We thought we'd do something a little different in the newsletter this week, and ask a few of our Advisers who or what made the biggest impact on them when they were going down their personal Bitcoin Rabbit Hole.
The Bitcoin ecosystem is endlessly fascinating and constantly evolving, but many of these resources are timeless and we'd highly recommend picking up the book, listening to the podcast or reading the articles written by any of these great Bitcoiners. Some may have now stepped away, but we thank them for their contribution and the impact it made.
Peter Dunworth - Founding Partner (Global)
đź“– - Gradually then Suddenly, by Parker Lewis
đź“»- Parker's work is available as audio, for those that prefer to listen than read.
X - @JWWeatherman_ (the early stuff)
StackingHats - Bitcoin Adviser / B2B Partnerships (Global)
đź“– - I'm sure many others will say The Bitcoin Standard, which is a wonderful book, but unfortunately I learned the hard way myself before Saifedean laid it out so clearly, so I'd have to say Knut Svanholm. He has multiple books, which are all worth reading, but it was Deeper Down the Rabbit Hole - an article he wrote for Citadel21 that made the lightbulb turn on for me.
đź“»- I actually co-hosted the 2-Bit Idiots podcast with BitcoinBrendo (another adviser with TBA) for a couple of years. That was an amazing hack to allow us to speak to people from all over the world about Bitcoin every week for an hour or two. I learned so much from the guests doing that. However, my absolute "must not miss" was the Investor's Podcast (We Study Billionaires) - specifically the Bitcoin show that Preston Pysh did every Wednesday for years. That introduced me to some amazing people and ideas, and I'll be forever grateful to Preston for the work he did.
X - So difficult to name just one, as there have been hundreds over the years, but if forced I'll go for @LawrenceLepard. He's not just smart, he's humble by default but does not suffer fools.
YouTube - Robert Breedlove's "Saylor Series" with Michael Saylor is for me still the best single piece of content created about Bitcoin. If you're prepared to watch 30 hours of fascinating insight through the ages, it is time well spent. If you're more of a 30 minute person, Joe Bryan's "What's the Problem" is the most concise introduction to why Bitcoin is needed at all.
Stefan Smith - Bitcoin Adviser (Europe)
📖 - I read many books about Bitcoin but Brandon Quittem’s article “Bitcoin is the Mycelium of Money” almost shocked me for the perfection of the answer it gave me regarding the state of the world. For a couple decades, I felt the multicrises (economic, environmental, social, health, political, etc) were unidirectional: the horizon was clearly shrinking.
I was looking for a solution based on two premises: humans will always do business, and humans will always need the biosphere.
What can foster economic activity while preventing hype-extraction from the Planet’s scarce resources? That’s how I found the fungi kingdom, that has been thriving for 1.3 billion years. So I started a local farmer’s market where I sold growing mushroom kits from recycled coffee grounds. Fungi is considered the internet of earth. It’s thriving because it’s antifragile, thanks to its decentralized nature, which led me to realize the State could be responsible for most of our societal ailments.
Meanwhile I discovered bitcoin during Covid. I became a maxi soon after.
Brandon’s article is definitely worth reading!
📻 - The numerous episodes of the What Bitcoin Did podcast, observing how Peter McCormack progressively became a proper bitcoiner was fascinating to witness. I couldn’t mention a particular episode but I didn’t miss one back then.
X - Although the Stock to Flow model (by PlanB) is now broken, back in 2020 it showed me how bitcoin’s direction is up only if denominated in fiat, which encouraged me to allocate more and more capital into bitcoin. The philosophical aspects of bitcoin came later. Most come for number go up and stay for the revolution!
YouTube - A single YouTube video orange pilled me hard, that was the only time Michael Saylor interviewed someone, and that was Ross Stevens. Phenomenal. The confidence and the passion displayed by Ross was a confirmation there was just no space for any doubt regarding bitcoin being completely different from everything else in the crypto space, and infinitely more profound.
Dinny Collins - Bitcoin Adviser (Europe)
đź“– - The Bitcoin Standard, by Saifedean Ammous
đź“» - Simon Dixon on many long form podcasts
Gary Larking - Bitcoin Adviser (Australia / NZ)
đź“– - The Creature from Jekyll Island, by G. Edward Griffin
When I was busily trying to answer the question posed by a good friend of mine, 'what is bitcoin ?', my engineer brain read everything I could. This book hit me like a tonne of bricks, after the initial shocks of 'The Bitcoin Standard' and 'Broken Money'. The author lays bare the inner workings of fiat in such a way that you can never regard it the same way again, and it gave me a stark contrast to the mental image I was forming regarding bitcoin.
