I'm Andreas M. Antonopoulos, author of "Mastering Bitcoin", public speaker, podcaster and pundit. Ask Me Almost Anything

[BitcoinXio]

Hi Andreas,

Thank you for doing this AMA!

Can you speak to the recent price spike and speculate or offer any expertise on why you think the rise happened, and why it came back down, so quickly? Some media obviously pointed to ponzi's (the MMM scheme), some said it was due to China capital control evasions, some say just due to overall interest gaining momentum, but, nobody really knows. I'm just curious on what your take is?

Thanks in advance!

[aantonop]

I never really got bitcoin until I read your book. After that, I become interested in the technology and bought a good 5 figures (USD) of bitcoins. I think most of the negativity that comes with it, is due to ignorance.

1. Do you really think that Bitcoin has over 1million active users? It seems to me if this is the case, then we should be already doing +1million transactions per day.

2. If we agree that educating people about bitcoin will help it grow, what is the next step? Should we have a non-technical people book about bitcoin? How can we get it to be read by +100 million person?

3. I learnt software development on my own, and it makes me money. If I want to get into the bitcoin world, how can I monetize my new skills?

1. Yes, I think bitcoin has more than 2 million users, possibly as many as 5 million. Most of us (me included) do about 1 transaction a week or less. Many do one or two transactions a year. That is normal at this stage in the development of the system.

2. There are already dozens of books about bitcoin. The best thing to do is to become an example of an honest, helpful and enthusiastic bitcoin user yourself. Tell people about it without being pushy. Answer questions without being patronizing. Counter all the negative stereotypes by being an example of an honest and... "normal" user. Help people experience it and donate some funds to setup wallets for them. Spread the word one person at a time.

3. It's hard to monetize skills in any area nowadays, including in bitcoin. I can't say I have the secret to monetizing skills as I do a lot of my work for free. If you want to develop in bitcoin, start by writing open-source code that solves a problem you have and no one has solved yet.

[aantonop]

Hi Andreas......love your passion for and dedication to Bitcoin. I know it's helped me truly understand what Bitcoin is and what it can be and couldn't agree with you more regarding remaining steadfast in bringing awareness to Bitcoins true value and principles, so having said that......

What is the best thing I can do to help Bitcoin prosper and on a more functional point of view, being that volatility is one of the biggest current drawbacks in Bitcoin, what would you suggest to hedge against this for the everyday user. Thank you!!

Mike Cautillo

Not much you can do to help with volatility. Best thing you can do for bitcoin is to become an unelected ambassador. Be honest and helpful when telling other people about bitcoin. Show them that regular people use it and for good reasons. Demonstrate the power of the technology and help them setup a wallet. One by one, word of mouth.

[fqure]

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for sparing the time to answer questions, and for everything you've done!

I wonder if I could ask what you think bitcoin's prospects are for third world countries? Do you support Marc's idea that bitcoin can change the third world, or is that too idealistic?

[Jclight]

Can Bitcoin TPS be increased by reducing the time taken to create blocks eg to 1minute instead of 10 mins, instead of trying to increase the block size?

[aantonop]

Hey Andreas!

One time you mentioned that you started with youtube videos, and you gained a following from there, is that correct?
Are any of your early-day youtube posts still available? Would you share the link of some of your first bitcoin videos?

Thanks!

I maintain a playlist of all my youtube videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... V24hFScvC0

[BitRebel]

Hey Andreas,

I really respect and honor the great things you have done to get the word out about bitcoin and the blockchain and I have personally learned a lot from you over the last few years...

My question is this, Bitcoin no doubt is the grand daddy of blockchain based digital currency and currently seems to have the most secure network provided by miners all over the world running full nodes and recently has increased in value spiking as high as $500... There is no doubt in my mind that Bitcoin has what it takes to achieve the goals originally intended but it seems like the centralized banks and corporations want to steal the blockchain technology for themselves leaving Bitcoin out of the equation... Is this possible? Can they succeed in what they are trying to accomplish with permission based or industry specific blockchains and eventually try to outlaw Bitcoin? And is it a good idea for the digital currency community to start to diversify and support other various types of digital currencies therefore creating variety, healthy competition, would it take some pressure off of Bitcoin as the target of choice by the centralized bankers and corporatocracy?

