Bitcoin Takeover podcast stats for January 2026: 36699 downloads in total Bruce Fenton, Tyler Spalding & Paul Sztorc were the most popular guests Thank you all for listening! 🫡

Yes, the Epstein files are nice But can we activate CTV + CSFS now? Or OP_CAT? Great Script Restoration? Anything at all that lets the builders create the next use case that brings users and investors?

This is the most concerning thing I’ve read in the Epstein files: Plotting to control Bitcoin development. Finding a power vacuum when the Foundation shut down in order to grab the top 3 developers. Possibly influencing development for the next few years.

Bitcoin deserves better competition. Otherwise, it will never improve.

If you’re going to listen to one podcast episode this weekend Check out my recent interview with Paul Sztorc In which he talks about the multiple Bitcoin derangements This will help you understand why the market is so red and 17 years later we still can’t make banks obsolete https://www.youtube.com/live/GMX_Agbe-9w?si=5xwFAOcn4U23fkVX

Bitcoin Takeover mentioned 😍 Wen podcast @waxwing? View quoted note →

How low should Bitcoin go in order to once again have an honest conversation about upgrades?

Had a dream that bitcoin crashed to $100 and the alts were in the single digits Michael Saylor had deleted his account Everyone was freaking out, wondering if this is the end. Should they buy the 99% dip or short it to 0? But I was feeling hopeful that we can finally rebuild

genuinely happy that gold is finally having its moment honestly unsurprised that bitcoin hasn’t replaced it as the preferred store of value in times of financial uncertainty it’s only been 17 years and we still have a lot of stuff to figure out: scaling, privacy, contracts, quantum resistance, user experience for self custody, education and honest narratives about what this is and what it’s supposed to do not too late for bitcoin to get replaced by a better design either

Cure your derangements with Paul https://www.youtube.com/live/GMX_Agbe-9w?si=NhhSn3hGYrWRG3-n

> citrea launched today > the bitcoin fees are going up > sub 1 sat/vbyte transactions take longer to confirm > the bitcoin miners are eating again

Bitcoin needs more awkward nerds and schizophrenic geniuses Fewer sleazy suits, self confident conference speakers, and self help book salesmen It’s the nerds who stop mid sentence during podcasts because they had an eureka moment and lose their train of thought who make BTC great

> there was no demand for an internet currency for payments, so we turned bitcoin into a store of value > tether has about 2x the volume of btc on a daily basis usdt is the ultimate blind spot for the maxi cult

how to use the quantum craze to crash the bitcoin price: 1. find 2009 miner who is not satoshi 2. buy his 50 btc utxo for 10x the spot price 3. short btc on exchange 4. move the 50 btc to a new taproot address 5. pay a journalist to publish a piece about quantum computer stealing satoshi’s bitcoin 6. profit 7. rinse and repeat with diminishing returns until bitcoin replaces ecdsa with post-quantum signatures

The year is 2026 and the Bitcoin virtue signalers are still talking about spam, filters, and for some reason Udi Wertheimer I thought last year’s battle was ridiculous (and chose to spend my time studying Zcash instead) but it seems like we’re amping up for another round of dumb analogies and screaming at Bitcoin users for not choosing the orthodox path

> stop doomscrolling > listen to Bitcoin Takeover podcast > continue doomscrolling

If you’re gonna listen to a single podcast this week Let it be this one, there is so much to learn & discover!

Bitcoin Takeover

S17 E4: {ideal} on BitVM Optimizations (Robin Linus, Liam Eagen, Ying Tong Lai)

On January 19th 2026, the Bitcoin development world was taken by storm: Ideal Group, aka {ideal}, launched Argo with a 2000x efficiency gain over B...

Bitcoin Takeover podcast is sort of like Bob Dylan’s “Renaldo and Clara”: LONG Except that Dylan launched a rather overindulgent 4-hour film only once in his life I launch a 4-hour podcast pretty much every week 🥹

Bitcoin Core devs be like: “here’s a new version of our software. It doesn’t add any significant features, but it might have a bunch of bugs that we will fix in upcoming releases”

Early 2000s joke that I remember hearing from Romanian politician Mircea Geoana: An American visits Romania and starts bragging: “In the US we have lots of famous people. Steve Jobs, Bob Hope, Stevie Wonder!” “Well, here in Romania we have no jobs, no hope, no wonder!”