About the show and Vlad

S17 E49: Kris Nuttycombe (Zcash at Ten, Hard Forks, Dev Fund, Ossification)

Kris Nuttycombe of ZODL on Zcash at ten: hard forks as a superpower, freezing Sprout, NU7, Tachyon, the Dev Fund, testnet forks…

The Best Quotes from Every Episode of Bitcoin Takeover Podcast! (2019-2026)

The best Bitcoin Takeover quotes from every episode, seasons 1 to 17: Vitalik Buterin, Roger Ver, Phil Zimmermann, Slush and 300+…

S17 E45: Talking Tari & Privacy with Naveen Jain, Mr. Fox & Marguerite de Courcelle

There are projects in this space that are famous for what they shipped. Tari used to be famous for what it has…

Bitcoin BLAKE2b: The Fork That Fired the Miners

Luke Dashjr's BIP-110 soft fork stalled after eight blocks, then returned as a BLAKE2b hard fork whose proof of work was picked…

S17 E44: Marc De Mesel on the Bitcoin Cash Bet, the Privacy Coin Basket & the Price of Conviction

There is a particular kind of person the Bitcoin Cash community produced in its glory years, and Marc De Mesel is the…

eCash (XEC): The Fork That Taxed Itself

How Bitcoin ABC lost the BCH ticker over an 8% developer fund, rebranded a million to one, and built the only Bitcoin fork with…

S1 E4 Remastered: Omar Faridi on Bitcoin in Pakistan, Brain Drain & the Case for Moderate Thinking

In January 2019, I was still an editor at Crypto Insider. Working a fixed salary and editing other people’s articles while…

Bitcoin Forks, Described by Dorks

A collection of Bitcoin Takeover podcast quotes about soft forks, hard forks, Bitcoin Cash, SegWit, Taproot, Drivechains, BIP110…

S17 E42: Bob Summerwill on Ethereum Classic & Bitcoin’s Fork Season

I first met Bob Summerwill in person at the Proof of Work Summit in September 2023: the event where Bitcoiners, Litecoiners…

S1 E3 Remastered: Zack Voell on Bitcoin & Politics

(This remaster is sponsored by Helen’s Pizza, 183 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, where you can buy pizza, pasta, and coffee with…

S17 E41: Vik Sharma on Radar, Arbiter & Vibe Coding the Future of Cake Wallet

Seven months ago, Vik Sharma joined Bitcoin Takeover Podcast and effectively declared the privacy wars over, telling the Monero…

S17 E40: Amir Taaki & Prof. Richard Werner on Decentralization, Community Banks & the Coming CBDC Panopticon

(Recorded live at Mallorca Blockchain Days in front of an audience, this episode is a crossover between the conference’s final…

S1 E2 Remastered: John Carvalho on Bitcoin Politics, the Foundation’s Failures & That Roger Ver Interview

(Recorded January 2019, remastered 2025. Sponsored by Helen’s Pizza in Jersey City, 183 Newark Avenue, where you can pay with…

Remembering Donald McIntyre: S1 E1 Remaster, on Bitcoin, Tim May, Nick Szabo and the History of Money

Donald McIntyre passed away in 2025, and the space lost one of its most unlikely polymaths. Born in Costa Rica, raised in…

S17 E39: Kurt Wuckert Jr on the Big Block Wars, BSV, Craig Wright & the Road Not Taken

Every community has its designated villains, and in Bitcoin’s longest running morality play, Kurt Wuckert Jr has worn the black…

S17 E38: Keagan McClelland on Lightning Metrics, Covenants, Consensus Politics & Verifying Bitcoin

There is a certain genre of Bitcoin Twitter argument that never quite resolves into a conversation. People trade metrics, memes…

S17 E37: Paul Sztorc on the eCash Three Stage Launch, Free Coins & 12 Drivechains

Paul Sztorc now holds the record for the most appearances on this show: eleven. Nobody else has come close, and nobody else…

Remastering Bitcoin Takeover Podcast (2026-2027 Project)

When I first started doing interviews for my own project, I didn’t know too much about sound engineering and audio production. I…

S17 E36: Yonatan Sompolinsky on Kaspa Covenants, DAGKnight & Coordination Markets