[aantonop]

Hello Andreas. It seems to me that the current state of affairs is that the places in the world that had seen the most bitcoin awareness (North America and Europe) are the ones who probably need it less. I know you've traveled a lot, so have you seen anything that caught your attention? Is the currency being used in some part of the world more than you expected?

I expected bitcoin to start getting big in countries that combine a need for such technology with a basic level of cellular infrastructure, english-speaking population (because most of the docs and apps are english) and literacy. The prime example of that is the Philippines and I think we're now seeing a surge in interest and use there, as well as several startups offering liquidity and remittances.

Much of the major 20th and 21st century technology development came from the west. However, just like autos, telephones, Internet and cellphones, over time these technologies have a much bigger impact around the world. Some types of technology that do not require a lot of infrastructure investment (eg. cellphones) cause a leapfrog effect where adoption spikes in remote rural and under-developed regions of the world. I expect the same will happen with bitcoin eventually. It will take years, perhaps more than a decade or two, but it will happen in some form or other.

[aantonop]

Do you think spending bitcoins on goods/services is important (as opposed to buy & hold / speculation) and what can we do to increase that spending in the community?

Is it important for brick/mortar merchants to accept bitcoin, or should we leave them be and focus on online only?

We should focus on online products and services across national borders - that's the sweet spot for bitcoin. Brick and Mortar merchant commerce with bitcoin only works if you achieve high-density of supply and high-density of demand simultaneously (buyers and sellers). This is very hard to achieve when adoption is not concentrated geographically and when the density of adoption is still low. Debit cards work better at that level than bitcoin, so unless we're looking at areas where debit cards aren't available, this is not going to be an easy path for bitcoin. But for cross-border sales of virtual goods and services, bitcoin is perfect. That market alone is hundreds of billions of dollars.

[aantonop]

Hi Andreas,

Thank you for doing this AMA!

Can you speak to the recent price spike and speculate or offer any expertise on why you think the rise happened, and why it came back down, so quickly? Some media obviously pointed to ponzi's (the MMM scheme), some said it was due to China capital control evasions, some say just due to overall interest gaining momentum, but, nobody really knows. I'm just curious on what your take is?

Thanks in advance!

Bitcoin's price is a chaotic system that reflects thousands of inputs in a way that no one can predict. Providing root-cause analysis of price movements is a fool's game. It is neither verifiable, nor predictive and therefore it is not science but mysticism.

Bitcoin's market cap is tiny and it operates globally on a 24/7 basis. That makes for a sentiment-driven, high-volatility price. It will continue to be volatile until it is much much bigger and has very well developed derivatives markets.

[aantonop]

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for sparing the time to answer questions, and for everything you've done!

I wonder if I could ask what you think bitcoin's prospects are for third world countries? Do you support Marc's idea that bitcoin can change the third world, or is that too idealistic?

Yes, the third world will be changed by bitcoin, as will the rest of the world. It may take decades, but decentralized currencies happened already and there's no going back. The world economy changed on January 3rd 2009, even though most people failed to notice at first.

You can't stop billions of people with a strong desire to financially secure the future of their families, once a suitable solution is available. They will discover it, they will use it and they will not be stopped.

[aantonop]

Can Bitcoin TPS be increased by reducing the time taken to create blocks eg to 1minute instead of 10 mins, instead of trying to increase the block size?

No. There's a delicate balance between the number of times the blockchain forks each day and the propagation frequency of blocks. Faster blocks will mean more forks. Also, such a change would be a lot more complex than simply increasing the block size. Many other parameters in bitcoin (difficulty retargetting, reward halving, total supply) depend on a 10-minute block and would need to be revised to account for any change in timing.

