Bitcoin Magazine Podcast

Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, reached Congress by an unusual route: founding software companies and holding Bitcoin since 2013. BPI's David Zell sat down with him at PubKey to talk about how a builder's instincts shape the way he legislates, his bill to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the U.S., and the policy questions AI is raising faster than Washington can answer.
The conversation covers everything from Begich's 440 coins on Mt. Gox to the American Reserve Modernization Act (ARMA). They dive into the ~93-year cycle of global reserve currencies, the "untethering" of money from scarcity, and Begich's belief that AI's hardest problem is the "disintermediation of purpose" rather than unemployment. They close on UBI, Alaska's Permanent Fund as a model of citizen ownership, and what's next for the budget and healthcare.
Guest: Rep. Nick Begich, R-AlaskaHost: David Zell, Bitcoin Policy InstituteRecorded at PubKey DC
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Intro: A Founder Comes to Congress1:21 From Baylor to Ford to Building a Software Company5:17 Finding Bitcoin in 2013 & Surviving Mt. Gox6:44 The Founder's Mindset vs. the Zero-Sum Worldview13:56 ARMA: The Case for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve19:25 The "Untethering Event": Scarcity, Inflation & the Debt Spiral25:58 AI's Promise, Peril & the "Disintermediation of Purpose"31:59 Open-Source AI, China & Catastrophic Misuse Risk39:14 Drawing the Regulatory Line & the "Bitcoin of AI"42:25 UBI vs. Alaska's Permanent Fund: "Universal Basic Investment"49:43 What's Next: The Budget, Healthcare & Quantum
#Bitcoin #BitcoinPolicy #ARMA #NickBegich #AIPolicy #DigitalAssets #StrategicBitcoinReserve #BPI #Crypto #MonetaryPolicy
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BTC Inc., Bitcoin Magazine, or any affiliated entities. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Nothing contained in this show constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. Viewers should consult their own advisors before making financial or business decisions.

While US companies race to stack Bitcoin for "number go up," Africa Bitcoin Corporation is using it to change lives. Host Brandon Green talks with Stafford Masie about why Bitcoin adoption in Africa looks completely different from Western capital markets. Stafford breaks down how ABC — the first publicly listed Bitcoin treasury company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange — borrows against Bitcoin to fund a private-credit engine backing real African businesses.

🔶 Host: Brandon Green — BTC Inc CEO

🔶 Stafford Masie — Africa Bitcoin Corporation (ABC)

Chapters:

00:36 — Africa Bitcoin Corporation
02:17 — Why Bitcoin Hits Different Across Africa
07:53 — "Insulin to a Diabetic": How Bitcoin Saves Lives
13:00 — Turning Bitcoin Into a Lightsaber for Cheap Capital
19:12 — One Bitcoin Equals 5 to 8 African Jobs
26:00 — Africa's First Public Bitcoin Treasury on the JSE
33:22 — The 2050 Vision: Going Pan-African
42:09 — Real Stories: Fishing Boats & Township Businesses
55:50 — AI, Mining & a Final Word on Bitcoin's Soul

#Bitcoin #BitcoinAfrica #AfricaBitcoinCorporation #StaffordMasie #BitcoinMagazine #BitcoinTreasury #BitcoinAdoption #PristineCapital #PrivateCredit #SouthAfrica #JSE #BitcoinEkasi #CircularEconomy #BitcoinLending #Debasement #Machankura #MoneyBadger #BitcoinRemittances #FinancialInclusion #MichaelSaylor #SoundMoney #HardMoney #EmergingMarkets #BitcoinNews #Satoshi

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BTC Inc., Bitcoin Magazine, or any affiliated entities. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Nothing contained in this show constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. Viewers should consult their own advisors before making financial or business decisions.

Most athletes get talked out of Bitcoin by their financial advisors — Kenny Florian went the other way. The four-weight-class UFC veteran explains how he discovered Bitcoin after retiring, why he kept buying as his conviction grew, and how the fighter's mindset prepares you to ignore the noise when markets panic. He breaks down why he sees Bitcoin as a tool for financial freedom and sovereignty, not just a price chart. 

