Bitcoin Vs Altcoins with Dan Held & Erik Voorhees

 
 
WBD283 - Dan Held & Erik Voorhees - Large Banner.png

Where to find the show

Download Episode MP3 File
The file will open in a new window. Click down arrow to download the file.

“Bitcoin has been forged in an environment of hostility, from the very beginning. It is an explicitly counter-cultural, transformative technology, which if successful, will change much of how the earth works and is going to have a gazillion enemies, 100%. Zcash and Ethereum are not enemies of Bitcoin.”
— Erik Voorhees

SHOW DESCRIPTION

Location: Remotely
Date: Thursday 19th November
Company: Kraken & ShapeShift
Role: Founder/CEO & Head of Growth

Altcoins almost always promise an improvement on Bitcoin, whether that is faster transactions or lower fees, enhanced privacy or some other killer use case. However, this is almost always marketing hype, with altcoins being a history of failure.

For newcomers to Bitcoin, falling into the trap of investing in altcoins is easy. With the price of Bitcoin approaching all-time highs, we will undoubtedly soon see a wave of news coverage and an influx of newcomers to the space. 

So, should you avoid altcoins? Bitcoin Maximalists say yes, while many others say no.

In this interview, I talk to Dan Held, the Director of Business Development at Kraken and Erik Voorhees, the founder and CEO of ShapeShift. Dan and Erik debate Bitcoin vs altcoins, DeFi, decentralisation and security.

TIMESTAMPS

00:05:37: Introductions
00:06:14: The US election and claims of fraud
00:09:18: The Winklevoss twins
00:10:51: Bitcoin now a credible business
00:14:58: CBDCs may push people to Bitcoin
00:16:39: Bitcoin's Great Filter event
00:19:07: Peter kicks off the Bitcoin vs altcoins debate
00:26:45: BlockFi, an example of a centralised service
00:29:14: An argument for Ethereum, and views on MakerDAO
00:39:28: Ethereum Phase Zero and the world of DeFi
00:48:50: Uniswap vs Coinbase
00:52:50: Scams defined
00:55:20: Zcash
00:57:44: Experimentation vs Bitcoin and bitcoiners
01:01:24: Blockchains and security
01:09:27: Dan's summing up
01:13:34: Erik's summing up
01:17:00: Final comments

 

SUPPORT THE SHOW

If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following:

If you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.

SPONSORS

 
 
 

SHOW NOTES

PodcastPeter McCormack