Yonatan Sompolinsky came to Europe for a reason he would only describe on record as a secretive meeting of DAGKnight magicians…

S17 E30: Martin Matejka on Firefish, BTC-backed Loans & Bitcoin’s Purpose

Three years ago, I walked into the Firefish office in Prague to interview two founders with a fresh idea: what if you…

S17 E29: Grafton Clark on Vibe Coding, Privacy & Bitcoin Culture

Some podcast episodes are about a product, a protocol, or a company. This one is about a feeling: the feeling that the…

S17 E28: Josh Swihart on Zcash’s Comeback, the Orchard Bug & Forking the Company

Twenty months ago, Josh Swihart came on this show to talk about Zcash at its darkest hour: Binance was threatening delisting over…

S17 E27: Kieran Mesquka on Railgun & Building Privacy Where the Users Are

Sometimes you have to wait a year for an interview to happen. I first met Kieran Mesquka at DevConnect in Argentina, back…

S17 E26: Calin Culianu, Steve Thurmond & The Phenomenal Big Blockers on Nine Years of Bitcoin Cash

Almost nine years after the big split of the Bitcoin community, it was time. Time to sit down with the people who…

S17 E25: Milan De Reede on Nano GPT, AI & Vibe Coding

There is something poetic about recording an episode at the Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, the edition where the mining stage…

S17 E24: Zach Herbert on Passport Prime, KeyOS & the End of Air-Gapped

Some interviews you plan for weeks. This one I planned around a box. Two weeks after Zach Herbert handed me a Passport…

S17 E23: Hunter Beast & Mark Karpeles on Quantum-Proofing Bitcoin, Satoshi’s Coins & the Ghost of Mt. Gox

This interview took place on April 29th 2026, at the LayerTwo Labs booth at the Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas with Hunter…

S17 E22: Jeremy Rubin on CTV, Char & Relentless Building in an Adversarial Environment

Four years. That is how long I have been chasing Jeremy Rubin for an interview, and it took the Bitcoin 2026 conference…

S17 E20: Amir Taaki, Harry Halpin & Christopher Cialone on Palantir’s Technofascism, the Roman Storm Trial & the Privacy Arms Race

Some episodes are planned for months. This one happened because Zach Herbert postponed, I panicked, and the universe compensated…

S17 E19: Amaury Séchet on Forking Bitcoin Twice, Quantum FUD & Scars from the Block Size Wars

Two years after our first interview, I decided to invite Amaury Séchet(@deadalnix) to find out what the Greg Maxwell of big…

S17 E18: Dr. K on Scaling Proof of Work, Soaping the Competition with Quai & Unifying Physics

Dr. K (Karl Kreder), architect of the Quai Network, came back for his second appearance on Bitcoin Takeover to defend his…

S17 E17: Lukas Hozda on Building Bitcoin in Rust & Why Mempool Filters Can’t Work

Recorded in a soundproofed room at Braiins headquarters in Prague that once doubled as an ASIC oven (more on that later), this…

S17 E16: Summer Meng on Bitmars, Selling Bitcoin ASICs & Heating Your Home with Miners

There is a reason people call Summer Meng the ASIC Queen. If you want the latest Bitmain hardware anywhere in Europe or…

S17 E15: Danny Plainview & Chad Master on OP_NET, Smart Contracts on Bitcoin L1 & the Great Stablecoin Unlock

Editor’s note: this conversation was recorded in late March 2026, in the days surrounding OP_NET’s mainnet activation. The…

S17 E14: Kristian Csepcsar on the History of Bitcoin Mining, Braiins Hashpower & the Centralization Nobody Talks About

Editor’s note: this conversation was recorded in person at the undisclosed Braiins office in Prague, most likely in March 2026…

S17 E13: Charlie Spears on Blockspace Media, the Purity Spiral & the Case for Classical Maximalism

Editor’s note: this conversation was streamed live in mid-March 2026, a week after the US switched to daylight saving time (which…

S17 E12: Ray Youssef on the Mexico Arrest & Life After NoOnes

Ray Youssef does not do quiet exits. In his telling, he walked out of Monerotopia in Mexico after giving a Malcolm X…

