be hidden, and not spoken of in polite circles. The reality today for the 182 million people living in CFA nations is that while they may be politically independent in name, their economies and money are still under colonial rule, and foreign powers still abuse and prolong that relationship to squeeze and exploit as much value from their societies and geographies as possible." - Alex GladsteinAnother tour de force from Gladstein, this time breaking down the dirty details of the oppressive CFA monetary regime used, much like the petrodollar, to control and consume resources from foreign nations into French coffers. A common story in monetary systems, it's used as a tool for power, privilege, & political control. Hear the stories on the ground of those who saw this colonialism, and how they hope to stop it. Another from the irreplaceable publication of BitcoinMagazine. 👏🏻Check out the original and other great pieces from Bitcoin Magazine below:https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-a-currency-of-decolonizationSearch for the many other pieces by Gladstein in the Bitcoin Audible Library:https://BitcoinAudible.comFollow the amazing people discussed and mentioned in this piece:https://twitter.com/Farida_Nhttps://twitter.com/diopfodehttps://twitter.com/fpigeaudhttps://twitter.com/nssyllaOur amazing sponsors for today's show, keeping Bitcoin Audible alive!The BitBox02 hardware wallet for the trifecta of ease of use, security, & open source key storage.SwanBitcoin.com for the automatic Bitcoin savings plan, automatic withdrawal, & low fee sat stacking Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"A deflationary monetary system of absolute hard money acts as a mirror for value creation. It is a compass to guide us toward a better economic path." - Aaron SegalFrom Bitcoin Magazine, we hit a fantastic piece on the nature of money as a tool for reducing informational entropy. Why a finite supply money, is ultimately the most pure form of money able to translate technological innovation into decreased uncertainty in an economic system. Don't miss Segal's "Bitcoin Information Theory"Check out the original and other great pieces at Bitcoin Magazine:https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-information-theory-bitThe other excellent pieces mentioned that dig further into this topic, the ideas of pricing in an economy, & why our system has been skewed to strip the economic machine of growth and productivity:"The Capital Strip Mine" by Allen Farringtion:https://bitcoinaudible.com/the-capital-strip-mine/"The Use of Knowledge in Society" by F.A. Hayek:https://bitcoinaudible.com/hayeks-use-of-knowledge-in-society-part-1-2/And our amazing sponsors for today's show, keeping Bitcoin Audible alive!The BitBox02 hardware wallet for the trifecta of ease of use, security, & open source key storage.SwanBitcoin.com for the automatic Bitcoin savings plan, automatic withdrawal, & low fee sat stacking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"A network effect is an attribute of a company or other system such that as more people use the network, the network becomes exponentially more valuable for each user. It’s one of the strongest economic moats that a system can have against competitors." - Lyn AldenAnother excellent piece today from the newsletter of Lyn Alden, making sense of network effects, what they are & how fundamental they are to success. Breaking down the network effects of Bitcoin and the state of the ecosystem and institutional adoption. And lastly its comparison to the rest of the “Crypto” industry and where we can or cannot compare them.Analyzing Bitcoin's Network Effect:https://www.lynalden.com/bitcoins-network-effect/For the Ray Youssef panel mentioned, Bitcoin 2021: Onboarding One Billion Bitcoinershttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfvLz81EVhIAnd our lovely sponsors who make Bitcoin Audible possible:ShiftCrypto with the BitBox02 hardware wallet for sovereignty, simplicity, & security of your Bitcoin keys. Get 5% off with discount code "GUY"SwanBitcoin.com for your automatic, no hassle, & low cost Bitcoin savings plan. Set it once and it never stops stacking for your future self! $10 free sats for signing up at my ref link. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“All this to say, there is no optimistic version of the future in which humanity does not use significantly more energy than it does today.” - Hodl’n Caulfield & Selene LindstromWhat is the connection between Bitcoin, human prosperity, and the fundamental process of commanding energy to solve our problems? Bitcoin isn’t just a monetary and financial solution, its also revolutionary in the simple fact that it replaces a problem of violence and authority, merely through the burning of energy. How could we make the case that not only should we not scorn this amazing feat, but that we should want far more energy used by the system, to protect far more people around the world from systemic corruption of money?Check out the original and drop some crazy applause on this one on medium:https://bitcoinandenergy.medium.com/bitcoin-mining-and-the-case-for-more-energy-90094ce25facDon’t forget to follow the authors on Twitter for more of their future work:https://twitter.com/stackerintherye https://twitter.com/selenelindstr6 And a shout out to our amazing sponsors to the show:ShiftCrypto with the BitBox02 hardware wallet for sovereignty, simplicity, & security of your Bitcoin keys. Get 5% off with discount code "GUY"SwanBitcoin.com for your automatic, no hassle, & low cost Bitcoin savings plan. Set it once and it never stops stacking for your future self! $10 free sats for signing up at my ref link. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Completely left the intro and guy's take section out of the publishing for last week's episode, so figured I would drop it just for those who might like to listen. No ads or any breaks for this one since I screwed up, lol.Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"For those with the curiosity to look, Bitcoin has emerged as a vast and mysterious space to explore with treasures, dangers, and untold potential." - Tomer StrolightGoing through the incredible short, but profound pieces in the Why Bitcoin series by Tomer Strolight. An incredible walk through the many fundamental characteristics of Bitcoin. Why should we choose it, why is it backed by physics, why does its buying power keep rising, why is it the new frontier, and more in this first episode. Don't miss it!For more digging into what happened in El Salvador and what the legal tender dstatus means, check out the awesome SSL podcast we did with Tomer, Alex Gladstein, Brady Swenson, & myself earlier today. Careful not to get too bullish:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_WC-AU8df8Then for diving deeper into Proof of Work, check out the great pieces by Hugo Nguyen mentioned in the commentary:Anatomy of Proof of Work: https://bitcoinaudible.com/anatomy-of-proof-of-work-part-1/ Bitcoin, Chance & Randomness: https://bitcoinaudible.com/bitcoin-chance-and-randomness-part-2/ShiftCrypto with the BitBox02 hardware wallet for the secure, safe ship for sailing the open seas to this new frontier!And SwanBitcoin.com for the strong sails pointed in the right direction. Toward a sovereign future, auto stacking & DCA into Bitcoin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I may have gotten ahead of myself but the vote is happening right now in El Salvador's Congress. It's being discussed and read on the floor & in order to get this out as quickly as possible, we have the reading of the "Bitcoin Law" proposed and soon voted on in El Salvador.Enjoy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you haven't seen it, don't miss out on this moment in history. Jack Mallers' announcement and speech at Bitcoin2021 on the massive moves they are making with Strike, the infrastructure being built in the developing world, & the move by the President of El Salvador to make Bitcoin a legal Tender within the country and make it part of the national strategy to bring financial inclusion, monetary independence, and an infrastructure that will take them into the future with Bitcoin. This is the beginning of some massive.Don't miss today's episode and the link below to dig more into this incredible development.Jack Mallers at Bitcoin 2021:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_59hrgTiRJUTweets related to this news & read on this episode: https://twitter.com/WilliamSorianoH/status/1401737638290280452?s=20 https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1401955382533165062?s=20 https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1401622548396314631?s=20 https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1401335885497524226?s=20 https://twitter.com/carlitosrejala/status/1401712725886132224?s=20 https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/bitcoin/panama-may-join-el-salvador-and-paraguay-in-bitcoin-adoption https://twitter.com/gabrielsilva8_7/status/1401965129051389958?s=20 https://twitter.com/FabioOstermann/status/1401988499893587968?s=20And a shout out to our amazing sponsors to the show:ShiftCrypto with the BitBox02 hardware wallet for sovereignty, simplicity, & security of your Bitcoin keys. Get 5% off with discount code "GUY"SwanBitcoin.com for your automatic, no hassle, & low cost Bitcoin savings plan. Set it once and it never stops stacking for your future self! $10 free sats for signing up at my ref link. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices