Andreas Antonopoulos: Bitcoin is not currency; it’s the internet of money!
Socrates / Podcasts
Posted on: April 23, 2014 / Last Modified: May 12, 2022
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Andreas Antonopoulos is arguably the face of bitcoin because he is probably the most prolific interviewee as well as the most publicly recognized expert in the field of crypto-currency. To top it off, Andreas is extremely eloquent, has an impressively broad spectrum of knowledge and is an admitted disruptarian. I have been receiving numerous requests to interview him and was very happy to finally have the opportunity to do so during the recent Bitcoin Expo 2014.
During our 85 min conversation with Andreas Antonopoulos, we cover a very wide variety of topics such as the very first time he heard of bitcoin and his instant dismissal as “nerd money”; Satoshi Nakamoto’s whitepaper and the monumental impact it had on Andreas; what is bitcoin and how it solves the technical problems of past crypto-currencies; decentralizing trust, money and the consequent revolutionary changes; deflation, inflation and the ability to divide a bitcoin into 100 million Satoshis; money for AI; proof of work and “mining” of coins; why trying to shut down bitcoin is like trying to shut down the internet; the blockchain security, anonymity, transparency, and implications thereof; Charlie Stross’ criticisms; libertarians, disruptarians and money neutrality; whether bitcoin is the singularity of money…
My favorite quote that I will take away from this interview with Andreas Antonopoulos is:
This is the the internet of money; it’s not just money for the internet. […] The bitcoin currency is just the first application – it’s like email on the internet – it’s good enough to change the world and have everyone adopt the internet…
I owe a special debt of gratitude to Jan Miranda and Tamara Haasen without whom this interview would not have happened!
As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.
Who is Andreas Antonopoulos?
Andreas Antonopoulos is a passionate technologist, who is well-versed in many technical subjects. He is a serial tech entrepreneur, having launched businesses in London, New York, and California. He has earned degrees in Computer Science and Data Communications and Distributed Systems from UCL. With experience ranging from hardware and electronics to high-level business and financial systems technology consulting and years as CTO/CIO/CSO in many companies — he combines authority and deep knowledge with an ability to make complex subjects easy to understand. He often brings a fresh perspective to a topic with surprising insights and his ability to identify underlying principles and connections between different topics. More than 200 of his articles on security, cloud computing, and data centers have been published in print and syndicated worldwide. His expertise includes Bitcoin, crypto-currencies, Information Security, Cryptography, Cloud Computing, Data Centers, Linux, Open Source, and robotics software development. He also has been CISSP certified for 12 years.
As a bitcoin entrepreneur, Andreas has founded three bitcoin businesses and launched several community open-source projects. He often writes articles and blog posts on bitcoin is a permanent host on Let’s Talk Bitcoin and prolific public speaker at technology events. Andreas is also writing a bitcoin book for developers, for O’Reilly Media.
Andreas serves on the advisory boards of several bitcoin startups and serves as the Chief Security Officer of Blockchain.