S17 E11: John Carvalho on Bitcoin Depression, Lightning Derangement & the Atomic Economy

John Carvalho was the second guest in the history of this podcast, way back in season one, episode two, when he was…

S17 E10: Mark Karpelès on Mt. Gox, the 1Feex Fortune & His Plan to Hard Fork Bitcoin

Mark Karpelès is the one name in Bitcoin that needs no introduction and always gets one anyway. The former CEO of Mt.…

S17 E3: Zano Devs on Private Tokenization

Andrey Sabelnikov and Valeriy Pisarkov are the most important devs involved in the Zano project. The former is a co-founder who…

S16 E10: Eric Voskuil & John Carvalho on Bitcoin

This record-breaking episode of the Bitcoin Takeover podcast, whose running time exceeds 8 hours, features John Carvalho and Eric…

S15 E60: Andrey Sabelnikov & Pavel Nikienkov on Zano, the CryptoNote Wars & Private Proof of Stake

Zano co-founders Andrey Sabelnikov & Pavel Nikienkov on private tokens, hybrid proof of stake, the Bytecoin vs Monero feud and…

S15 E59: David Burkett on MWEB, Litecoin Privacy & Why Drivechains Need a Use Case

David Burkett, the developer who built MWEB for Litecoin, explains MimbleWimble, stealth addresses, peg-out leaks, Grin's decline…

S15 E58: Liam Eagen, Robin Linus & Jonas Nick on Shielded CSV, Private Client-Side Validation & the Future of Bitcoin Privacy

Liam Eagen, Robin Linus and Jonas Nick explain Shielded CSV: private client-side validation with ZK proofs, BitVM bridges…

S15 E57: Orkun Kilic on Citrea, ZK Rollups & Building the Bitcoin Economy

Days after the Citrea testnet launch, Orkun Kilic explains ZK rollups vs sidechains, BitVM's trust model, drivechains, StarkWare…

S15 E56: Richard Werner on Bitcoin, CBDCs & the Case for Community Banks

Prof. Richard Werner, who coined quantitative easing, on why banks create money, why CBDCs threaten us all, why cash is freedom…

S15 E55: Jake Yocom-Piatt & Phoenix Green on Decred, Bison Wallet & the Trouble With Proof of Work

Decred co-founder Jake Yocom-Piatt and Phoenix Green on hybrid consensus, the mining cartel they voted out, Bison Wallet swaps…

S15 E54: Kruw on Running a Wasabi Coordinator, Blockchain Analysis & the Myths of Bitcoin Privacy

Kruw runs Wasabi's biggest coinjoin coordinator for zero fees. He explains how blockchain analysis works, Samourai's double…

S15 E53: Charlie Shrem on the Block Size Wars, Life After Prison & Bitcoin's Leaderless Future

BitInstant co-founder Charlie Shrem clarifies his block size war stance, recalls prison and rebirth, defends Tether and explains…

S15 E52: Ben Arc on the Future of Lightning, Bitcoin & Nostr

LNbits creator Ben Arc says Lightning is only 5% done, explains why ecash mints worry him, and shares his plans for LNbits, Boltz…

S15 E51: Mike Carson on Impervious, Spaces Protocol & Owning Your Name on Bitcoin

Impervious CEO Mike Carson explains Spaces Protocol: tokenless, cypherpunk names on Bitcoin with burned-bid auctions, ZK…

S15 E50: Murch on Popular Bitcoin Myths: Ordinals, OP_CAT, Zero-Conf & the 2140 Panic

Murch of Chaincode Labs and Bitcoin Stack Exchange busts popular Bitcoin myths: ordinals as spam, a captured Bitcoin Core…

S15 E49: Edan Yago on BitcoinOS, Permaware & Scaling Bitcoin with ZK Rollups

Edan Yago explains BitcoinOS, BitSNARK and the first ZK proof verified on Bitcoin mainnet, why rollups beat sidechains, and why…

S15 E48: Paul Puey on Edge Wallet, the Four Layers of Privacy & Why Bitcoin's Layer 1 Might Die

Edge Wallet CEO Paul Puey on self-custody exchanges, Monero view keys, the four layers of crypto privacy, Lightning's limits, and…

