Stephan Livera Podcast

In this episode, I interviewed several people at Bitcoin Asia 2026.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Interview with Adam Poulton

06:28 Interview with Giovanni Santostasi

15:18 Interview Jeff Walton of Strive

34:11 Interview with Alex B from ArkLabs

Links: 

• http://x.com/Giovann35084111

• http://x.com/adampoulton

• http://x.com/bergealex4

• http://x.com/arklabshq

• http://x.com/punterjeff

• http://x.com/strive

Stephan Livera links:

• Follow...

In this episode, Piers Macrae demonstrates Wallet Playground and explains why hardware wallets are signing devices, not wallets.

Timestamps:

01:10 — Teach Me vs Do It For Me

03:23 — Test Any Wallet Free in Browser

09:09 — Coldcard Drama Forced Early Release

14:03 — Generate Seeds Using Your Webcam

17:52 — Hardware Wallets Aren't Real Wallets

21:52 — Only 1% Use Multisig for Life Savings

25:33 — Sel...

In this episode,Keith Mukai of SeedSigner joins to explain why 1.4 percent variance in cheap dice still delivers full 128-bit entropy and how to verify rolls across devices.

Timestamps:

03:10 — Cheap Dice Only 1.4% Unfair?

06:29 — Shake Multiple Dice in a Box

08:26 — Verify Dice Rolls Across Devices

11:02 — Verify Dice Seeds With Fake Rolls

13:50 — Multiple Test Rounds Foil Attackers

16:36 — 90% Users C...

In this episode, Rich from the team at Blockstream explains Jade, offline dice entropy, blind oracle protection, multisig descriptor recovery and the new Blockstream Swaps beta.

Timestamps:

00:45 — AI Scans & Audits Secure Jade

03:21 — Jade Core $99, Plus Up to $169

05:51 — Roll Dice for Offline Seed Entropy

08:23 — Blind Oracle: Remote Secure Element Explained

11:15 — Seed QR: Hand-Draw Your Recovery Ph...

Lightning Labs built Wavelength to deliver self-custodial Lightning payments without forcing users to run nodes, manage channels, or handle liquidity.

Olaoluwa Osuntokun, CTO and co-founder of Lightning Labs, and Michael Levin, VP of Product, join me to detail the design choices behind their Ark implementation.

They explain why Ark was selected, how hop hints let every payment use ordinary Lightning invoices, and why the four-endpoin...

Old self-custody approaches collapse once Bitcoin reaches six figures, physical threats rise, and AI tools proliferate. Single hardware wallets and mattress myths no longer match the scale or risks that large holders now face.

Michael Tanguma, CEO and co-founder of Onramp, returns to examine how custody must adapt to family obligations, mortality, and market structure that turns concentrated holdings into targets.

The discussion cove...

Roy Sheinfeld of Breez returns to walk through Glow, the team's new reference wallet built using Spark. It’s designed so non-custodial Bitcoin feels simple: send, receive, and go.

Glow uses passkey onboarding (no seed phrase to write down), automatic backup via the passkey provider, and a single-balance UX so users can pay Lightning, on-chain, and stablecoin destinations without wrestling settings.

They also cover client-side s...

In this episode, Nick Neuman of Casa argues that it’s not the end of self-custody. Instead, it highlights why multisig with multiple vendors provides stronger protection without the hidden complexity of passphrases or dice rolling for single sig setups.

Timestamps:

03:12 — Not the End of Self-Custody

06:14 — Single Sig Is Actually More Complex

08:45 — Multisig Simpler Than Secure Single Sig

15:37 — $1K Sing...

Kruw (@kruwed) runs one of the highest-volume WabiSabi coordinators, giving him direct insight into how the protocol handles liquidity, Sybil resistance, and real-world usage.

Timestamps:

00:42 — Wasabi 2.8 Privacy Features 

02:45 — Taproot As Wasabi's Default Address

07:25 — Pay Inside CoinJoin Saves 40 Minutes

10:26 — Auto CoinJoin 

12:21 — WabiSabi Blocks Whale Sybil Attacks

14:31 — Payjoin...

In this episode, Mike Schmidt executive director of Brink, and volunteer coordinator for the consortium, explains how the group formed, autonomy over funding, and how it plans to avoid repeating earlier centralized roadmap fights.

Timestamps:

00:55 — Quantum Risk and the Consortium Pledge

03:10 — The Nine Consortium Members

11:40 — Publishing Quantum Research Publicly

13:39 — Brink Role and Funding Concerns

16:20 ...

Buchner, known for his work on decentralized identity at Proof, brings a technical and game-theoretic lens to the debate over Bitcoin's monetary focus versus attempts to restrict arbitrary data.

The conversation covers narrative shifts driving spam to Bitcoin, the limits of relay policy versus consensus rules, why the house analogy fails, economic node power over basement operators, and the lack of miner or buyer support that dooms ...

Lyn Alden warns that BIP 110 is unlikely to curb spam and instead mostly rearranges non-monetary data, raising the risk of a minority fork attempt that could split the Bitcoin chain.

Lyn Alden is a leading macro analyst and Bitcoiner who examines how fiscal dominance now overrides traditional monetary policy tools.

She breaks down why high debt-to-GDP ratios prevent rate hikes from taming inflation, how broad money supply still expan...

Bitcoin desire sentiment has fallen to an eight-year low, a contrarian signal that historically aligns with market bottoms rather than tops.

Michael Sullivan, an engineer and author, applies machine learning to individual X accounts to track granular Bitcoin emotions and moods over time.

He examines how entry eras shape lasting narratives, why pro-BIP 110 cohorts show strikingly low conviction, how individual tracking avoids bot poll...

Even as ETFs and MicroStrategy sell into weakness, natural spot demand has kept Bitcoin from collapsing in what may be the shallowest bear market on record. The real test now is time pain, the grinding boredom that forces out remaining weak hands after the initial price capitulation.

James Check, founder of Checkonchain.com, joins me to break down the current cycle through on-chain data and market psychology. His framework distingui...

Radar integrates self-custodial Bitcoin payments directly into Signal's messaging network, eliminating the need for separate apps or custodians when sending value to contacts.

Seth for Privacy, from the Cake Wallet team, explains how Radar targets everyday users rather than Bitcoin maximalists by preserving Signal's privacy model while adding instant Lightning-enabled transfers via Spark.

The discussion covers seamless account migrat...

Payjoin delivers transaction batching driven by real economic activity rather than waiting for pool participants, while also cutting fees through direct net settlement between counterparties.

Dan Gould, maintainer of Payjoin DevKit, explains how the new async protocol and oblivious HTTP relay change what is practical for mobile wallets today.

The conversation covers current live deployments in Bull Bitcoin and Cake Wallet, remaining ...

A South African circular economy is already running real payments on Fedimint with seven guardians on Start9 boxes. Users send eCash with zero fees inside the federation and feel the same simplicity as Wallet of Satoshi—except the custody is local and the privacy model is different.

Hermann and Joshi explain how non-technical guardians set up 5-of-7 multisig, how the Conduit wallet hides complexity, and why Fedimint beats Liqu...

In this episode,  NVK rejoins me to discuss the latest developments in Bitcoin self-custody, hardware wallets, and privacy solutions, providing valuable insights for enthusiasts and practitioners alike.

Timestamps:

00:00 Quarterly Self-Custody Update

01:28 Sparrow Wallet Update & Silent Payments

05:41 Coldcard MK5 & Recent Firmware Updates

07:53 The Evolution of Co-signing & MuSig2

11:58 Liana & Nunchuk Wallet Update...