[Jkara]

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for being such a fearless champion, unmatched professional and positive force in the industry!
My first question is what do you see as bitcoin/cryptocurrency's biggest hurdles to greater consumer & merchant adoption; (irrespective of the banking regime's efforts to discredit a non-politicized currency concept)? Will it remain an alternative, more relatable to the world's population of under banked communities? or do you see evidence that it will achieve a more ubiquitous use case as a unified, border less global currency that most people will prefer?

In addition, I'm curious if you see any potential technical/security flaws with the current or emerging state of the protocol and/or ecosystem?

Best,
John Karantonis

[aantonop]

Hey Andreas,

I really respect and honor the great things you have done to get the word out about bitcoin and the blockchain and I have personally learned a lot from you over the last few years...

My question is this, Bitcoin no doubt is the grand daddy of blockchain based digital currency and currently seems to have the most secure network provided by miners all over the world running full nodes and recently has increased in value spiking as high as $500... There is no doubt in my mind that Bitcoin has what it takes to achieve the goals originally intended but it seems like the centralized banks and corporations want to steal the blockchain technology for themselves leaving Bitcoin out of the equation... Is this possible? Can they succeed in what they are trying to accomplish with permission based or industry specific blockchains and eventually try to outlaw Bitcoin? And is it a good idea for the digital currency community to start to diversify and support other various types of digital currencies therefore creating variety, healthy competition, would it take some pressure off of Bitcoin as the target of choice by the centralized bankers and corporatocracy?

I don't worry about competition from banks. They haven't faced competition for decades and they actually fear it. They used the regulations to build a wall against competition and now they find themselves jailed by their own creation.

Private blockchains are like Compuserve, AOL and MSN in the age of the Internet. They are intranets: slow, insecure, stale content, boring apps, no innovation.

Bitcoin will not be banned. In the countries where the rule of law matters it is difficult if not impossible to ban private commerce or the use of a commodity like bitcoin - it is protected speech. Citizens United unintended consequences - how ironic. In the countries where the rule of law doesn't matter, bitcoin might be banned, but then the rule of law doesn't matter. Expect to see police, judges and politicians bribed in bitcoin to turn a blind eye - even more ironic.

[aantonop]

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for being such a fearless champion, unmatched professional and positive force in the industry!
My first question is what do you see as bitcoin/cryptocurrency's biggest hurdles to greater consumer & merchant adoption; (irrespective of the banking regime's efforts to discredit a non-politicized currency concept)? Will it remain an alternative, more relatable to the world's population of under banked communities? or do you see evidence that it will achieve a more ubiquitous use case as a unified, border less global currency that most people will prefer?

In addition, I'm curious if you see any potential technical/security flaws with the current or emerging state of the protocol and/or ecosystem?

Best,
John Karantonis

There are probably many bugs and security flaws in bitcoin. Being developed as an open-source, in-the-wild system on the Internet, we will keep finding and fixing these bugs. I don't expect any will be as serious as to cause more than temporary minor disruption.

I don't know if bitcoin will be the winner in the long term, though it appears to be way ahead and growing too fast for anything to catch up.

However, I believe without any hesitation, that the world will be dominated by decentralized currencies over the next century. The future of money is stateless, private and global. Not one currency to rule them all, but hundreds to freely choose from.

[aantonop]

Thank you for your great questions! I answered as many as possible in 2 hours.

AMA's AMA is now closed

[manfred_karrer]

Hi Andreas,

I find it a pity and not healthy that there is not more discussion with people who criticize Bitcoin in an informed and thoughtful way.
For me it seems we as Bitcoin enthusiasts are in a kind of echo chamber, self amplifying repeated views instead of looking for interlectual challanges with others.

There are at least a few people who I respect a lot and who have expressed their concerns about Bitcoin, but I never have heard or read about an interesting discussion between an Bitcoin proponent and them (or maybe I just missed it).

One example is Yannis Varoufakis [1]. I know you have had once an interview with him (though I missed the challenge there) and he wrote quite a few blog posts about his critics and ideas.
Another interesting figure is Bernard Lietaer [2] who is a famous proponent of complementary money systems. He was also a Belgian central banker and one of the architects of the Euro - though he is very critical with our current monetary system.
Michel Bauwens from the P2P foundation [3] would be another candidate.