đź“»- Has to be 2-Bit Idiots, surely? (your very kind Gaz...but let's be serious) While top of the entertaining list no doubt, the mainstay for me was Preston Pysh's Investors Podcast. I would rarely miss an episode, and learnt so much about value investing (my pre-bitcoin interest) and all things bitcoin related.
X - I've learned to curate this as its a very noisy environment. Also 'For You' is a journey to algo-hell, so I only use 'Following'. Probably @_Checkmatey_ would have my favourite content, always very thoughtful and balanced takes.
YouTube - In my bitcoin formative years I would also listen to long form conversations on Robert Breedlove's 'What is Money' show, where the Saylor series and the Jason Lowery series were exceptional, for very different reasons. These days I mostly listen to podcasts or read Twitter/X feeds.
Brendan McDonald - Bitcoin Adviser (Australia / NZ)
đź“– - It's hard to go past 'The Bitcoin Standard' here. Even though when I finally got around to reading it I had already fallen pretty hard down the rabbit hole, it helped to solidify a lot of concepts, and was (and is) a great resource to point newbies to.
đź“» - Hard to admit now, but I have to say 'The Pomp Podcast' with Anthony Pompliano. It was on high rotation when I first started. Despite what many Bitcoin maxis probably think about him now, he was/is an excellent speaker, was a great champion for Bitcoin on mainstream media, and had interesting guests on regularly. Bitcoin Rapid-Fire with John Vallis was a very close second.
X - This one is too hard to split, so for me it's a tie between @PrestonPysh and @JeffBooth. Solid Bitcoiners, solid content.
YouTube - The Saylor Series. Hands down.
Jurgen Schonafinger - Bitcoin Adviser (Australia / NZ)
YouTube - Michael Saylor explaining why he had gone all in on Bitcoin (2020). For me that's when it all came together and I sold all my shares within my SMSF and bought BTC. Then I just kept buying when there was cash available.
I'm not certain which YouTube channel it was on, but perhaps What Bitcoin Did.
Wenze van Klink - Bitcoin Adviser (Europe)
đź“– - The Bitcoin Standard, by Saifedean Ammous
There is a reason why The Bitcoin Standard is probably the best-selling Bitcoin book. It was the book that made many of the separate pieces finally click for me.
It helped me understand that Bitcoin is not just an interesting technology or a new type of investment. It is part of a much bigger story about money, saving, time preference and the consequences of monetary policy.
đź“» - What Bitcoin Did
What Bitcoin Did introduced me to the enormous range of subjects connected to Bitcoin, from economics and politics to mining, energy, privacy and self-custody.
What made the podcast particularly valuable to me was the casual and understandable style. The conversations rarely felt like lectures, even when the subject was complicated. It was an easy and enjoyable way to keep learning, and I still think it is a great starting point for people who are relatively new to Bitcoin and want to explore the rabbit hole without immediately being overwhelmed.
X - Gigi
There are many interesting people to follow in the Bitcoin space, but Gigi had the biggest impact on me personally.
His posts and longer articles complemented what I was learning through books and podcasts. He has a talent for explaining the more philosophical and technical aspects of Bitcoin in a way that makes you stop and think. His work helped several ideas click for me and, perhaps most importantly, made me increasingly positive about what Bitcoin could mean for the future.
He is no longer active on X, but I highly recommend reading his articles at dergigi.com/words.
YouTube - Checkonchain
I am much more of a reader and podcast listener during my off-screen hours. When I am already sitting behind a screen, I am usually working or consuming something that genuinely benefits from being visual. As a result, I watch very little Bitcoin content on YouTube.
The main exception is the Q&A content from Checkonchain. Their videos provide a clear and data-driven view of what is happening in the Bitcoin market without turning every short-term price movement into dramatic breaking news. I particularly appreciate the combination of on-chain analysis, market structure and a calm, long-term perspective.
Their videos are some of the only Bitcoin content on YouTube that I consistently feel is worth the additional screen time.
Conclusion
We asked the Advisers to provide their answers independently of each other, so they were not influenced by each other's responses. It's fascinating to see the similarities across very different personalities, living in different countries who were all learning independently.
This is by no means an exhaustive list and our apologies to the many many great contributors to this thing we call Bitcoin that did not receive a mention above...it was tough for us too!
Education is, and should be, a very personal journey. You will find the people that you connect with, via a medium you like, at the time when you are ready.
For those of you that are already clients, please reach out to your Adviser and tell them why they got it wrong, and for those thinking of securing your Bitcoin for your families future with the help of The Bitcoin Adviser, we look forward to helping you on your very own magical Bitcoin Rabbit Hole Journey.