The Heretic’s Guide to Bitcoin Debating, Feat. Brett Scott
The author and activist on how Bitcoin arguments go bad (and how they can be better).
Feb 28, 2021
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ABOUT
This week on the Opinionated podcast we’re joined by Brett Scott, the author of “The Heretic's Guide to Global Finance: Hacking the Future of Money.”
Scott is a former derivatives broker who became a financial market reformer in the wake of the 2007-2008 crisis.
Many such reformers became big fans of bitcoin. But Scott’s views on cryptocurrency are mixed and nuanced. He appreciates some aspects of the technology, but also criticizes people in the space for over-indulging certain arguments about it.
As he wrote recently in our op-ed pages, Scott believes bitcoin advocates often conflate points of attack that don’t belong together, namely that bitcoin can be a new form of money and a tradable asset simultaneously.
Check out that op-ed here:
How to Win a Bitcoin Street Fight (Without Mortal Combat)
And then listen to my conversation with Scott on the podcast.
He has fascinating insights into the nature and future of money and how we can talk about bitcoin more usefully.
Brett Scott’s Twitter handle is: @Suitpossum.
HOST
Benjamin Schiller
Ben Schiller is a senior adviser at Miden, a privacy-focused blockchain. He was a CoinDesk managing editor from 2019 to 2025, and, before that, a staff writer at Fast Company.
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