March 21, 2025 • 27 mins
Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Bitcoin Infinity Academy, brought to you by PlanB Network.
Join the academy at our Geyser page: https://geyser.fund/project/infinity
The Bitcoin Infinity Academy is an educational project built around Knut Svanholm’s books about Bitcoin and Austrian Economics. Each week, a whole chapter from one of the books is released for free on Highlighter, accompanied by a video in which Knut and Luke de Wolf discuss that chapter’s ideas. You can join the discussions by signing up for one of the courses on our Geyser page. Signed books, monthly calls, and lots of other benefits are also available.
Connect with Us: https://www.bitcoininfinityshow.com/ https://bitcoininfinitystore.com https://primal.net/infinity https://primal.net/knut https://primal.net/luke https://twitter.com/BtcInfinityShow https://twitter.com/knutsvanholm https://twitter.com/lukedewolf
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey there everyone and welcometo the very first episode of
the Bitcoin Infinity Academy.
I'm here with Luke DeWolf, um, uh,and we're trying this thing out.
We're excited to be here, Knut.
We've been thinking about doingthis academy for a really long
time, and it's awesome that we'refinally getting off the ground.
Yes, the Bitcoin Infinity Academyis brought to you by PlanB Network.
(00:24):
your number one resourcefor Bitcoin education.
So if you need any types of, uh, Bitcoineducational tools, you should go to plan
B dot network and check them out there.
They have a lot of orange peeling tools.
If you want to orange pill your friendsand bring them into the academy here.
Absolutely, and they, uh, they,uh, are graciously, uh, helping us
(00:45):
get this all out to you for free.
This is why this is all free on Noster,why these discussions are, are free
for everyone, so big thank you to them.
And also thank you to Bitbox,who has also graciously decided
to, to sponsor this initiative.
Go to bitbox.
swiss.
infinity for more about them.
They're our favorite hardware wallet.
We'll talk more about them later.
(01:06):
Yes, and this is the first episodeof the Academy, and it's also
the first episode of the BitcoinSovereignty Through Mathematics course.
And so the way this works is that, everysingle chapter of each and every one of my
books will be released for free on master.
So you can, you can read thechapters there, but you can
(01:27):
also join the discussion here.
Luke and I are going to do thislittle videos where we discuss
each and every idea in each ofthe chapters of each of the books.
and you can join our telegramgroup, which is the Bitcoin
infinity community thing, sort of.
Uh, and the other thing is thatyou can join a specific course.
So each book will be a specific course.
(01:48):
so for 21, 000 sats, you can jointhe discussions and, be in, this
thing with me and Luke and ask usquestions and challenge, challenge
the ideas and, and whatnot.
Absolutely.
And of course, of course, we'll belistening to comments online on Noster,
on all the other platforms and everything,but the course is your way to join us.
(02:10):
Join the live recordings.
We, we don't, we're not the most flexiblebunch, mostly me, but, you can, you can
join the live recordings, uh, when theyhappen, if you like, um, but, but also ask
us questions directly in, in the telegramand, and have a chat with us about it.
We also have some, uh,some special live calls.
Planned for, for course members.
(02:30):
So join us, join the discussion.
And, uh, yeah, we're gonnahave a lot of fun with,
Yes.
So the, the easiest way to, to joinour base level group is just to
buy something off of our websiteand give us your telegram handle.
But the other thing youcan do is go to geyser.
fund and you'll find ourBitcoin Infinity Academy there.
(02:53):
And.
everything, they can infinityAcademy, all the information about
all the courses and what this thingis, is on the guys for fun page.
So make sure you check that outand see what kind of part you
want to play in the all of this.
Absolutely.
And so should we, should we diveright in with the first episode for
sovereignty through mathematics?
yeah, absolutely.
(03:13):
So sovereignty through mathematicsis my first proper book on Bitcoin.
It was released back in, uh, I believemay 2019, but it didn't really take
off until, uh, August that year oreven September when I went to Riga
with 50 books in my hand luggage,but I'm getting ahead of myself here.
(03:34):
So, I started writing about Bitcoin onlinein 2017, and I wrote articles on medium.
which I later turned into abook, actually, my real first
book about Bitcoin is this one.
It's called three minutes.
Read some Bitcoin.
And this was like a prototype book.
So this is just a compilationof those articles.
(03:54):
and then I had that.
I wasn't very happy about it becauseit was the only book I had to my name.
So I decided on New Year's Eve2018 to write a proper book about
Bitcoin and that later becameSovereignty through Mathematics.
It had a working title thatwas Dealing with Bitcoin.
(04:14):
This is what it looked like.
The first prototype ofSovereignty through Mathematics.
Uh, this one even had littlegraphs and stuff in it.
but I'm very happy Ichanged the title later.
so the, the original book,uh, looked like this.
Maybe you've seen that.
we've just made a re editof all of my previous books.
(04:35):
And this is part of why we're doing this.
So this is the big relaunch.
So this is what SovereigntyThrough Mathematics looks like.
Right now, uh, beautifulhardcover, black hardcover here,
and, uh, yeah, the story about the bookis that I, uh, I made myself a New Year's
(04:55):
resolution on that New Year's Eve, uh,and that was that I was going to write
a page a day for the entire year, 2019.
And as with all New Year's resolutions,you break them after a while.
I broke mine after 106 days,but I managed to write a page
a day for 106 days at least.
But after that, I feltthe book was kind of done.
(05:18):
So that is what becameSovereignty Through Mathematics.
and I released it and no one gave a shit,until a, uh, Bitcoin core developer,
who shall not be named, uh, , startedhelping me with the editing the book.
So, so he shot me a DM and it's like,uh, I really like this book, but the
language could be better or whatnot.
(05:39):
And he helped me edit it.
And I had a, uh, a, a lot of help,so, so I, I re-edited the book a
bit and then brought 50 books toBaltic, honey Badger and Riga.
And this was back when Ihad a regular Fiat job.
I was the HR manager for a shippingcompany, and I was visiting a, um,
merchant Marine Academy in Riga.
(06:00):
That was the official reason,reason for me going there.
But of course, I had the.
The Baltic honey badgerconference in the back of my mind.
