S16 E43: Vikrant Sharma on Cake Wallet, Bitcoin & Privacy

Vikrant Sharma, better known as Vik, is the CEO and founder of Cake Wallet: the first Bitcoin wallet to support both Silent Payments and PayJoins. In this episode, we talk about the wallet's Monero roots & what is next in terms of features. Time stamps: 00:01:05 - Introducing Vik 00:01:24 - Cake Wallet Features for Bitcoin and Monero 00:03:08 - Background Sync Improvements 00:03:49 - Monero.com Wallet Discussion 00:04:41 - Monero Community Insights 00:05:01 - Privacy in Monero Transactions 00:06:33 - Funding and Revenue Model 00:08:29 - Vik's Background in Steel and Tech 00:10:34 - Discovering Bitcoin and Privacy Apps 00:13:22 - Launching Cakewallet for Monero 00:14:23 - Why Start with Monero Over Bitcoin 00:15:35 - Origin of the Name "Cake Wallet" 00:17:36 - Order of Coins Added to Cake Wallet 00:19:09 - PayJoins and Silent Payments 00:21:11 - Citrea 00:22:34 - Layer 2 Labs and Drivechains 00:24:32 - Silent Payments Address Drama 00:25:35 - Qubic Mining Drama in Monero 00:30:42 - Monero's Resilience to Attacks 00:32:53 - Monero as a Stablecoin 00:33:41 - Use It to Win: Spending vs Hodling 00:36:38 - Treasury Company Plans 00:39:28 - Future of Privacy Coins 00:42:58 - SideShift.ai 00:44:20 - NoOnes.com 00:45:29 - Bitcoin.com News 00:46:37 - Taxes and Privacy Coins 00:48:42 - Layers of Privacy 00:59:00 - Zcash and Privacy Experiments 01:00:36 - Growing the Crypto Space 01:02:44 - Supported Coins: Ethereum 01:06:17 - Litecoin and MWEB Integration 01:08:43 - Dogecoin Addition 01:10:37 - Wownero for Monero Community 01:11:17 - Bitcoin Cash Support in Cake Wallet 01:13:30 - Polygon and Tron for Low Fees 01:15:44 - Nano for Feeless Payments 01:17:00 - Decred and Community Overlap 01:18:14 - Zano and Confidential Assets 01:20:06 - Lightning Network Plans 01:21:46 - Zcash Future Integration 01:23:02 - Cupcake Airgapped Wallet 01:26:00 - Considering Kaspa 01:29:56 - Dash Privacy Debate 01:32:20 - Network Effects and Wallet Choices 01:34:57 - Raven Coin Experiment 01:35:43 - Hiring Developers 01:36:18 - Custom Wallpapers and UI Overhaul 01:37:12 - One Seed for All Wallets 01:38:31 - How Many of the Supported Coins Will Survive? 01:39:46 - Multi-Coin Payment Services 01:40:32 - Pay Invoice Feature 01:42:03 - User Data and Privacy Policy 01:45:49 - Node Data Handling 01:47:04 - Advice on Self-Custody 01:48:17 - Where to Follow Vik and Cake Wallet 01:48:51 - Closing Remarks