Crypto Wars | The Great Slow Motion Swindle | 3

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2021

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s 2013 and bitcoin’s gaining traction at last. But just as crypto reaches for credibility, bitcoin is blindsided by high-profile arrests, corporate collapses and multi-million-dollar hacks.

But as the leading lights of the bitcoin industry crash and burn, Coinbase senses a chance to cash in on the failures of others.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Business Wars ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today.
0:16.0	2013, a penthouse in Panama City.
0:20.0	Inside, there's a party going on, but on the balcony, Bid instant CEO Charlie Schrem stands alone looking out over the city's impressive skyline.
0:30.0	Tall skyscrapers lit up in gaudy neon, stretch into the dark skies, cars zipp along the highways below, and huge ships float down the famous canal.
0:42.0	Roger Veer, the Bid instant investor in cryptocurrency champion known as the Bitcoin Jesus, slips away from the party to join Schrem outside.
0:52.0	Amazing, isn't it? Panama, the real land of the free. None of that anti-money laundering compliance crap. You can make a decision without worrying about getting locked up.
1:04.0	Veer spots the glum look on Schrem's face. Something wrong, Charlie? I just checked my emails. The Winkle Voss twins are on my case again. They want Bid instant's new site launched within 30 days, and if it doesn't happen, they're gonna pull their funding.
1:21.0	Without that money, Bid instant's gonna go under.
1:24.0	Huh. Typical Winkle Voss tantrum.
1:28.0	They make me feel like dirt, Roger. I mean, they actually called me a child, a child. Can you believe that, man? They tell me I'm doing it all wrong, but it's not like they've ever run a company.
1:39.0	Veer wraps an arm around Schrem. Come on, forget about them. They just want you to be their puppet.
1:46.0	That's unfair. They want Bitcoin to succeed. They just have a different view of how to do it.
1:54.0	From me or from you?
1:58.0	Schrem pulls away from Veer and turns back to look at the city.
2:03.0	I don't know. It's not just them. Gareth also emailed me about BTC King. He's this guy down in Florida. He's one of our biggest customers.
2:14.0	But Gareth says I should shut his account because his transactions smack of money laundering.
2:19.0	What did you say? I said money laundering cool. I know I shouldn't have been so flippant. After all, Gareth's my co-founder.
2:30.0	Come on, Charling. Come back to the party. Worry about all that stuff tomorrow.
2:36.0	Yeah. I guess you're right.
2:40.0	The pair returned to the party.
2:43.0	But for bit instant, the good times are about to end. Schrem's failed to attract new investors.
2:50.0	The Winkelvoss twins are ready to walk and the company's running out of cash.
	...

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