So, so I hit two birdswith one stroke there.
I went, went to the conference, um, had50 of these things in my hand luggage, uh,
gave 25 away to, um, important Bitcoinersand sold the 25 of them for either
(06:25):
cash or over the lightning networks.
Can you believe that in backin, uh, September, 2019, uh,
using the lightning network and.
As far as I can remember, it workedvery well, and then the book started
catching some, uh, attention andstarting to get a life of its own.
Uh, a couple of years later, uh, whenMichael Saylor entered the Bitcoin
(06:48):
scene, I got a DM from him a coupleof months after he first arrived.
where he complimented the book and hewanted to put it on a micro strategies,
Bitcoin educational website, hope.
com.
And it's been there ever since.
And I'm very proud that this book, didso much for me and like, um, catapulted
my, my sort of public Bitcoin or careerhere of whatever you can call it.
(07:11):
Uh, I, I never expectedthis to go anywhere really.
So I'm really happy to be hereand do this stuff with you now.
And in re editing the book withLuke, I realized that there's a lot
in here that are sort of thoughtembryos for what to be, what was to
be more fleshed out ideas in the end.
(07:32):
Subsequent books.
So, this is sort of episode 0 of theBitcoin Infinity Academy and we'll just
talk about the book in general, but thenext episode will be, uh, the 1st chapter.
Everything a trade.
Yeah.
Over to you.
Look,
Yeah, well, I mean, this, this,this story is, is, uh, is fantastic.
I mean, as you say, it's where, where thisall started and I mean, not, not to, to
(07:54):
put too, too much into like our, uh, theway we got together, I think, I think.
Are many of our listeners already know thestory and everything, but, but obviously
without, without this book and youstarting to do more things in Bitcoin, we
wouldn't have been working together and,and, and, uh, taking this all forward.
So, yeah, it all starts hereand that's just awesome.
(08:14):
And yeah, this this Academy concept.
So this first episode, whatwe're releasing this with is
with the preface and the forward.
So we'll show those here in a moment.
But yeah, like we started when westarted re editing the book and really
having the discussions about it.
That was really cool because, um,I read these books back in the
(08:37):
day when I was first getting intoBitcoin, but it'd been a while and.
And really what we, what we startedto do is what we almost always do.
We have, we have these discussionsabout anything and everything that's
going on in the Bitcoin world and whatis our take on this and everything.
And, uh, that really intensified, ofcourse, when we started to write Bitcoin,
(08:58):
the Inverse of Clown World together.
And, and we, we really fleshed out a lotof ideas in, in that particular book,
but then we went back and looked atSovereignty to Mathematics, Independence
Reimagined, everything, a million, ofthem have, have, uh, um, idea embryos
or, or, or something like that, that you,that you, you call, like, uh, there's,
(09:19):
there's, there's a lot here in thesebooks, and so I'm excited that, uh, and
I, I hope this really Parks discussionand and even also starts a starts a
trend of of books and articles andand all this being being released on.
Nostra where it's where it's freeand where people can comment and,
uh, um, give these give these ideasmore, uh, more life because because,
(09:43):
um, these things aren't aren't.
Self evident to everyone.
This is my view on the philosophicalside of Bitcoin in general, which,
which I think we semi reluctantlyfall into the, the philosophical camp.
It's not just, it's not just that,uh, uh, but Bitcoin philosophers is
kind of the, I think the shorthandfor, for both of us for, for what we
(10:04):
do with this Bitcoin infinity stuff.
But the philosophy isreally conviction deep.
Us digging through these ideas andtrying to, trying to poke holes in them
and trying to see what a world withBitcoin looks like if everything is
taken to absolutely its furthest extent.
Um, and it looks pretty great and,uh, in challenging these ideas and in,
(10:30):
and in building these ideas, we, wecan steel man our own, uh, arguments
against Bitcoin so that we're much betterat, at spreading adoption and, and.
doing our part to make sure Bitcoinseeds, because even if this is
inevitable, there are definitelychallenges that can come along the way.
(10:53):
And, uh, us as Bitcoinersbeing more prepared.
And more able to spreadthe word about Bitcoin.
This is this is what it's all about.
And it's also a reason why I thinkplan B is the perfect partner
for us here, too, because becausethey're all about spreading Bitcoin
educational content in every language.
(11:15):
Possible and, uh, we're just adifferent layer of that really like
the conviction deepening for the,uh, Bitcoin maximalists who are
already well inducted into the thing.
But if you are listening to thisand you're fairly new to Bitcoin
and you haven't dug into theseideas before, I really hope that
you get get a lot out of this also.
(11:35):
absolutely.
And so we're doing all on 4 books.
We have all four, allfour of the Bitcoin books.
So they're all re released andavailable from bitcoininfinitystore.
com.
This is sovereignty through mathematics.
After that, like, uh, I thinkstarting on infinity day,
we'll, we'll do the next book.
Right.
So we'll, we'll do this course.
(11:56):
This is a 14 episode course, uh, the,uh, sovereignty through mathematics one.
Um, we'll have an opening.
This is the opening episode.
We'll have do all the four, all the12 chapters and then a closing episode
where we wrap things up, uh, and thendo a short break and where we do a
lot of conferencing and stuff, Lukeand I are going to Prague and Calgary
(12:17):
and, uh, Budapest and Riga and, uh,and Helsinki first and foremost, which
is a conference we're co organizing.
After that, we'll start IndependenceReimagined, which is now
redesigned and looks like this.
I have the first version of that here.
This is, uh, this first version has thisbeautiful fractal encrypt sculpture on it.
(12:39):
This is where I started to,where I befriended Fractal and
we started working together.
The re release has this beautifulsnake with laser eyes on it.
after that, it's, uh, of course,everything divided by 21 million,
which will start some somewherearound Christmas or something.
I think that's if we're following ourschedule, uh, and after that, it's, uh,
(13:03):
of course, Bitcoin, the inverse of clownworld, uh, which I co wrote with Luke.
And I, I still think this isthe best book I've ever done.
Uh, much.
Thanks to Luke.
So looking forward to all of this, sothis Sovereignty through Mathematics has
a foreword by Prince Filip of Serbia.