Use code BM10 to get 10% off Bitcoin 2027 Conference in Nashville: https://2027.b.tc
🔶 Host: Isabella Santos — Get Based
🔶 Kenny Florian — Former UFC Fighter/Commentator

0:43 – Fighting in Four Weight Classes
1:27 – Discovering Bitcoin After Retiring in 2011
3:16 – Ignoring the "Don't Buy Bitcoin" Advice
4:11 – Building Conviction: Bitcoin as a Swiss Army Knife
6:26 – Dropping Bitcoin References in the UFC World
9:02 – Where Conviction Comes From: Patience & Faith
11:08 – "Bitcoin Was Created for Everybody"
13:29 – Orange-Pilling Family & a Bold 2027 Prediction
16:08 – 60-Second Pitch to a Skeptic 

#Bitcoin #KennyFlorian #UFC #MMA #BitcoinConference #BitcoinMagazine #OrangePill #FinancialFreedom #SoundMoney #BitcoinNews #BTC #SelfCustody #Sovereignty #Bitcoiner #BitcoinInvesting #Decentralization #BitcoinEducation #HODL #FighterTurnedBitcoiner #BitcoinForEveryone

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BTC Inc., Bitcoin Magazine, or any affiliated entities. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Nothing contained in this show constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. Viewers should consult their own advisors before making financial or business decisions.

The market for AI tokens barely exists yet and that's exactly why this moment matters. In this Bitcoin Policy Hour, the team debates whether the AI industry disperses into many players or consolidates into an "AI Google," and what either outcome means for freedom, surveillance, and the dollar. They also tackle the US–China compute race, autonomous weapons, and data centers in space.
🔶 Connect with Zack Shapiro on X: https://x.com/zackbshapiro🔶 Connect with Zack Cohen on X: https://x.com/zackcohen_🔶 Connect with Ken Egan on X: https://x.com/Bayman11771🔶 Learn more about the Bitcoin Policy Institute: https://www.btcpolicy.org/
Chapters:
01:49 — Fable 5 & Mythos 5: Anthropic's safety-gated release06:28 — Record IPOs, capital rotation & Bitcoin's price slide11:00 — Token economics: who actually profits from AI?16:25 — If you ran Anthropic, what would you charge?23:04 — market dispersion & the anti-monopoly case29:12 — Energy vs. compute: the AI buildout imperative37:17 — Data centers in space & the Dyson swarm41:03 — Bitcoin as the currency of AI agents46:23 — Surveillance, data brokers & the authoritarian-AI risk
#Bitcoin #BitcoinPolicy #BitcoinPolicyInstitute #BPI #BitcoinPolicyHour #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Anthropic #ClaudeAI #FableFive #Mythos #AIPolicy #AIRegulation #Compute #DataCenters #EnergyPolicy #SpaceX #IPO #TokenEconomics #AIAgents #BitcoinMining #HashRate #NationalSecurity #USChina #AISafety #Macro
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BTC Inc., Bitcoin Magazine, or any affiliated entities. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Nothing contained in this show constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. Viewers should consult their own advisors before making financial or business decisions.

Most Bitcoin scaling projects pick a lane. Arkade refuses to. In this conversation, Ark Labs' Andrew "Kukks" Camilleri explains why Arkade is a general-purpose off-chain environment where you can express your own unlocking scripts — multisig, hash-lock contracts, and more — without opinionated rails like built-in Lightning. He and Shinobi unpack the cosigner trust model, trusted execution environments, and how users can self-deploy signers to remove the possibility of incorrect execution.

Grab your copy THE 2036 ISSUE👇 https://store.bitcoinmagazine.com/pages/the-2036-issue

🔶 Shinobi — Bitcoin Magazine

🔶 Andrew "Kukks" Camilleri — Ark Labs

Chapters:

01:01 — What Is Ark? Single Output, Multiple Owners

01:50 — Batch Creation, Intents & VTXOs

02:46 — Forfeit Transactions and Connector Outputs

03:35 — The Virtual Mempool and Off-Chain Transfers

04:43 — Arkade vs Second: A Different Direction

05:35 — A General-Purpose Off-Chain Environment

06:32 — Extending Beyond Bitcoin's Base Layer

07:36 — The Cosigner Trust Model and Enclaves

09:11 — Self-Deployable Signers, Marketplaces & Lightning Swaps

11:38 — Enforcement, Fallbacks & What Ships Next

#Bitcoin #Ark #Arkade #ArkLabs #Kukks #BitcoinMagazine #Shinobi #BitcoinScaling #VTXO #LightningNetwork #BitcoinCovenants #BitcoinMultisig #ArkadeScript #BitcoinOpcodes #TrustedExecutionEnvironment #TEE #Enclaves #DLC #OffChainBitcoin #BitcoinLayer2 #BitcoinDevelopment #BitcoinProtocol #AtomicSwaps #BitcoinScript #BitcoinPayments

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BTC Inc., Bitcoin Magazine, or any affiliated entities. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Nothing contained in this show constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. Viewers should consult their own advisors before making financial or business decisions.