From Footballer to Bitcoiner with Conor Okus - WBD677
The Peter McCormack Show
Peter McCormack
4.7 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2023
⏱️ 67 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Conor Okus is Product Manager at Spiral. In this interview, we discuss his journey from being a footballer to becoming a Bitcoiner, Real Bedford and the alignment of Bitcoin with a grassroots football club, his current role at Spiral managing the grant programme for developers, and his view on the benefits of open source development of Bitcoin.
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Bitcoin has been making waves in various industries, and sports is no exception. Conor Okus is a footballer [a.k.a. Soccer player!] who found Bitcoin. Peter is a Bitcoiner who came back to football. They met in the middle when Conor provided Pete with advice and support in establishing Real Bedford.
Real Bedford is using Bitcoin in various ways, such as a treasury reserve asset and for educational efforts. They plan to incorporate it into football games by tipping players with QR codes. The grassroots movement of Bitcoin aligns with Real Bedford's grassroots approach to football, making it a perfect fit.
Conor and Pete discuss a new wave of football and sports teams based on ideas that resonate with dispersed communities, and the challenges of setting up a new football club. They also talk about the downside of vested interests looking to exploit sport and fan bases for selfish means.
Now Conor lives and works in the US as part of the Spiral team, managing an invaluable grant programme for developers. Conor then shares his experience and expertise in supporting open-source Bitcoin development, scaling Bitcoin transactions through lightning, the importance of the user experience in Bitcoin, and fostering an innovative open-source design community.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I don't think lightning was ever the scaling solution be or end all but |
| 0:10.6 | represents one of many scaling solutions that we're going to have to do anyways. |
| 0:15.0 | Good morning, Bitcoiners, or good afternoon, or even good evening depends where you are. |
| 0:20.0 | I guess depends what time it is. |
| 0:22.0 | Depends what time you're listening to |
| 0:23.3 | this show but it's the morning here in Bedford I'm about to go and do Steve |
| 0:27.2 | Lubbker proud I'm about to go and do a walk but hidden that every day I've been training |
| 0:32.2 | twice a day trying to get myself fit for the new season |
| 0:35.2 | Not because I'm gonna play just need to live a little bit longer need to get rid of this fat belly anyway listen how are you all |
| 0:41.8 | Welcome to the what Bitcoin did podcast, |
| 0:44.0 | which is brought to you by Iris Energy, |
| 0:46.0 | the largest NASDAQ listed Bitcoin miner, |
| 0:48.0 | using 100% renewable energy. |
| 0:50.0 | I'm your host Peter McCormack, |
| 0:52.0 | and today I've got my boy Connor Oakers on the show. |
| 0:55.0 | Now I first met Connor nearly two years ago. |
| 0:58.0 | Not long after I bought Rail Bedford. |
| 1:00.0 | He was introduced to me, I was told, there is a Bitcoiner who used to play for West Ham and |
| 1:04.9 | he was interested in getting involved in the club. So I met up with Connor and London |
| 1:08.7 | he ended up joining the team he's actually the only player who's played for Railroad, who's had his salary paid in |
| 1:15.5 | Bitcoin, which is pretty rad. Now, Connor isn't just an ex-footballer. He also works for Spiral. |
| 1:20.8 | He's a product manager there, and so obviously in this show we get |
... |
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