And, of course, Prince Filip wasn't aBitcoiner back when this was released.
(13:26):
So this was actually releasedfor another version of this book.
Bit of history here.
So this is BitcoinSovereignty and Independence.
So I, I released both these booksas one a couple of years back.
And that's when PrinceFilip wrote the foreword.
Which I was very happy about.
I'm like, I have the bestfour words in the world.
(13:48):
Like I have one by Prince Filip,one by Hodlonoth, one by Jeff
Booth, one by Raheem Tagisadegan,and one by Giacomo Socco.
Like, what, what, what, what is that?
That's like, name that band if you can.
That's so good.
So,
it would be an interesting band.
yeah.
So I'm, I'm very happy about allof this and excited to get into
(14:12):
the meat of it, so to speak.
Absolutely.
And, uh, yeah, again, the, the,the forwards are are awesome.
And, uh, just, just a little bitabout kind of how the, the, um, the
book is, is perceived by others,which is, which is important.
So we're, we're releasing,what we're releasing today is
both the preface, which is.
Knut's own explanation of this bookand, and maybe you can, you can talk
(14:36):
just a little bit about, about thispart as well, and then also the forward.
So, so everything before chapterone, we're releasing today, Noster.
This is sort of a little,advertisement for the book.
Sort of.
Um, and then the, the first episode we'regoing to release this upcoming Tuesday.
Uh, this is, this is a little special.
(14:58):
We're, we're not, we're notgoing to do this every time.
Usually the, the, uh, these episodeswill be released on Fridays.
And then, um, our usual BitcoinInfinity show episodes will still
be out on Tuesdays as usual.
Uh, but, but this week specifically,we're, we're going to release an episode
of the Bitcoin Infinity Academy early.
(15:18):
Um, sorry, it's this upcomingMonday actually, right?
I think we agreed it's the Monday.
So we'll release.
Episode zero.
So, so called today, this Friday.
If you're listening to this March21st, uh, and then, and then this
following Monday, the 24th, uh, we'regoing to release our episode one on
everything a trade, uh, and then, andthen, uh, the, the following Friday
(15:41):
will be the, the second chapter.
So, uh, this is sort of what,what are we calling this Bitcoin
infinity academy week here at.
Bitcoin Infinity HQ.
Um, and then we'll be back with our usualBitcoin Infinity show episodes after
that, but we just wanted to basicallygive a whole bunch of content right here
to start and kick this thing off with abang and, uh, Well, um, would love for
(16:06):
you to join in on the conversations.
We're, we're also gonna be recording theseas close to release time as possible.
It's, it's a little tricky, butbasically this, this stuff we're
just, we're just talking about thesebooks and it's, it's us and, uh, yeah.
So we're, we're gonna record these prettyclose to the, to the actual release dates.
(16:26):
And, uh, we'll, we'll be, we'llbe saying when in our, our,
uh, our group's show here.
And you can join in.
You can, uh, you can view the liveepisodes when, when they're released.
When they're recorded, sorry.
And then, and then, uh, andthen they'll be released within
a couple of days, probably.
So, um, really looking forward to this.
(16:49):
Yeah, and, uh, even if you don't join thecourse, I urge you all to interact with
the material and, uh, like and repost and,and do all the things because this is a
chance to play around with Noster tools.
Uh, we're going to play around a bitourselves with things like highlighter,
maybe Alexandria and all this stuff.
This is this is meant to be devouredby by Bitcoiners on Nostrad.
(17:14):
Uh, there's a bit of backstory here.
Uh, I first met Miljan from Primal,uh, at a fancy cocktail party on
Madeira, uh, during Bitcoin Atlantis.
And he walks up to me and Lukeand he says, you're Knut, right?
And I answered, yes.
And then he goes, youbroke my Nostra client.
(17:35):
And this was because I had just postedthe entirety of Sovereignty Through
Mathematics as a note on Primal.
So just the text file, I just copypasted the entire book as one note.
And apparently that broke Nostra.
So achievement unlocked.
Uh, but that's sort of the, theembryo for this thing, right, Luke?
(17:56):
That's where we, we, uh, started,uh, talking about, like, maybe,
maybe we can do something here.
Maybe we should release stuff forfree over Nostr, and maybe there's
a, uh, a clever way of doing thisinstead of just force feeding everyone
an entire book, book in one post.
Yeah, I mean, I, I think, I think theidea here is that, is that to We, we
(18:18):
see the value of, of discussing the, thecontent again and, uh, yeah, this way we
can basically, uh, it, it's out there.
It's available to read.
I don't even think you could findthat original note anymore just
because it's, it's, I think they hadto do something to, like, get it off
of servers or something like that.
(18:38):
Um, yeah, but this is, we're excitedabout this, this initiative and, uh,
along the way and, uh, let's, let'shave some fun and, uh, spread the
word and, and hopefully it turns intosomething that, that not only because
we're, we're releasing this on allplatforms at the same time and the goal
(18:58):
is to drive people to Noster so thatthis stuff can, can be, um, So so that
people can can interact with Nostracan maybe try it for the first time.
If you want to support us, thereare, of course, many ways to do that.
And buying the book is is 1 that getsyou access to our telegram group.
Of course, if you buy it fromthe Bitcoin infinity store.
(19:19):
And, and you know, if you, if youwanna just repost, comment, send us a
zap, whatever, that much appreciated.
But, but I think we're, we'rehere just to spread the word.
So if, if, if you got some valuefrom, from this, from us posting
this material, you know, we're, we,we appreciate everything, but, but
(19:41):
that's up, that's up to you and.
Love to, to see this thing growand become as much as it can
really, I think that's the,
the, the, the whole point.
yeah, absolutely.
Um, well, for those of you thatwere worried, we're absolutely
(20:03):
not stopping the, the regularBitcoin infinity show either.
We're, we're, we have some great, greatguests lined up here this spring, and we
have made over 150 episodes at this point.
So I'm, I'm, which is, whichis just mind boggling to me.
Uh, we started this whole thinglike two and a half years ago, Luke
and I met and just started doingmore and more things together.
(20:26):
And this is how all ofthese ideas were born.
