Giacomo Zucco was our guest today on the Relai Bitcoin Session podcast. Giacomo is the CEO of BlockchainLab and an outspoken Bitcoin maximalist. He is also an early investor in Relai.

We sat down with Giacomo to talk about his journey in Bitcoin and about what’s next for Bitcoin.

You can watch the podcast episode here.

Alternatively, you can listen in on AnchorFM.

Main Takeaways

Giacomo Zucco is a self-described full-time Bitcoin, who has previously operated several Bitcoin ventures and now focuses his time on Bitcoin consulting and education. He became interested in Bitcoin because it lies at the intersection of many of his existing interests, such as monetary policy, investing, and the cyberpunk movement.

The Importance of Privacy for Bitcoin

Talking about Bitcoin privacy, Giacomo highlighted how important privacy is for the Bitcoin network.

“Bitcoin privacy is very important because the whole point of Bitcoin is to resist confiscation, censorship, and monetary manipulation. Privacy is the number one weapon that allows it to maintain its features.”

Fungibility, which can only be achieved through privacy, is also important from a commercial point of view. Without it, it breaks the utility of money, Giacomo states.

Protocol improvements that boost privacy are important, Giacomo explains, highlighting Taproot and its benefits as an example. However, there are many “low-hanging fruits” that are not protocol-specific that can improve Bitcoin privacy.

Improving CoinJoin and PayJoin, discouraging the use of single address wallets, and educating users about Bitcoin best practices can help to improve privacy for everyday bitcoin users.

Bitcoin’s Survival Skills

Talking about Bitcoin’s anti-fragility, Giacomo explains that if governments had tried to kill Bitcoin in 2010, they would have probably succeeded. However, today, the Bitcoin ecosystem, community, and network have become so strong that it would be very difficult for governments to successfully shut down the digital currency.

“Bitcoin survived a critical phase where it was very fragile but now – I think – it’s in a phase where it is anti-fragile. If governments don’t try to shut it down, it will eventually be used the way PayPal is used today.”

However, it’s important that Bitcoin remains censorship-resistant. After all, it is Bitcoin’s main value proposition. Should governments try to prohibit Bitcoin, it will probably only make it stronger.

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