I would love to get more interconnection between those people who follow very similar goals but are outside of the classical liberalist path.
You would be a perfect interview partner for those. Do you have contact with them (beside Yannis Varoufakis)?

Br,
Manfred Karrer

[1] http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/?s=bitcoin&submit=Search
[2] http://www.lietaer.com/2015/02/bernard- ... nria-2014/
[3] https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/a-politi ... 2014/09/09

[vivekomon]

Hey!!!

Not sure if I'm late. But anyway I really wanted to know what's the one thing that comes to your mind when explaining Bitcoin to people?

P.S. Don't tell me Binaries. Wouldn't take that for an answer

~ To the Moon ~

[Chris]

Γεια σου Ανδρέα Welcome

[risho]

I feel fairly confident that this problem surrounding the block size will figure itself out in a way that will be a net positive for everyone, though my biggest concern that eventually over time the cryptography in bitcoin will become weaker and that it will be very difficult for bitcoin core to come to consensus over what the new hashing algorithm should be. That is a much more difficult thing to come to consensus over than the whole blockchain problem and I could see us coming to a big standstill that could be a serious problem. People will have opinions about what is secure and what isn't and they will not be willing to stand down. Do you have any concerns about this?

[ronnieb]

What do you feel is the best way to explain "man in the middle attack" and Bitcoins immunity (more specifically during broadcasting a transaction)? I find describing asymmetric key cryptography and signing transactions can be quite complex especially for non-code writers... What say you?

[ronnieb]

I feel like these companies that are combining legacy and new technology will be the first to go when mass adoption occurs. e.g. Bitbay (or coinbase) facilitating POS while business don't want to HODL will work, but as soon as businesses begin to fully incorporate Bitcoin whey would you need any such intermediary. Would like to hear your thoughts.

[MiguelCuneta]

You 20 minute "Disrupt" talk in 2013 hit the nail on the head for me and got me into co-founding what's now the biggest bitcoin startup in the Philippines today, SCI.ph. Thank you!

Would you consider visiting the Philippines and perhaps doing a talk here sometime in the near future? We would love to host you and the growing community here would go nuts thanks again for your involvement in BTC and insipiration to the rest of us!

[dnaleor]

How to solve fungibility issues with Bitcoin?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/commen ... _seems_to/

[LiteCoinGuy]

AMA is now closed

[Smartie]

Hey, Andreas

First off, thanks for being the Master of all Bitcoin speakers in my opinion. I cannot attend all your events, but I follow most of them posted online.

My questions today :

1. If Bitcoin fails for some reason, what would be the alternative? Plan B?

2. What Alt Coin in your opinion has the most potential to take Bitcoin's place at the top?

3. Can Bitcoin scale to be a reserve currency, with the current setup?

Continue the good work.

Edit : Shit, only now saw it was closed. Whoever care to comment, please.

[The_Void]

Hi Andreas, Just wanted to thank you for everything you do for us.

[rene-winkler]

Hi, I am new to the bitcoin/blockchain universe, non IT but financial industry guy. I have seen your lecture on bitcoin on youtube and wonder how `Hello!`leads to a8d19153 as all online toolsI used for SHA256 deliver 334d016F. Did I get something wrong or is there a different output on Mac OS algo on SHA256? I just want to understand also the basics clearly thus my dumb question... thanks in advance

[Vesa]

Hi Andreas,

I enjoyed both of your Joe Rogan podcasts and thought to let you know I made a new Cryptocurrency art innovation.

The site went online yesterday.

https://www.artforcrypto.com/

Would love to get your feedback on it.

Best,

Vesa

Ps. The work I attached is about the combination of both the coming Bitcoin fork as well as the flippening.

[patrick.miller]

Nice Work!

Hi Andreas,

I enjoyed both of your Joe Rogan podcasts and thought to let you know I made a new Cryptocurrency art innovation.

The site went online yesterday.

https://www.artforcrypto.com/

Would love to get your feedback on it.

Best,

Vesa

Ps. The work I attached is about the combination of both the coming Bitcoin fork as well as the flippening.