So at this point we've writtena book together and recorded
more than 150 episodes.
So super excited for this, uh, doas many of the things as you can.
If you, if you want tosupport us, everything helps.
Well, and then maybe now we canjust, uh, uh, just a little bit
more of, if you, if you don't knowwho we are, what we're about, check
(20:50):
out the Bitcoin Infinity show.
Everything is in our, everythingis in our channels here.
The Bitcoin Infinity Store,BitcoinInfinityStore.
com has everything that weproduce, including the four
Bitcoin books that Knut showed.
It has everything to dowith the Academy as well.
Geyser.
fund is one place, but also on our store.
(21:11):
Then we also have some partnershipswith a lot of other great authors.
Larry Lippard, Seb Bunny, DazB. We'll be adding some more
books over time here for sure.
And, uh, you can also get andother things like that, uh,
from, from the site as well.
Everything divided is a, is a popular one.
Um, the, the other things that we'redoing right now is that we're, we're
(21:34):
right in the middle of getting outanother, another, uh, couple of
editions of the Bitcoin Times release.
So you'll be seeing some outabout that, about the original
editions of the Bitcoin Times.
That's something we took on.
At the latter half of last year,and that we're slowly getting to
the finish line to produce newcollectible versions of that stuff.
So, really looking forward to that.
(21:55):
and then it's theconference circuit, right?
Knut, this is, uh, this is whatwe're always excited about doing.
And, uh, you're busier thanme, but I think we've both got
a pretty busy summer, right?
yes, we, we, we certainly have and,uh, you should try using the discount
code infinity everywhere on the, on theinternet that is Bitcoin related because
(22:18):
we're, we're, we have, uh, dipped ourtoes into all sorts of ponds, uh, here
and there, uh, conferences is one thing.
I'm doing the first one nowin May, I'm doing Ireland and
then we're both doing Prague.
We're both going to Calgary.
I'm going to Budapest and you'reprobably going to Riga, right, Luke?
And after that, it's the Helsinkione, which is one where, uh,
(22:41):
or co organizing ourselves.
And we have handpicked a bunchof our friends as speakers.
It's going to be great.
Go to b2chell.
com to find out more about that.
Come to Finland.
And after that, it's a bit of a break,but then probably Bulgaria, probably,
uh, uh, Switzerland, the plan plan B,uh, forum, which is a great conference.
(23:05):
And hopefully we'll do all the thingsthere, sign books and play rock and
roll and do all the other stupidstuff we do when we get together.
Exactly.
And, uh, yeah, I don't know.
And, uh, I can't say enoughgood things about, uh, Prague.
I mean, that's the, that's the big one.
Come to, come to Prague if you can.
Uh, there's, there's always, there'salways lots of awesome stuff there.
(23:26):
We're, we're going to have a, a bigbook booth, uh, And, uh, lots of,
lots of other authors coming as well.
Uh, Riga is always, yeah, like I,I couldn't, I couldn't miss it.
Uh, we, we always appreciate, uh,what, what goes on there with Riga.
They're, they're really the OGs.
And they, uh, they had, uh, the, theSurreptitious timing of of putting
(23:47):
their conference this year on adate that they never have, but it
turns out it was a week before thedate that we picked for BTC HEL.
And so it's it's an amazing chance.
You can come to both Baltic honey badgerand to BTC HEL one week after the other.
You can do you can do Budapest as well.
If you if you like, it will be there.
That's that's gonna be areally interesting conference.
(24:07):
Um, but I'll be in Riga.
And Riga and Helsinki arereally close to one another.
So you come, come enjoy a Baltic Nordic,um, week, basically, uh, and, uh, See
Riga, see everything that's going onthere and then come up to Helsinki.
You're having a blast.
Uh, there's a really great teaminvolved with, with BTC HEL, tons of
(24:28):
great speakers and It's a really nicetime of year to come see the Nordics
and to come to come to see Helsinki.
It's my home.
I'm really excited to host awhole bunch of Bitcoiners here.
And there's a ton of really excitingstuff happening where we keep
getting getting more and more people.
Locals here are interested in.
Bitcoin and and I'm really excitedto see what the impact we have is.
(24:52):
That's really the point of thisconference where where honey badger
is kind of this O. G. Conference whereeveryone gets together and shows the
exciting things that are going on.
But it's really for like plebs and peoplewho are deep in the ecosystem already.
Helsinki were really trying toshow to our local environment like
what this thing is all about andgrow adoption, grow awareness.
(25:15):
Come join us and help spread the word.
That's, that's basically the, thepitch plus enjoy going to sauna and,
uh, and, uh, uh, nice long days and,uh, life by the sea and all this
it's, uh, I'm really excited for this.
So come to Helsinki also come to allthe conferences, but come to Helsinki.
(25:36):
absolutely.
Um, yes, I couldn't bemore excited for this.
This year is going to be a greatyear for Bitcoin in general
and Bitcoiners in particular.
That is the same thing, really.
So, uh, looking forward to all of it.
Um, that's what we gotfor you today, I think.
So, shall we?
(25:57):
I think, I think, let's, uh, let'ssay one last, one last word about
our, uh, um, our partners here.
So thanks again to, first of all, Bitbox.
Thank you.
Thanks to them for, uh,continuing to support us.
They've been a sponsor of theBitcoin Infinity Show for,
for quite some time here.
And, uh, we're, we're thrilled about that.
They're, they're our favorite hardwarewallet and we, uh, We recommend for
(26:18):
every kind of of Bitcoin or or new coinor or whatever, whatever you call it.
So go to bitbox.
swiss slash infinityand and check that out.
And then, of course, also Plan B Network,who is who is our our sponsor here for
the Bitcoin Infinity Academy, and they'rethey're really enabling us to to do this
and to to put time and energy and focusinto this and release everything for free.
(26:41):
So big shout out to them.
Check out all of their.
All of their resources, their educationalresources at plan B dot network.
We're also going to have versions ofthese, these, uh, uh, videos for their
channel that are like a little tighter,a little more focused, that are, uh,
more usable as educational resources,as opposed to this kind of semi con
(27:02):
conversational format that we've got here.
So yeah, just really excitedabout this partnership.