S15 E36: Eli Ben-Sasson on STARKs, Rollups & Privacy

Eli Ben-Sasson of StarkWare explains STARKs vs SNARKs, OP_CAT, quantum risk, Zcash's UX problem and why Bitcoin could scale 1000x…

S15 E23: John Carvalho on Lightning, Synonym & Bitcoin

Before becoming the CEO and co-founder of Synonym, John Carvalho was one of the most prominent Bitcoin and Lightning advocates…

S15 E21: Fiatjaf on Nostr, Drivechains & Why Lightning Sucks

Fiatjaf is one of the most prolific developers in Bitcoin and Lightning. But despite contributing to lots of Lightning open…

S15 E20: Bastien & Baudoin on Satochip, Satodime, Seedkeeper & Bitcoin Self-Custody

With the power of smart card security technology, Satochip offers an affordable way to self-custody your bitcoins, turn them into…

S15 E22: Eric Voskuil on Libbitcoin & Bitcoin Culture

Eric Voskuil embodies one of the most harmonious combinations of cypherpunk ethos and Austrian economics… with a twist! As the…

S15 E19: Alexei Zamyatin on Build on Bitcoin & Layer 2s

Alexei Zamyatin is a (recovering) academic cryptographer who co-founded the Build on Bitcoin project – an initiative which…

S15 E17: Andrew Poelstra on Bitcoin Covenants (OP_CAT vs OP_CTV)

As of February 2023, there seems to be a consensus among users that Bitcoin needs covenants. And Andrew Poelstra, as Director of…

Bitcoin Takeover Podcast Celebrates 5 Years of Existence!

On February 6th 2019, I published the first 11 episodes of the Bitcoin Takeover podcast. At the time, it was my most…

S15 E7: Sergio Demian Lerner on Rootstock, Satoshi’s Bitcoins, Drivechains & More

Sergio Demian Lerner is perhaps the most prolific Bitcoin contributor from Argentina… and certainly one of the most underrated…

S15 E5: Edan Yago on Sovryn, Bitcoin DeFi & Challenging the Orthodoxy

Edan Yago is a core contributor to the Sovryn project: a decentralized finance (DeFi) layer that’s built on top of Bitcoin’s…

S15 E4: Alexis Roussel on Nym, Privacy & Suing the Swiss Financial Regulator

Alexis Roussel is one of the most remarkable and accomplished bitcoiners from Switzerland. He sits on the board of companies such…

S15 E3: Hernán Marino on Bitcoin in Argentina & Becoming a Core Dev

Hernán Marino is a software engineer, academic, and Bitcoin enthusiast from Argentina. In this episode, he delves into the impact…

S15 E2: Sergi Delgado on Developing Bitcoin at Chaincode

Sergi Delgado is an engineer at Chaincode Labs, whose academic background is in peer to peer (P2P) networks research. After…

S15 E1: Max Hillebrand & Lando Rothbardian on Wasabi’s New “Buy Anything” Button

With the launch of version 2.0.5, Wasabi wallet now includes a “Buy Anything” button. Though it might sound banal, what it does…

S14 E18: Lisa Neigut & Calle on Scaling Bitcoin & Free Open Source Software

During the 10th edition of Hackers Congress at Paralelni Polis (HCPP), I’ve had the pleasure to meet Lisa Neigut and Calle. The…

S14 E17: Rodolfo Andragnes on Labitconf 2023 & Argentinian Elections

In times of hyperinflation and political uncertainty, the 11th annual edition of Labitconf makes the bold decision to have a…

S14 E15: Phil Zimmermann on Bitcoin, Cryptography & PGP

Without Phil Zimmermann, Bitcoin couldn’t get invented. I know that this is a bold statement, but there are two main ways in…

S14 E5: Ben Arc on LNBits and Nostr

Ben Arc is the creator of LNBits: a modular Lightning wallet which empowers users to pick their desired features (presented as…

S14 E4: Peter Todd vs Sergej Kotliar on Full RBF

In the first half of 2023, before ordinal inscriptions emerged and Drivechains stole the spotlight for the rest of the year, Full…

S14 E8: Fadi Barbàra on DMix & Bitcoin Privacy

Fadi Barbàra is a cryptography researcher from the University of Turin who came up with the DMix protocol: an interesting…

