Maximalism and Bitcoin culture

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…

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 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 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 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 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 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 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…

On Bitcoin Maximalism, and Dogmatically Losing the Currency and Platform Network Effects

By all significant metrics, Bitcoin maximalism is a failed ideology. What started out as an initiative to bring all…

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 E44: Chris DeRose on Bitcoin Uncensored, Simulacra & Life After Bitcoin

Bitcoin Uncensored reunion: Chris DeRose, Wayne Vaughan, Jay Berg & Paul Sztorc on simulacra, Bitcoin cults, stablecoins as bonds…

S15 E39: Pete Rizzo on Bitcoin History, Journalism & Culture

Pete Rizzo on Bitcoin history, journalism, maximalism vs libertarianism, Ordinals as art, and why the Berlin Wall between Bitcoin…

S15 E33: David Bailey on Bitcoin Maximalism, Ordinals & the Biggest Stage in Bitcoin

David Bailey on Bitcoin maximalism, Ordinals, OP_CAT vs CTV, high fees, BitVM, Tether and Bitcoin Conference boycotts, plus a…

S15 E29: Tomek Kolodziejczuk on Bitcoin Film Fest, Halving Parties & Bitcoin Cinema

Thirteen days before Bitcoin’s fourth halving, Tomek Kolodziejczuk sat down for Season 15 Episode 29 as co-organizer of the…

S15 E26: Roger Ver on Hijacking Bitcoin & Freedom Maximalism

Roger Ver on seven years with BTC and seven with BCH, his book Hijacking Bitcoin, the CashFusion chain analysis test, and why he…

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 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…

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 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 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 E20: Lea Petrasova on Vexl & Why P2P Bitcoin Exchanges Matter

Vexl is the new kid on the SatoshiLabs block – and Lea Petrasova is the proud CEO and main advocate of this…

Vlad Costea on Bitcoin Maximalism (PoW Summit, Prague, September 2023)

Bitcoin maximalism is one of the most interesting ideologies of our time. It emerged sometime in the first half of the 2010s,…

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 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 E3: Casey Rodarmor on Ordinals, Inscriptions & Bitcoin Culture

Ordinal inscriptions are all the rage. They obsoleted the concept of NFTs by offering artists a permanent way to display their…

S12 E10: Paul Sztorc on Baltic Honeybadger 2022 & BIP 300

Paul Sztorc’s Drivechains are today’s most fascinating and divisive proposal for Bitcoin scalability and expansion. If BIP 300…

S12 E4: Rahim Taghizadegan on Austrian Economics & Bitcoin as a Cult

There are plenty of bitcoiners who call themselves Austrian economists. But very few of them have the credentials of Rahim…

Elon Musk ne saisit pas ce qu’est la décentralisation, mais vous, vous devriez

La décentralisation est un concept difficile à apréhender et manifestement Elon Musk ne le comprend pas. Non seulement il a une…

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…

Pourquoi les Bitcoiners devraient jouer à Final Fantasy X

Après avoir passé près de 80 heures à jouer à la version remasterisée de Final Fantasy X, le RPG d’aventure épique de…

Bitcoin in 2021: Principles vs Number Go Up

In retrospect, it was inevitable: the fiat billionaires who added bitcoin to their companies’ balance sheets are not our friends…

Elon Musk Doesn’t Understand Decentralization – But You Should

Decentralization is hard and Elon Musk clearly doesn’t understand it. Not only that he has a childish view on blockchain scaling…

Introducing the #LightningKillsShitcoins Torch

It has been two years since Hodlonaut first passed the #LNTrushChain torch to Fartface2000 and entered the Bitcoin Lightning…

How & Why Michael Saylor & MicroStrategy Can Become Bitcoin Villains

MicroStrategy has purchased an additional X bitcoins for Y amount of cash at an average price of Z per #bitcoin. As of…

Why Bitcoiners Should Play Final Fantasy X

After spending almost 80 hours playing the remastered version of Square Enix’s 2001 epic adventure RPG Final Fantasy X, I’ve come…

Bitcoin Takeover Q&A #2: The Cheapest Bitcoin Full Node?

What is the cheapest way to run a full Bitcoin node and why are bitcoiners to toxic that they fight every day? These are two of…

Why is the BTSE Token a Big Deal?

[This article is written for BTSE’s Christmas Contest and expresses a personal reflection on the upcoming BTSE token which gets…

S3 E8: American HODL on 6.15 BTC and Eternal Riches

American HODL is one of the most remarkable and prominent sat stackers in the Bitcoin space. As a successful professional who…

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…

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 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 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 E5: Karo Zagorus on Bitcoin in Hungary and the Sociology of BTC

On June 29th 2019, I’ve had the pleasure to talk to the Hungarian bitcoiner and sociologist Karo Zagorus. As a member of…

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…

S2 E8: Giacomo Zucco on Neutrino, The B, and Bitcoin-only conferences

The second season of The Bitcoin Takeover Podcast takes off with a surprise teaser episode involving Italian BTC maximalist…