Uh, great people there, of course,at plan B network, just spreading
Bitcoin adoption and part of.
Anything else?
No, except, uh, don't forget to like,subscribe, and polish your shoes.
(27:27):
Perfect.
That's the
you use, uh, shoes that are polishable.
Otherwise, brush your teeth.
Otherwise.
But if you can
No, yeah, yeah, youcould, you should do both.
Yes.
Oh, okay.
That's a wrap.
Until next time.
Hey there everyone and welcometo the very first episode of
the Bitcoin Infinity Academy.
I'm here with Luke DeWolf, um, uh,and we're trying this thing out.
We're excited to be here, Knut.
We've been thinking about doingthis academy for a really long
time, and it's awesome that we'refinally getting off the ground.
Yes, the Bitcoin Infinity Academyis brought to you by PlanB Network.
(00:24):
your number one resourcefor Bitcoin education.
So if you need any types of, uh, Bitcoineducational tools, you should go to plan
B dot network and check them out there.
They have a lot of orange peeling tools.
If you want to orange pill your friendsand bring them into the academy here.
Absolutely, and they, uh, they,uh, are graciously, uh, helping us
(00:45):
get this all out to you for free.
This is why this is all free on Noster,why these discussions are, are free
for everyone, so big thank you to them.
And also thank you to Bitbox,who has also graciously decided
to, to sponsor this initiative.
Go to bitbox.
swiss.
infinity for more about them.
They're our favorite hardware wallet.
We'll talk more about them later.
(01:06):
Yes, and this is the first episodeof the Academy, and it's also
the first episode of the BitcoinSovereignty Through Mathematics course.
And so the way this works is that, everysingle chapter of each and every one of my
books will be released for free on master.
So you can, you can read thechapters there, but you can
(01:27):
also join the discussion here.
Luke and I are going to do thislittle videos where we discuss
each and every idea in each ofthe chapters of each of the books.
and you can join our telegramgroup, which is the Bitcoin
infinity community thing, sort of.
Uh, and the other thing is thatyou can join a specific course.
So each book will be a specific course.
(01:48):
so for 21, 000 sats, you can jointhe discussions and, be in, this
thing with me and Luke and ask usquestions and challenge, challenge
the ideas and, and whatnot.
Absolutely.
And of course, of course, we'll belistening to comments online on Noster,
on all the other platforms and everything,but the course is your way to join us.
(02:10):
Join the live recordings.
We, we don't, we're not the most flexiblebunch, mostly me, but, you can, you can
join the live recordings, uh, when theyhappen, if you like, um, but, but also ask
us questions directly in, in the telegramand, and have a chat with us about it.
We also have some, uh,some special live calls.
Planned for, for course members.
(02:30):
So join us, join the discussion.
And, uh, yeah, we're gonnahave a lot of fun with,
Yes.
So the, the easiest way to, to joinour base level group is just to
buy something off of our websiteand give us your telegram handle.
But the other thing youcan do is go to geyser.
fund and you'll find ourBitcoin Infinity Academy there.
(02:53):
And.
everything, they can infinityAcademy, all the information about
all the courses and what this thingis, is on the guys for fun page.
So make sure you check that outand see what kind of part you
want to play in the all of this.
Absolutely.
And so should we, should we diveright in with the first episode for
sovereignty through mathematics?
yeah, absolutely.
(03:13):
So sovereignty through mathematicsis my first proper book on Bitcoin.
It was released back in, uh, I believemay 2019, but it didn't really take
off until, uh, August that year oreven September when I went to Riga
with 50 books in my hand luggage,but I'm getting ahead of myself here.
(03:34):
So, I started writing about Bitcoin onlinein 2017, and I wrote articles on medium.
which I later turned into abook, actually, my real first
book about Bitcoin is this one.
It's called three minutes.
Read some Bitcoin.
And this was like a prototype book.
So this is just a compilationof those articles.
(03:54):
and then I had that.
I wasn't very happy about it becauseit was the only book I had to my name.
So I decided on New Year's Eve2018 to write a proper book about
Bitcoin and that later becameSovereignty through Mathematics.
It had a working title thatwas Dealing with Bitcoin.
(04:14):
This is what it looked like.
The first prototype ofSovereignty through Mathematics.
Uh, this one even had littlegraphs and stuff in it.
but I'm very happy Ichanged the title later.
so the, the original book,uh, looked like this.
Maybe you've seen that.
we've just made a re editof all of my previous books.
(04:35):
And this is part of why we're doing this.
So this is the big relaunch.
So this is what SovereigntyThrough Mathematics looks like.
Right now, uh, beautifulhardcover, black hardcover here,
and, uh, yeah, the story about the bookis that I, uh, I made myself a New Year's
(04:55):
resolution on that New Year's Eve, uh,and that was that I was going to write
a page a day for the entire year, 2019.
And as with all New Year's resolutions,you break them after a while.
I broke mine after 106 days,but I managed to write a page
a day for 106 days at least.
But after that, I feltthe book was kind of done.
(05:18):
So that is what becameSovereignty Through Mathematics.
and I released it and no one gave a shit,until a, uh, Bitcoin core developer,
who shall not be named, uh, , startedhelping me with the editing the book.
So, so he shot me a DM and it's like,uh, I really like this book, but the
language could be better or whatnot.
(05:39):
And he helped me edit it.
And I had a, uh, a, a lot of help,so, so I, I re-edited the book a
bit and then brought 50 books toBaltic, honey Badger and Riga.
And this was back when Ihad a regular Fiat job.
I was the HR manager for a shippingcompany, and I was visiting a, um,
merchant Marine Academy in Riga.
(06:00):
That was the official reason,reason for me going there.
But of course, I had the.
The Baltic honey badgerconference in the back of my mind.
So, so I hit two birdswith one stroke there.
I went, went to the conference, um, had50 of these things in my hand luggage, uh,
gave 25 away to, um, important Bitcoinersand sold the 25 of them for either
(06:25):
cash or over the lightning networks.
Can you believe that in backin, uh, September, 2019, uh,
using the lightning network and.
As far as I can remember, it workedvery well, and then the book started
catching some, uh, attention andstarting to get a life of its own.
