Episode 2: Andrea Castillo

Today's discussion was actually recorded on the first of March, 2014, shortly before Newsweek broke the story of the (alleged) identity of the creator of Bitcoin. If we would have had this chat a few days later, the discussion would have undoubtedly veered into journalistic integrity, the burden of proof, and the ephemeral nature of public vs private life.

As is, we talked about Mt. Gox, the blockchain, and why it is the BTC protocol is the actual story.


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Andrea's Mercatus Center page can be found here.
Andrea's Umlaut page can be found here.

Additional material mentioned in the podcast:

https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

http://theumlaut.com/2014/01/08/bitcoin-internet-of-money/

http://theumlaut.com/2014/02/05/namecoin-icann/

http://theumlaut.com/2014/01/21/bitcoin-2-0-decentralized-corporations-derivatives-and-information-markets/

http://theumlaut.com/2013/12/10/bitcoin-watchers-think-protocol-not-price/

http://theumlaut.com/2013/12/02/bitcoins-greatest-weakness/

http://theumlaut.com/2013/08/13/silk-road-as-a-self-regulating-black-market/

http://theumlaut.com/2013/05/21/bitcoins-untapped-possibilities/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/28/mt-gox-is-bankrupt-but-bitcoin-is-going-to-be-ok/

http://szabo.best.vwh.net/shell.html

and here's a good explanation of bitcoin mining: http://qz.com/154877/by-reading-this-page-you-are-mining-bitcoins/

Edit: I couldn't find the relevant clip from The Princess Bride, but here's the quote we referenced:

Roberts had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. He took me to his cabin and he told me his secret. 'I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts' he said. 'My name is Ryan; I inherited the ship from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Dread Pirate Roberts either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Roberts has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.