What Bitcoin Did with Peter McCormack

“From the start, the conversation was about financial inclusion, open systems, open monetary networks, free markets, how the existing financial system is broken, and how in theory, the world is a much more free, economically liberal place if the monetary network is Bitcoin.” — Jack Mallers Location: El Salvador Date: Thursday 17th June Project: Strike Role: CEO El Salvador made history by becoming the first country to embrace bitcoin as legal tender. This bold step to adopt Bitcoin empowers Salvadorians and utilises Bitcoin's powerful technology to build a better financial future for the country. As a dollarised country, El Salvador is at the whim of the Fed, and the groundbreaking legislation included this excerpt: "Central banks are increasingly taking actions that may cause harm to the economic stability of El Salvador; That in order to mitigate the negative impact from central banks, it becomes necessary to authorise the circulation of a digital currency with a supply that cannot be controlled by any central bank." The bitcoin project in El Salvador has a long history; Bitcoin Beach, a project started by Michael Peterson in El Zonte, a surf town that has become a bitcoin hub in El Salvador. This local project has become the poster child of what a bitcoin community and economy can look like. Jack Mallers and the Strike team have taken El Salvador by storm, but this story is bigger than any one person. From Bitcoin Beach to developers, and the entire community, every bitcoiner played a part in bringing a fair and inclusive financial future to El Salvador. In this interview, I talk to Jack Mallers, CEO of Strike. We discuss the story that led to Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador, all the credit due to the community, and his mission to secure financial freedom for all. This episode’s sponsors: Gemini - Buy Bitcoin instantly BlockFi - The future of Bitcoin financial services Sportsbet.io - Online sportsbook & casino that accepts Bitcoin Casa - The leading provider of Bitcoin multisig key security. Exodus - The world's leading Desktop, Mobile and Hardware crypto wallets. Ledger - State of the art Bitcoin hardware wallet Revolut - A better way to handle your money ----- WBD362 - Show Notes ----- If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following: Become a Patron and get access to shows early or help contribute Make a tip: Bitcoin: 3FiC6w7eb3dkcaNHMAnj39ANTAkv8Ufi2S QR Codes: Bitcoin If you do send a tip then please email me so that I can say thank you Subscribe on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | Deezer | TuneIn | RSS Feed Leave a review on iTunes Share the show and episodes with your friends and family Subscribe to the newsletter on my website Follow me on Twitter Personal | Twitter Podcast | Instagram | Medium | YouTube 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.