Uh, a couple of years later, uh, whenMichael Saylor entered the Bitcoin
(06:48):
scene, I got a DM from him a coupleof months after he first arrived.
where he complimented the book and hewanted to put it on a micro strategies,
Bitcoin educational website, hope.
com.
And it's been there ever since.
And I'm very proud that this book, didso much for me and like, um, catapulted
my, my sort of public Bitcoin or careerhere of whatever you can call it.
(07:11):
Uh, I, I never expectedthis to go anywhere really.
So I'm really happy to be hereand do this stuff with you now.
And in re editing the book withLuke, I realized that there's a lot
in here that are sort of thoughtembryos for what to be, what was to
be more fleshed out ideas in the end.
(07:32):
Subsequent books.
So, this is sort of episode 0 of theBitcoin Infinity Academy and we'll just
talk about the book in general, but thenext episode will be, uh, the 1st chapter.
Everything a trade.
Yeah.
Over to you.
Look,
Yeah, well, I mean, this, this,this story is, is, uh, is fantastic.
I mean, as you say, it's where, where thisall started and I mean, not, not to, to
(07:54):
put too, too much into like our, uh, theway we got together, I think, I think.
Are many of our listeners already know thestory and everything, but, but obviously
without, without this book and youstarting to do more things in Bitcoin, we
wouldn't have been working together and,and, and, uh, taking this all forward.
So, yeah, it all starts hereand that's just awesome.
(08:14):
And yeah, this this Academy concept.
So this first episode, whatwe're releasing this with is
with the preface and the forward.
So we'll show those here in a moment.
But yeah, like we started when westarted re editing the book and really
having the discussions about it.
That was really cool because, um,I read these books back in the
(08:37):
day when I was first getting intoBitcoin, but it'd been a while and.
And really what we, what we startedto do is what we almost always do.
We have, we have these discussionsabout anything and everything that's
going on in the Bitcoin world and whatis our take on this and everything.
And, uh, that really intensified, ofcourse, when we started to write Bitcoin,
(08:58):
the Inverse of Clown World together.
And, and we, we really fleshed out a lotof ideas in, in that particular book,
but then we went back and looked atSovereignty to Mathematics, Independence
Reimagined, everything, a million, ofthem have, have, uh, um, idea embryos
or, or, or something like that, that you,that you, you call, like, uh, there's,
(09:19):
there's, there's a lot here in thesebooks, and so I'm excited that, uh, and
I, I hope this really Parks discussionand and even also starts a starts a
trend of of books and articles andand all this being being released on.
Nostra where it's where it's freeand where people can comment and,
uh, um, give these give these ideasmore, uh, more life because because,
(09:43):
um, these things aren't aren't.
Self evident to everyone.
This is my view on the philosophicalside of Bitcoin in general, which,
which I think we semi reluctantlyfall into the, the philosophical camp.
It's not just, it's not just that,uh, uh, but Bitcoin philosophers is
kind of the, I think the shorthandfor, for both of us for, for what we
(10:04):
do with this Bitcoin infinity stuff.
But the philosophy isreally conviction deep.
Us digging through these ideas andtrying to, trying to poke holes in them
and trying to see what a world withBitcoin looks like if everything is
taken to absolutely its furthest extent.
Um, and it looks pretty great and,uh, in challenging these ideas and in,
(10:30):
and in building these ideas, we, wecan steel man our own, uh, arguments
against Bitcoin so that we're much betterat, at spreading adoption and, and.
doing our part to make sure Bitcoinseeds, because even if this is
inevitable, there are definitelychallenges that can come along the way.
(10:53):
And, uh, us as Bitcoinersbeing more prepared.
And more able to spreadthe word about Bitcoin.
This is this is what it's all about.
And it's also a reason why I thinkplan B is the perfect partner
for us here, too, because becausethey're all about spreading Bitcoin
educational content in every language.
(11:15):
Possible and, uh, we're just adifferent layer of that really like
the conviction deepening for the,uh, Bitcoin maximalists who are
already well inducted into the thing.
But if you are listening to thisand you're fairly new to Bitcoin
and you haven't dug into theseideas before, I really hope that
you get get a lot out of this also.
(11:35):
absolutely.
And so we're doing all on 4 books.
We have all four, allfour of the Bitcoin books.
So they're all re released andavailable from bitcoininfinitystore.
com.
This is sovereignty through mathematics.
After that, like, uh, I thinkstarting on infinity day,
we'll, we'll do the next book.
Right.
So we'll, we'll do this course.
(11:56):
This is a 14 episode course, uh, the,uh, sovereignty through mathematics one.
Um, we'll have an opening.
This is the opening episode.
We'll have do all the four, all the12 chapters and then a closing episode
where we wrap things up, uh, and thendo a short break and where we do a
lot of conferencing and stuff, Lukeand I are going to Prague and Calgary
(12:17):
and, uh, Budapest and Riga and, uh,and Helsinki first and foremost, which
is a conference we're co organizing.
After that, we'll start IndependenceReimagined, which is now
redesigned and looks like this.
I have the first version of that here.
This is, uh, this first version has thisbeautiful fractal encrypt sculpture on it.
(12:39):
This is where I started to,where I befriended Fractal and
we started working together.
The re release has this beautifulsnake with laser eyes on it.
after that, it's, uh, of course,everything divided by 21 million,
which will start some somewherearound Christmas or something.
I think that's if we're following ourschedule, uh, and after that, it's, uh,
(13:03):
of course, Bitcoin, the inverse of clownworld, uh, which I co wrote with Luke.
And I, I still think this isthe best book I've ever done.
Uh, much.
Thanks to Luke.
So looking forward to all of this, sothis Sovereignty through Mathematics has
a foreword by Prince Filip of Serbia.
And, of course, Prince Filip wasn't aBitcoiner back when this was released.
(13:26):
So this was actually releasedfor another version of this book.
Bit of history here.
So this is BitcoinSovereignty and Independence.
So I, I released both these booksas one a couple of years back.
And that's when PrinceFilip wrote the foreword.
Which I was very happy about.
I'm like, I have the bestfour words in the world.