S14 E3: Matej Zak on Trezor’s New Hardware

As the new CEO of Trezor, Matej Zak takes on the responsibility to expand and optimize a Bitcoin security empire. Trezor, the…

S14 E7: Martin Habovštiak on Firefish & Rust Bitcoin Development

Martin Habovštiak is one of the most prolific Slovakian Bitcoin developers. Better known as Kixunil, he currently maintains the…

S14 E6: Mike in Space on STAMPs and Attacking Bitcoin

Mike in Space’s journey into the world of Bitcoin began with his popular show Bitcoin Car Talk, back in 2016. His latest…

S13 E1: Eric Sirion & Obi Nwosu on Fedimint & Fedi

Eric Sirion and Obi Nwosu are responsible for bringing to life and popularizing the idea of increasing Bitcoin adoption through…

S12 E15: Chris (OB_HODL) on Bumbee

Content monetization is one of the most delicate issues on the internet – and Bumbee proposes a bold alternative to platforms…

S12 E5: Rodolfo Andragnes on Labitconf’s 10th Anniversary (Buenos Aires, November 10-13, 2022)

Rodolfo Andragnes is a man of many firsts. He was one of the first Argentinians to discover and adopt Bitcoin, and he’s…

S11 E5: Charlie Lee on Mimble Wimble Extension Blocks (MWEB)

Mimble Wimble and Extension Blocks are two interesting Bitcoin proposals that were heavily discussed by Core developers, but…

The 8 Editions of the First BTCTKVR Magazine

Since I first introduced it to the world via Twitter on July 19th 2021, the BTCTKVR magazine has exceeded all expectations. What…

The First 109 Episodes of the Bitcoin Takeover Podcast

Much like Satoshi Nakamoto’s decentralized money system, the Bitcoin Takeover Podcast was launched in times of turmoil and…

S9 E7: Knut Svanholm on Sovereignty & Bitcoin in El Salvador

Knut Svanholm is the kind of bitcoiner who looks for the bullish perspective into every situation. As the author of “Bitcoin…

Bitcoin Takeover Radio #6: Double the Fun!

You know what’s better than a radio stream which includes episodes from some of the most prolific and interesting Bitcoin…

S9 E5: Matt Hill on the Philosophy of Sovereignty

Today, sovereignty is more important than ever. As the internet centralizes around a handful of actors and data becomes more…

Where To Listen to the Bitcoin Takeover Podcast

The Bitcoin Takeover Podcast has been running for more than seven years and now has 372 episodes: long conversations with the…

Bitcoin Takeover Is Now Listed On Lopp.net Under 3 Categories

Jameson Lopp’s “Bitcoin Education and Resources” list is often regarded as one of the best places to discover high-quality and…

S7 E2: Colin Aulds on Video Games, USSR History & VR

Colin Aulds describes himself as a Bitcoin accelerationist who is a humanist and a consequentialist before being a libertarian…

Now Live: Bitcoin Takeover Podcast Season 7!

After two weeks of intensive scheduling and recording, followed by another week of searching for sponsors and producing the…

S6 E9: Jonas Nick, Peter Todd & Alekos Filini on Bitcoin Development

Jonas Nick (@n1ckler), Peter Todd (@peterktodd), and Alekos Filini (@afilini) talks about Bitcoin development. Some major topics…

BTCTurk Is The Turkish Football Federation’s New Sponsor

On August 20th 2020, the Turkish Football Federation has unveiled a new official sponsor: BTCTurk. This is incredible news for…

S6 E2: Crypto Coder Bob on Sovereignty and Bingo Cards

Crypto Coder Bob (8333tcoin on Twitter) talks about sovereignty through nodes and cryptography, as well as using Bingo cards as…

Buy a Trezor Model T, Get a Free Trezor One [Affiliate Ad]

On the 6th anniversary of the Trezor One, you get the original hardware wallet for free when buying a Trezor Model T.

S4 Sponsored: Jack Tao on Phemex

Phemex CEO Jack Tao talks about his journey from Morgan Stanley to Bitcoin, and explains why he enjoys the decentralized world.

