Episode 06/ Full Interview: Leonhard A. Weese On Austrian economics in cyberspace

Recorded February 11, 2021. Leonhard A. Weese is a young Austrian economist who came to Hong Kong at the beginning of the last decade to study statistics, fell in love with the city’s freewheeling capitalism and never left. During that time Weese became involved with the city’s nascent Bitcoin scene, where he, along with a few other interested parties, started hosting Bitcoin meetups in order to come together and understand this revolutionary new form of money. Within a year of the first meetup, the events grew to attract hundreds of attendees. In order to meet the public demand for more information, Weese co-founded the Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong , overseeing its evolution from niche club to a more mature organization that today boasts 6000 members, puts out white papers on Bitcoin regulation, and serves as a reliable and accessible resource for the local and international Bitcoin community.Show Notes00:02:20 LAW on Austrian economics as a jumping off point to understand Bitcoin00:06:50 LAW on how universities have had relatively little engagement with Bitcoin00:08:40 LAW on the purity and energy of the early Bitcoin meetups00:12:00 LAW on Bitcoin arbitrage between Hong Kong and China in the early days00:14:50 LAW on the state of Bitcoin regulation in Hong Kong00:19:30 Prominent HK investor David Webb on Bitcoin00:21:19 LAW explains the nuts and bolts of Bitcoin00:26:30 LAW explains the workings of blockchain technology00:29:55 LAW on the Bitcoin halvening00:33:10 LAW on how verification works in Bitcoin00:37:32 LAW on the free rider problem in Bitcoin verification00:39:37 LAW on Bitcoin’s most famous error00:42:10 LAW on the cost of maintaining Bitcoin as a form of money00:43:50 LAW on Bitcoin mining in China00:48:16 LAW on Chinese government policy towards Bitcoin00:49:42 LAW on how Chinese investors are using Bitcoin00:53:03 LAW on how other cryptos like ETH stack up against Bitcoin00:55:30 LAW answers critics who claim Bitcoin isn’t a real technological breakthrough but a speculative tool00:58:08 LAW posits that Bitcoin is not a threat to governments01:00:11 LAW on how it’s almost impossible for governments to enact effective bans on Bitcoin01:01:41 LAW on how Japan is exceptionally progressive in Bitcoin regulation01:02:38 LAW on the crypto scene in Southeast Asia01:04:22 LAW on whether Bitcoin can overcome its innate volatility to become money01:06:04 LAW on Bitcoin as part of an investment portfolio01:07:57 LAW on why governments of small countries have incentives to get on the crypto train01:11:38 LAW on what Bitcoin could offer financial centres like Singapore and Hong Kong in order to compete against digital economy vanguard nations like Estonia Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.