(13:48):
Like I have one by Prince Filip,one by Hodlonoth, one by Jeff
Booth, one by Raheem Tagisadegan,and one by Giacomo Socco.
Like, what, what, what, what is that?
That's like, name that band if you can.
That's so good.
So,
it would be an interesting band.
yeah.
So I'm, I'm very happy about allof this and excited to get into
(14:12):
the meat of it, so to speak.
Absolutely.
And, uh, yeah, again, the, the,the forwards are are awesome.
And, uh, just, just a little bitabout kind of how the, the, um, the
book is, is perceived by others,which is, which is important.
So we're, we're releasing,what we're releasing today is
both the preface, which is.
Knut's own explanation of this bookand, and maybe you can, you can talk
(14:36):
just a little bit about, about thispart as well, and then also the forward.
So, so everything before chapterone, we're releasing today, Noster.
This is sort of a little,advertisement for the book.
Sort of.
Um, and then the, the first episode we'regoing to release this upcoming Tuesday.
Uh, this is, this is a little special.
(14:58):
We're, we're not, we're notgoing to do this every time.
Usually the, the, uh, these episodeswill be released on Fridays.
And then, um, our usual BitcoinInfinity show episodes will still
be out on Tuesdays as usual.
Uh, but, but this week specifically,we're, we're going to release an episode
of the Bitcoin Infinity Academy early.
(15:18):
Um, sorry, it's this upcomingMonday actually, right?
I think we agreed it's the Monday.
So we'll release.
Episode zero.
So, so called today, this Friday.
If you're listening to this March21st, uh, and then, and then this
following Monday, the 24th, uh, we'regoing to release our episode one on
everything a trade, uh, and then, andthen, uh, the, the following Friday
(15:41):
will be the, the second chapter.
So, uh, this is sort of what,what are we calling this Bitcoin
infinity academy week here at.
Bitcoin Infinity HQ.
Um, and then we'll be back with our usualBitcoin Infinity show episodes after
that, but we just wanted to basicallygive a whole bunch of content right here
to start and kick this thing off with abang and, uh, Well, um, would love for
(16:06):
you to join in on the conversations.
We're, we're also gonna be recording theseas close to release time as possible.
It's, it's a little tricky, butbasically this, this stuff we're
just, we're just talking about thesebooks and it's, it's us and, uh, yeah.
So we're, we're gonna record these prettyclose to the, to the actual release dates.
(16:26):
And, uh, we'll, we'll be, we'llbe saying when in our, our,
uh, our group's show here.
And you can join in.
You can, uh, you can view the liveepisodes when, when they're released.
When they're recorded, sorry.
And then, and then, uh, andthen they'll be released within
a couple of days, probably.
So, um, really looking forward to this.
(16:49):
Yeah, and, uh, even if you don't join thecourse, I urge you all to interact with
the material and, uh, like and repost and,and do all the things because this is a
chance to play around with Noster tools.
Uh, we're going to play around a bitourselves with things like highlighter,
maybe Alexandria and all this stuff.
This is this is meant to be devouredby by Bitcoiners on Nostrad.
(17:14):
Uh, there's a bit of backstory here.
Uh, I first met Miljan from Primal,uh, at a fancy cocktail party on
Madeira, uh, during Bitcoin Atlantis.
And he walks up to me and Lukeand he says, you're Knut, right?
And I answered, yes.
And then he goes, youbroke my Nostra client.
(17:35):
And this was because I had just postedthe entirety of Sovereignty Through
Mathematics as a note on Primal.
So just the text file, I just copypasted the entire book as one note.
And apparently that broke Nostra.
So achievement unlocked.
Uh, but that's sort of the, theembryo for this thing, right, Luke?
(17:56):
That's where we, we, uh, started,uh, talking about, like, maybe,
maybe we can do something here.
Maybe we should release stuff forfree over Nostr, and maybe there's
a, uh, a clever way of doing thisinstead of just force feeding everyone
an entire book, book in one post.
Yeah, I mean, I, I think, I think theidea here is that, is that to We, we
(18:18):
see the value of, of discussing the, thecontent again and, uh, yeah, this way we
can basically, uh, it, it's out there.
It's available to read.
I don't even think you could findthat original note anymore just
because it's, it's, I think they hadto do something to, like, get it off
of servers or something like that.
(18:38):
Um, yeah, but this is, we're excitedabout this, this initiative and, uh,
along the way and, uh, let's, let'shave some fun and, uh, spread the
word and, and hopefully it turns intosomething that, that not only because
we're, we're releasing this on allplatforms at the same time and the goal
(18:58):
is to drive people to Noster so thatthis stuff can, can be, um, So so that
people can can interact with Nostracan maybe try it for the first time.
If you want to support us, thereare, of course, many ways to do that.
And buying the book is is 1 that getsyou access to our telegram group.
Of course, if you buy it fromthe Bitcoin infinity store.
(19:19):
And, and you know, if you, if youwanna just repost, comment, send us a
zap, whatever, that much appreciated.
But, but I think we're, we'rehere just to spread the word.
So if, if, if you got some valuefrom, from this, from us posting
this material, you know, we're, we,we appreciate everything, but, but
(19:41):
that's up, that's up to you and.
Love to, to see this thing growand become as much as it can
really, I think that's the,
the, the, the whole point.
yeah, absolutely.
Um, well, for those of you thatwere worried, we're absolutely
(20:03):
not stopping the, the regularBitcoin infinity show either.
We're, we're, we have some great, greatguests lined up here this spring, and we
have made over 150 episodes at this point.
So I'm, I'm, which is, whichis just mind boggling to me.
Uh, we started this whole thinglike two and a half years ago, Luke
and I met and just started doingmore and more things together.
(20:26):
And this is how all ofthese ideas were born.
So at this point we've writtena book together and recorded
more than 150 episodes.
So super excited for this, uh, doas many of the things as you can.
If you, if you want tosupport us, everything helps.
Well, and then maybe now we canjust, uh, uh, just a little bit
more of, if you, if you don't knowwho we are, what we're about, check
(20:50):
out the Bitcoin Infinity show.
Everything is in our, everythingis in our channels here.
The Bitcoin Infinity Store,BitcoinInfinityStore.
com has everything that weproduce, including the four
Bitcoin books that Knut showed.