S4 E5: Bryan Aulds on the Billfodl Steel Plate and Cold Storage Solutions

Billfodl co-founder Bryan Aulds is one of the people who understand the problems involved in managing Bitcoin private keys and…

Bitcoin Takeover Podcast Season 4 Sponsors

The fourth season of the Bitcoin Takeover Podcast is all about hardware wallet makers and their breakers. It will feature 10…

S3 E10: Christian “CK” on Shitcoins and Sovereignty

Are shitcoins just a convenient smokescreen which keeps governments and regulated distracted from Bitcoin? This has to be the…

S3 E7: Colin Harper on Bitcoin Journalism and Marxism

Bitcoin Magazine journalist Colin Harper is a university graduate with a degree in English. In his spare time, he takes a lot…

S3 E6: Gigi on Bitcoin as a Living Organism

Paradoxically, Austrian bitcoiner Gigi has had no exposure to the Austrian School of Economics before he got into Bitcoin…

S3 E5: Truth Raider on Paul Le Roux and Bitcoin in Turkey

American bitcoiner Truth Raider talks about his libertarian mindset, why he got into Bitcoin, how left-wingers can also be…

S3 E4: Carlos Roldan on Satoshi’s Games and Lightning Network

Spanish bitcoiner Carlos Roldan is the creator and lead developer of Satoshi’s Games, an awarded video game platform which makes…

S3 E3: Dan Hannum, from Wall Street to Bitcoin

Dan Hannum is one of these people who could have easily lived a prosperous life working for traditional financial institutions…

S3 E2: Jeremy on Bitcoin and American Patriotism

Jeremy is one of these folks whose dedication and work ethic are truly remarkable. I’ve met him on Twitter just about an…

S3 E1: Shaitan Ioton on Bitcoin Philosophy & Influencers

If one was to describe Shaitan Ioton in one sentence, he’d probably be an admirer of everything unconventional and out of the…

S2 Bonus: Unpopular Opinions with Chris DeRose

Chris DeRose is one of the most divisive and controversial figures in the Bitcoin space. Though he has received the “fake…

S2 E11: Brent Philbin on Bitcoin-only conferences and podcasting

There seems to be a popular opinion among bitcoiners that the podcast market is oversaturated with too much content. However…

S2 E10: R.L. Bryer on Austrian Economics and Bitcoin

R.L. Bryer is an old-time bitcoiner who chose to lay low and watch the numbers go up throughout the years. But when…

S2 E9: Fartface2000 on #LNTrustChain and Investments in BTC

American bitcoiner Jim, best known as Fartface2000 and his great contribution to the #LNTrustChain movement which Hodlonaut…

S2 E7: Sasquatch Muscle on going from Shitcoiner to Bitcoin Maximalist

American bitcoiner Sasquatch Muscle has really come a long way. He started out as a poorly informed shitcoin speculator who was…

S2 E6: Patrick Miller on Bitcoin, Sovereignty, and Responsibility

In his 6+ years of being in the Bitcoin space, Patrick Miller has been able to observe many of the developments and…

S2 E4: Rajarshi Maitra on Bitcoin in India and the cult status of BTC communities

On June 29th 2019 I’ve had the pleasure to interview Indian bitcoiner Rajarshi Maitra. I was curious to find out more about…

S1 E2: John Carvalho on Being a Long Time Bitcoiner and Getting Engaged in Bitcoin Politics

John Carvalho (Bitcoin Error Log) talks about his involvement in the Bitcoin community and reveals some of his economic and…

S1 E1: Donald McIntyre on Bitcoin, The Teachings of Tim May and Nick Szabo, and the History of Money

In this season premiere, Donald McIntyre talks about the anthropological and historical elements that led to the creation of…

S1 E3: Zack Voell on Bitcoin as a Political Instrument, The Opt-In Economy & Dating

Before becoming a researcher on markets and data journalism at Coindesk, and even prior to his Blockstream adventure, Zack Voell…

The 5 Rules of The Bitcoin Takeover Podcast

Revolutions don’t need rules. But The Bitcoin Takeover Podcast has 5 of them.

Coming Soon!

The first season of the Bitcoin Takeover Podcast will soon get published so you can partake in this inevitable world domination…