Feb 22, 2023
Amanda Cavaleri is a Bitcoin entrepreneur and board member of the Bitcoin Today Coalition. In this wide-ranging interview, we discuss the upcoming Bitcoin Ski Summit Amanda is organizing, how Bitcoin can help the United States, whether Bitcoin should be radical or conservative, the importance of values in Bitcoin culture, and the promise of Nostr.
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Amanda Cavaleri is a long-time friend of the show, and one of the most genuine and hard-working people within Bitcoin. Amanda has numerous interests across Bitcoin, from investments to mining, from advocacy to education. As a veteran Bitcoiner, Amanda is able to have a wider perspective on the important value Bitcoin brings to society beyond its immediate investment potential.
We discussed the unremitting importance of Bitcoin to privacy, and of privacy to democracy. With the rise of China, having a tool outside of the purview of the state is becoming increasingly important. Furthermore, Bitcoin has the potential to support global economic growth as we transition from the dollar as a reserve currency: Bitcoin has the potential to be neutral global money that can enable efficient cross-border payments in an increasingly multipolar world.
We talked about despite Bitcoin being an apolitical tool, there is significant work required to get it to resonate within the Washington bubble. Amanda set out the educational work, network building and soft permeation of DC being undertaken by the Bitcoin Today Coalition. This is a slow but vital advocacy process needed to lessen the risk Bitcoin’s development within the United States is kneecapped by ignorant legislators.
Finally, we covered the importance of Bitcoin’s culture. Whilst ‘number goes up’ worked to gain rapid interest over previous cycles, a values-based ideology is showing itself to be critical in both widening Bitcoin adoption and defending against attacks. But culture obviously affects the internal workings of Bitcoin as much as its presentation externally. Therefore, the current debate around how radical Bitcoin should be may perhaps become a significant area of debate in the next year.