It has everything to dowith the Academy as well.
Geyser.
fund is one place, but also on our store.
(21:11):
Then we also have some partnershipswith a lot of other great authors.
Larry Lippard, Seb Bunny, DazB. We'll be adding some more
books over time here for sure.
And, uh, you can also get andother things like that, uh,
from, from the site as well.
Everything divided is a, is a popular one.
Um, the, the other things that we'redoing right now is that we're, we're
(21:34):
right in the middle of getting outanother, another, uh, couple of
editions of the Bitcoin Times release.
So you'll be seeing some outabout that, about the original
editions of the Bitcoin Times.
That's something we took on.
At the latter half of last year,and that we're slowly getting to
the finish line to produce newcollectible versions of that stuff.
So, really looking forward to that.
(21:55):
and then it's theconference circuit, right?
Knut, this is, uh, this is whatwe're always excited about doing.
And, uh, you're busier thanme, but I think we've both got
a pretty busy summer, right?
yes, we, we, we certainly have and,uh, you should try using the discount
code infinity everywhere on the, on theinternet that is Bitcoin related because
(22:18):
we're, we're, we have, uh, dipped ourtoes into all sorts of ponds, uh, here
and there, uh, conferences is one thing.
I'm doing the first one nowin May, I'm doing Ireland and
then we're both doing Prague.
We're both going to Calgary.
I'm going to Budapest and you'reprobably going to Riga, right, Luke?
And after that, it's the Helsinkione, which is one where, uh,
(22:41):
or co organizing ourselves.
And we have handpicked a bunchof our friends as speakers.
It's going to be great.
Go to b2chell.
com to find out more about that.
Come to Finland.
And after that, it's a bit of a break,but then probably Bulgaria, probably,
uh, uh, Switzerland, the plan plan B,uh, forum, which is a great conference.
(23:05):
And hopefully we'll do all the thingsthere, sign books and play rock and
roll and do all the other stupidstuff we do when we get together.
Exactly.
And, uh, yeah, I don't know.
And, uh, I can't say enoughgood things about, uh, Prague.
I mean, that's the, that's the big one.
Come to, come to Prague if you can.
Uh, there's, there's always, there'salways lots of awesome stuff there.
(23:26):
We're, we're going to have a, a bigbook booth, uh, And, uh, lots of,
lots of other authors coming as well.
Uh, Riga is always, yeah, like I,I couldn't, I couldn't miss it.
Uh, we, we always appreciate, uh,what, what goes on there with Riga.
They're, they're really the OGs.
And they, uh, they had, uh, the, theSurreptitious timing of of putting
(23:47):
their conference this year on adate that they never have, but it
turns out it was a week before thedate that we picked for BTC HEL.
And so it's it's an amazing chance.
You can come to both Baltic honey badgerand to BTC HEL one week after the other.
You can do you can do Budapest as well.
If you if you like, it will be there.
That's that's gonna be areally interesting conference.
(24:07):
Um, but I'll be in Riga.
And Riga and Helsinki arereally close to one another.
So you come, come enjoy a Baltic Nordic,um, week, basically, uh, and, uh, See
Riga, see everything that's going onthere and then come up to Helsinki.
You're having a blast.
Uh, there's a really great teaminvolved with, with BTC HEL, tons of
(24:28):
great speakers and It's a really nicetime of year to come see the Nordics
and to come to come to see Helsinki.
It's my home.
I'm really excited to host awhole bunch of Bitcoiners here.
And there's a ton of really excitingstuff happening where we keep
getting getting more and more people.
Locals here are interested in.
Bitcoin and and I'm really excitedto see what the impact we have is.
(24:52):
That's really the point of thisconference where where honey badger
is kind of this O. G. Conference whereeveryone gets together and shows the
exciting things that are going on.
But it's really for like plebs and peoplewho are deep in the ecosystem already.
Helsinki were really trying toshow to our local environment like
what this thing is all about andgrow adoption, grow awareness.
(25:15):
Come join us and help spread the word.
That's, that's basically the, thepitch plus enjoy going to sauna and,
uh, and, uh, uh, nice long days and,uh, life by the sea and all this
it's, uh, I'm really excited for this.
So come to Helsinki also come to allthe conferences, but come to Helsinki.
(25:36):
absolutely.
Um, yes, I couldn't bemore excited for this.
This year is going to be a greatyear for Bitcoin in general
and Bitcoiners in particular.
That is the same thing, really.
So, uh, looking forward to all of it.
Um, that's what we gotfor you today, I think.
So, shall we?
(25:57):
I think, I think, let's, uh, let'ssay one last, one last word about
our, uh, um, our partners here.
So thanks again to, first of all, Bitbox.
Thank you.
Thanks to them for, uh,continuing to support us.
They've been a sponsor of theBitcoin Infinity Show for,
for quite some time here.
And, uh, we're, we're thrilled about that.
They're, they're our favorite hardwarewallet and we, uh, We recommend for
(26:18):
every kind of of Bitcoin or or new coinor or whatever, whatever you call it.
So go to bitbox.
swiss slash infinityand and check that out.
And then, of course, also Plan B Network,who is who is our our sponsor here for
the Bitcoin Infinity Academy, and they'rethey're really enabling us to to do this
and to to put time and energy and focusinto this and release everything for free.
(26:41):
So big shout out to them.
Check out all of their.
All of their resources, their educationalresources at plan B dot network.
We're also going to have versions ofthese, these, uh, uh, videos for their
channel that are like a little tighter,a little more focused, that are, uh,
more usable as educational resources,as opposed to this kind of semi con
(27:02):
conversational format that we've got here.
So yeah, just really excitedabout this partnership.
Uh, great people there, of course,at plan B network, just spreading
Bitcoin adoption and part of.
Anything else?
No, except, uh, don't forget to like,subscribe, and polish your shoes.
(27:27):
Perfect.
That's the
you use, uh, shoes that are polishable.
Otherwise, brush your teeth.
Otherwise.
But if you can
No, yeah, yeah, youcould, you should do both.
Yes.
Oh, okay.
That's a wrap.
Until next time.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!