The Politics of Bitcoin

The Breakdown

Blockworks

Investing, Business

4.8 • 786 Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2021

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode is sponsored by NYDIG. On today’s episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW looks at how bitcoin’s place in the political dialogue in the United States has changed dramatically over the years. He argues 2021 will be remembered as the year politicians started taking the industry seriously. The episode features a thread from Ohio U.S. Senate candidate Morgan Harper: https://twitter.com/mh4oh/status/1458064822772375565 - NYDIG, the institutional-grade platform for bitcoin, is making it possible for thousands of banks who have trusted relationships with hundreds of millions of customers, to offer Bitcoin. Learn more at NYDIG.com/NLW. Enjoying this content? SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M= Join the discussion: https://discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8 Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Dark Crazed Cap” by Isaac Joel. Image credit: Malte Mueller/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW.
0:09.1	It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big-picture power shifts remaking our world.
0:16.2	The breakdown is sponsored by Nidig and produced and distributed by CoinDesk.
0:22.7	What's going on, guys? It is Friday, November 12th, and today we are talking about the politics of Bitcoin.
0:30.5	And no, I don't mean we're talking about post-apocalyptic libertarian fantasies, you jerks.
0:35.9	What I mean is that we are talking about the state of political
0:39.9	discourse around Bitcoin and crypto and how it is intersecting with the political and crypto systems.
0:46.5	One of the things that's always made Bitcoin so interesting to me is that it is in some ways
0:50.8	inherently political, yet ultimately philosophically agnostic. What I mean is that
0:56.3	wrenching control of the system of money, or at least providing an alternative to the system of money
1:01.2	from governments, is an inherently political act. Yet, who gets to participate in that inherently
1:06.6	political act has no political or philosophical gatekeeping. Bitcoin is not only for everyone,
1:13.0	it is for enemies. People who are completely diametrically opposed to each other can both
1:18.8	use Bitcoin for their purposes. That's a really unique and different thing. Now, where Bitcoin
1:24.8	and Crypto more broadly fits into the larger political landscape has been a long
1:29.1	evolving concern.
1:30.9	There was an extended period there at the beginning where it was just all about Silk Road.
1:35.7	It was money for criminals.
1:37.6	To be clear, for some politicians, it still is in this phase and will always be this.
1:42.6	In fact, you could almost say this is the base political
1:44.8	discourse. There was also a period for which it was just the new Ponzi and on ramp to a world of
1:50.3	scams and schemes. Just like the Silk Road and criminal analysis, while parts of it were true
	...

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