Fighting Regulation with Decentralisation with Erik Voorhees & Udi Wertheimer

“Regulators are not going to be happy that there are unregulatable systems out there...Bitcoin has shown that if you get to a degree of decentralization you cannot be stopped.” — Erik Voorhees Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 3rd August Company: ShapeShift / Independent Role: CEO, Founder / Developer, Consultant, Bitcoin Activist Erik Vorhees was a very early bitcoiner, drawn to it because of its alignment with his Libertarian beliefs. Erik created one of the first widely used applications on Bitcoin, Satoshi Dice. A ‘provably fair’ betting game that at one time made up around 50% of all bitcoin transactions. In 2014, in the wake of the Mt.Gox collapse, Erik built ShapeShift, a trading platform that allowed the user to trade bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies without KYC or counterparty risk, which again aligned with both Erik’s and Bitcoin’s Libertarian ethos. However, in 2018 regulation pushed ShapeShift to KYC every customer and comply with various surveillance and reporting requirements. Erik decided the best way to push back against this would be to dismantle the legal company and move instead to a protocol, forming a Decentralised Autonomous Organization (DAO).  In this interview, I talk to Shapeshift Founder & CEO Erik Voorhees and Developer & Consultant Udi Wertheimer. We discuss the increasing regulatory pressure, decentralising a company and whether tokens have merit. This episode’s sponsors: Gemini - Buy Bitcoin instantly BlockFi - The future of Bitcoin financial services Sportsbet.io - Online sportsbook & casino that accepts Bitcoin Casa - The leading provider of Bitcoin multisig key security. Exodus - The world's leading Desktop, Mobile and Hardware crypto wallets. Ledger - State of the art Bitcoin hardware wallet ----- WBD383 - Show Notes ----- If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following: Become a Patron and get access to shows early or help contribute Make a tip: Bitcoin: 3FiC6w7eb3dkcaNHMAnj39ANTAkv8Ufi2S QR Codes: Bitcoin If you do send a tip then please email me so that I can say thank you Subscribe on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | Deezer | TuneIn | RSS Feed Leave a review on iTunes Share the show and episodes with your friends and family Subscribe to the newsletter on my website Follow me on Twitter Personal | Twitter Podcast | Instagram | Medium | YouTube If you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.