The latest episode of CoinGeek Discussions comes on the heels of an exclusive interview with legendary author, economist, and investor George Gilder. Panelists included BitcoinATM.com co-founder Drew Carey, podcaster Rory B. Zimmerman, and Bitcoin enthusiast Ryan XD. Check it out via this link.
How each of the panelists got into Bitcoin
Everyone has a Bitcoin story, and co-hosts Zachary Weiner and Alex Vidal asked the guests how they discovered the world’s first peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
Ryan XD says he’s a user and enthusiast rather than a developer. He got into it through Dogecoin, but has now found a community he can relate to in BSV blockchain.
Drew Carey then shares his story. He first paid attention to Bitcoin after the spring runup in 2013, but he’d previously heard about it in 2010. Back in those days, Chamath Palihapitiya was talking about Bitcoin a lot and owned a significant percentage of the supply. Carey got interested and started mining it.
Carey remembers how there were lots of Bitcoin forks, such as Peercoin, back then. BTC maximalists like Luke Dashjr were involved, although they’d never admit that now. He went to a Bitcoin meetup and met personalities like Charlie Shrem. A few months later, the first Bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver. Carey installed one in Florida, and his business grew quickly, pivoting to software-only after a couple of years.
There was a huge Bitcoin ATM boom, Carey told the audience, and a few operators got into trouble. There has since been a big cleanup, and Carey’s firm has emerged as number one in the industry. However, these days, it doesn’t own any physical ATMs.
Zimmerman says she has had a passion for electronic money since childhood. She remembers playing Mario Brothers and wishing she could take the coins out of the game. After moving abroad to China, she recalls taking physical cash back to the United States by plane to pay her student loans. She thought there had to be a better way.
While working as a reporter, Zimmerman heard about Bitcoin, but its links to the dark web and illegal things put her off exploring it further. She soon discovered BCH and bought some legitimate items, such as t-shirts online.
After watching George Gilder talk about the crypto-verse, she decided she wanted to dedicate all of her time and energy to Bitcoin, and then the hash war happened. Zimmerman found her niche as a podcaster, where she has fireside chats with entrepreneurs in the space of Bee In the Moment.
Will Bitcoin ATMs offer BSV anytime soon?
Zimmerman asks Carey when his Bitcoin ATMs will offer BSV. He says there’s a list of priorities he’s working on, and while there isn’t one reason why BSV isn’t available right now, part of it is down to demand. He says BTC represents 98% of that demand at the moment.
Carey says there will come a time when people explore other proof-of-work coins. Perhaps that will be when BTC becomes prohibitive for the average user because of high network fees or backlogged transactions. While there are potential workarounds, such as El Salvador’s Bitcoin IOUs, he thinks people will begin to explore alternatives.
“These are 100-year games…you have to have deep confidence in where this is headed. You have to have conviction,” he says.
What excites you most about the potential of blockchain in the future?
Vidal notes that, due to it being Thanksgiving, it’s time to start wrapping up. However, he wants to hear what each panelist is excited about regarding the future of blockchain and its potential to change the world.
Ryan XD says he’s excited for when people begin to understand the BSV blockchain. The low fees and unbounded scaling are what this is all about. BSV is Bitcoin, and he can’t wait for the world to realize it.
Carey says he’s excited to watch all the Bitcoin forks battle it out. From his earlier comments, it’s clear he thinks the BSV blockchain will emerge victorious in the long run.
Zimmerman is excited to see Bitcoin act as plumbing. It’s all about IPv6 and massive peer-to-peer transactions. She also agrees with Joshua Henslee that Ordinals and BRC20 tokens are a huge deal. The on-chain economy will be a big thing going forward.
Watch: Bitcoin White paper – 15 years on, the significant landmark but what does it mean?
New to blockchain? Check out CoinGeek’s Blockchain for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about blockchain technology.
