My guest this week is Preston Byrne. Preston is vocal critic of crazy prices and projects in the world cryptocurrencies. His background is in the legal world and also as a founder and former COO of Monax, which made the first open-source permissioned blockchain client.

As Preston says, he is a “blockchain without bitcoin” guy, who believes that this crypto mania will end in some sort of apocalypse for token holders and ICO issuers .

We tackle several issues, from his broad skepticism of crypto assets, to the potential regulatory reaction from major governments, to types of coins like stable coins, which Preston views as analogous to perpetual motion machines.

Please enjoy our conversation and for any crypto investors out there, let me know if this conversation affects your opinion of the investing prospects for cryptocurrencies.

Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.

Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Links Referenced

Bitcoin white paper

The Bear Case for Crypto

Hash Power series

Zero Hedge

Preston tweet on Reverse network effect

Show Notes

2:12 - (First Question) –Ponzi scheme vs pyramid scheme vs Nakimoto scheme

5:29 – Why there are regulatory challenges to cryptocurrency

5:33 – The Bear Case for Crypto

9:59 – Who are the most influential people supporting this and how are they swaying the regulatory minefield on this issue

10:28 – Hash Power series

13:23 – Looking into the idea of a digital asset and the difference between blockchain and the token itself

16:09 – What about the idea that cryptocurrency’s only feature is that it’s censorship resistant

18:39 – Why cryptocurrencies become less usable the more successful they are

18:59 – Zero Hedge

21:04 – Why can’t we rely on offchain solutions to solve the scaling issue

22:29 – The idea of bubbles and what happens next in this one

25:41 – What are the incentives to build technology to support cryptocurrencies

29:23 – Explaining Ripple

31:21 – What would precipitate a massive reversal in the inflated valuations of cryptocurrencies

34:52 – Understanding reverse network effects

34:36 – Preston tweet on Reverse network effect

37:45 – The principles behind Stablecoin

42:20 – What has been the greatest lesson that Preston has learned about blockchain he wish he knew when he first got started

44:05 – How embedded will blockchain be by 2024/2025

45:12 – ICO’s, why Preston is not a fan and if there are any positives to them

50:20 – What are the conditions under which these things will be viewed legally.

54:00 – Preston’s history owning cryptocurrencies

55:35 – What has Preston most excited in the space

59:02 – Utility settlement coin

1:00:36 – Why the fascination with marmots

1:02:10 – What to reference before getting started with cryptocurrencies

1:04:03 – Understanding supply chains in block chain

1:07:14 – Some smart people on block chain to follow

1:08:24 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Preston

Learn More

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub

Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag