The Bitcoin Standard Podcast

In this interview with the Practical Islamic Finance podcast, Saifedean discusses Bitcoin from an Islamic perspective, and makes the case for why it is more compatible with Islamic Sharia law than government money. Whereas the creation of government money happens through the creation of interest-bearing debt which is forbidden in Islam, the creation of bitcoin is no different than the creation of a market commodity, with a competit...

Tarek El Diwany’s book “The Problem with Interest” has attracted attention from scholars of Islamic finance and bitcoiners alike, including Allen Farrington, whose newly published book, Bitcoin Is Venice, draws heavily on Tarek's work. In this episode, Saifedean hosts Tarek and Allen to talk about the morality of lending with interest, why the practice is prohibited in Islam, and how an economy would function without interest r...

In perhaps his most comprehensive interview to date, Saifedean talks to Lex Fridman about the history of money, the foundations of economics, and why bitcoin represents a pathway to a more peaceful and prosperous world. Starting from Lex’s question “What is money?”, Saifedean draws on insights from his most recent book, The Fiat Standard, to take the listener on a four-hour historical journey. He explains how money emerged as a mar...

Fiat money doesn't just affect economic exchange, its impact on society is much wider. In this episode, Marty Bent, host of the Tales from the Crypt Podcast, interviews Saifedean about the ways fiat money encourages negative societal impacts ranging from climate alarmism to soil degradation to poor diets. They focus on the widely accepted need to transition to from fossil fuels to “renewable” energy and how government funding o...

Most people think of bitcoin primarily as a form of money or store of value, but in this episode Darrin Feinstein argues that it also represents history’s most important accounting innovation. He explains why, as the world’s first incorruptible ledger, bitcoin allows us to remove fraud from the realm of accounting, and bring about a shift from “double-entry” to “triple-entry” bookkeeping. Darin and Saifedean discuss how the global ...

Can we eliminate the use of fossil fuels? Can electric cars replace gasoline cars? Is a transition to wind and solar energy possible? At what cost? What impact will a forced transition have on economic development? How do the costs of eliminating fossil fuels compare to the dangers of increased CO2 emissions? What evidence is there for a pending climate catastrophe? The Mises Institute's Jeff Deist and Bob Murphy host Saifedean...

April 27th 2022.

Without government who would build the roads? Should prostitution, speculating and price gouging be outlawed? In this episode Saifedean discusses these questions with eminent Austrian School economist Dr Walter Block. They cover fundamental issues in economics such as whether there is such a thing as a “public good”, whether economics is an empirical science, and whether it is ethical to outlaw “victimless crimes”. ...

March 28th 2022.

What is the case for monarchy? Why are monarchies better at long-term thinking? Why do monarchies outcompete republics in protecting property rights, promoting peace, raising living standards, and protecting the value of money? Would a return to hard money bring back the age of monarchies? We discuss all these questions with HRH Prince Philip of Serbia, who became the first monarch to publicly announce being a bitco...

March 22nd 2022.

In a country dominated by statist politicians, what it is like to campaign for freedom, personal responsibility, and limited government? In this episode, Saifedean talks to leader of the People’s Party of Canada, Maxime Bernier about Canadian politics and whether bitcoin can protect Canadians from government overreach. They discuss Maxime’s journey into politics as a libertarian, why Canadian inflation is so high, a...

March 21st 2022.

Is earth too hot? Is the weather getting worse? Are we experiencing a climate crisis? Is CO2 the control knob for the earth's climate? Is climate science basic physics? Do all scientists agree on these questions? Tom Nelson is an independent researcher who has spent many years studying these questions in-depth. He joins us to give us a rigorously researched perspective that contradicts the hysterical groupthink ...

March 17th 2022.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US confiscated the Russian central bank’s significant monetary reserves, and banned some Russian banks from the SWIFT network. Serious questions are being asked about the survival of the postwar dollar-based world monetary order. Will Russia, China, and other countries actually build an alternative international settlement system, after years of threatening to do so? Will g...

March 9th 2022.

Saifedean hosts Dr Cate Shanahan to discuss her remarkable work on nutrition and the long term consequences of traditional foods and modern fiat foods. Cate's experience at medical school was powerless to stop her own health deteriorating, causing her to look at nutrition as a deeper cause of health problems, sending her down a rabbit hole to discover the horrors of modern seed oils, and the devastating damage ca...

February 25th 2022.

In this episode, Saifedean appears on The Tom Woods Show for a discussion on how the damage caused by fiat money extends beyond economics. Saifedean and Tom discuss why fiat money increases the power of governments and heightens societal time preference, disincentivising long-term planning. They also talk about the rise of “fiat mentality” and how societal attitudes have changed in areas such as diet, education a...

February 24th 2021.

In this episode, Saifedean appears on The Tom Woods Show for a discussion of fiat money and debt slavery. Saifedean and Tom talk about the role of government debt in the creation of fiat money; the recent freezing of bank accounts in the wake of Canadian protests, and why bitcoin improves on the shortcomings of gold. They then discuss how the fiat monetary system warps societal incentives by making debt accumulat...

 In this episode, Saifedean talks to Samson Mow, outgoing CSO of Blockstream and CEO of Pixelmatic, about why we should be “augmenting” rather than trying to change the bitcoin network. They begin by discussing Blockstream projects such as the Liquid Network that extend the range of options available to bitcoin users, while accepting the network’s fundamental protocol rules. They also discuss Samson’s role as a prominent “small blo...

In this episode, Saifdean talks to Safdar Alam, CEO of investment firm Maydan Capital, about Islamic finance. Safdar starts by describing the basic principles of Islamic finance and the ethical justification for Islam’s prohibition on lending with interest. He and Saifedean then talk about how Islamic finance works in practice today; how it is mimicking the mainstream financial system; and the ways in which bitcoin might provide an...

In this episode, Saifedean talks to author and health coach P.D. Mangan about how to improve wellbeing and slow ageing through some simple diet and fitness practices. They discuss why humans have adapted to thrive on a meat-based and paleo diets, the flawed science used to support widely accepted government dietary guidelines, and why so many people fail in their attempts to lose weight, combat fatigue and improve their wellbeing. ...

In this epsisode Saifedean talks to economist and investor Lyn Alden about her views on the global macroeconomy. They start by discussing recent market turbulence in light of the Federal Reserve’s plans to tighten monetary policy, whether these plans are realisable, and what this will mean for consumer price inflation and the stock market. They then move on to a discussion of Lyn’s portfolio, her reasons for allocation across parti...

In this episode Saifedean talks to writer and head of business development at Unchained Capital Parker Lewis about his Gradually, Then Suddenly series. They start by discussing Parker’s career in traditional finance during the 2008 financial crisis, and how discovering Austrian economics and bitcoin helped him to truly understand the workings of global finance. They then talk about the arguments of some of Parker’s well-known artic...