Something's Going Seriously Wrong in Bitcoin (Or is it?) | Eric Yakes | BFM229
Thu Feb 05 2026
Eric Yakes runs Epoch Ventures and is the author of The 7th Property: Bitcoin and the Monetary Revolution.
› https://x.com/ericyakes
PARTNERS
🌳 Gain peace of mind with Onramp’s Multi-Institution Custody solution. Sign up with code BRAM to receive $150 in Bitcoin after your first deposit: https://onrampbitcoin.com/bram
🟧 Buy Bitcoin in the EU 🇪🇺 via https://relai.me/bram - Sign up with code BRAM to get 10% off your fees
PRODUCTS I ENDORSE
› Get 10% off a Bitaxe open-source Bitcoin home miner using code BRAM at https://shop.powermining.io/?ref=BRAM
› Blockstream Jade Plus: The simplest and most secure hardware wallet on the planet - Get 10% off with code BRAM at https://store.blockstream.com
› Stamp Seed: The safest way to backup your hardware wallet - Get 15% off with code BRAM at https://stampseed.com
🔔 SUBSCRIBE TO GET NOTIFIED
› https://youtube.com/@bramk
› https://x.com/bramk
🕑 TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Immutability as a Core Property of Money
01:19 - The Evolution of Money: From Private to Centralized
03:20 - Coinage, Coin Clipping, and Roman Debasement
05:11 - Banking Origins: Receipts and Fractional Reserves
07:14 - Central Banks, Paper Money, and the Telegraph Era
09:38 - The Fiat Era: Debt Expansion and Moral Hazard
11:19 - How Bitcoin Removes Monetary Tradeoffs
13:14 - Trust, Human Fallibility, and Objective Verification
16:58 - A Distributed Future: Bitcoin Meets AI
20:37 - Agency, Incentives, and Escaping Fiat Life Scripts
23:42 - Why Monetary Technology Adopts Slowly
25:51 - Adoption S-Curves: Store of Value Comes First
31:44 - Volatility, Institutions, and Capital Depth
38:02 - Volatility vs. Risk: Narratives Drive Markets
43:46 - Why Bitcoin Is Hard to Understand
47:58 - Banks, Credit, and Fractional Reserve on Bitcoin
57:32 - Hot Takes: Nasdaq Correlations and Crashes
01:00:16 - Quantum Computing and Bitcoin as a Protocol
01:04:22 - Fears and Hopes: Freedom Money and Mining
ℹ️ EPISODE SUMMARY
Bram Kanstein and Eric Yakes discuss why Bitcoin adds immutability as a new property of money. They trace how trust slid from coinage to banks to fiat, and why moral hazard keeps showing up. Yakes frames Bitcoin self-custody as lowering the cost of sovereignty, like holding value on a USB instead of in a vault. They confront volatility, institutions, and why narrative moves markets before fundamentals. They close on credit, fractional reserve incentives, quantum computing, and Bitcoin’s long game.
RELAI DISCLAIMERRelai sponsors this show/podcast and is authorized to provide crypto-asset services in Switzerland and across the European Union under the MiCA regulatory framework with its license issued by the French regulator, AMF (License No: A2025-006). The company is actively expanding its services to EU member states following the completion of passporting notifications.
More
Eric Yakes runs Epoch Ventures and is the author of The 7th Property: Bitcoin and the Monetary Revolution. › https://x.com/ericyakes PARTNERS 🌳 Gain peace of mind with Onramp’s Multi-Institution Custody solution. Sign up with code BRAM to receive $150 in Bitcoin after your first deposit: https://onrampbitcoin.com/bram 🟧 Buy Bitcoin in the EU 🇪🇺 via https://relai.me/bram - Sign up with code BRAM to get 10% off your fees PRODUCTS I ENDORSE › Get 10% off a Bitaxe open-source Bitcoin home miner using code BRAM at https://shop.powermining.io/?ref=BRAM › Blockstream Jade Plus: The simplest and most secure hardware wallet on the planet - Get 10% off with code BRAM at https://store.blockstream.com › Stamp Seed: The safest way to backup your hardware wallet - Get 15% off with code BRAM at https://stampseed.com 🔔 SUBSCRIBE TO GET NOTIFIED › https://youtube.com/@bramk › https://x.com/bramk 🕑 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Immutability as a Core Property of Money 01:19 - The Evolution of Money: From Private to Centralized 03:20 - Coinage, Coin Clipping, and Roman Debasement 05:11 - Banking Origins: Receipts and Fractional Reserves 07:14 - Central Banks, Paper Money, and the Telegraph Era 09:38 - The Fiat Era: Debt Expansion and Moral Hazard 11:19 - How Bitcoin Removes Monetary Tradeoffs 13:14 - Trust, Human Fallibility, and Objective Verification 16:58 - A Distributed Future: Bitcoin Meets AI 20:37 - Agency, Incentives, and Escaping Fiat Life Scripts 23:42 - Why Monetary Technology Adopts Slowly 25:51 - Adoption S-Curves: Store of Value Comes First 31:44 - Volatility, Institutions, and Capital Depth 38:02 - Volatility vs. Risk: Narratives Drive Markets 43:46 - Why Bitcoin Is Hard to Understand 47:58 - Banks, Credit, and Fractional Reserve on Bitcoin 57:32 - Hot Takes: Nasdaq Correlations and Crashes 01:00:16 - Quantum Computing and Bitcoin as a Protocol 01:04:22 - Fears and Hopes: Freedom Money and Mining ℹ️ EPISODE SUMMARY Bram Kanstein and Eric Yakes discuss why Bitcoin adds immutability as a new property of money. They trace how trust slid from coinage to banks to fiat, and why moral hazard keeps showing up. Yakes frames Bitcoin self-custody as lowering the cost of sovereignty, like holding value on a USB instead of in a vault. They confront volatility, institutions, and why narrative moves markets before fundamentals. They close on credit, fractional reserve incentives, quantum computing, and Bitcoin’s long game. RELAI DISCLAIMERRelai sponsors this show/podcast and is authorized to provide crypto-asset services in Switzerland and across the European Union under the MiCA regulatory framework with its license issued by the French regulator, AMF (License No: A2025-006). The company is actively expanding its services to EU member states following the completion of passporting notifications.