BONUS 001 - Gigi: Proof of Work - Part 1

Hello and welcome to this bonus episode of the Free Cities Podcast. These episodes are only available to our subscribers on Fountain, and I'll be dropping them during the weeks when the regular release episode is one that subscribers have already had early access to.

A little background behind the episode: this is part one of two separate conversations I had with the Bitcoin OG Gigi, which—sadly, until now—have never actually been heard by anyone other than him and me. Back in the summer of 2021, I was working on a personal film project with the Australian filmmaker Richard James. On my part, this involved conducting a series of interviews with prominent Bitcoiners discussing the subject of proof of work, which was also to be the name of the film. Back then, as now, I believed that understanding proof of work was key to greater acceptance of Bitcoin in the mainstream world, particularly with regard to energy consumption, which was certainly a hot topic at the time. How things have changed.

Anyway, understanding proof of work is probably one of the harder aspects of Bitcoin to wrap your head around. And since I consider Gigi to be one of the key people on this subject, I was incredibly grateful to end up recording for nearly four hours with him. The conversation ventures into many different parts of the Bitcoin rabbit hole, including (in part two) some fascinating discussion about the spiritual aspects of Bitcoin’s emergence and Gigi’s personal story of discovery and transformation, which is just incredible.

Now, bear in mind: this conversation often falls into a question-and-answer format, which isn’t my preferred way of talking (as you probably know from listening to the podcast), though it works well for film interviews. Speaking over the internet brought its own problems, too. You'll hear Gigi’s connection cut out no less than four times during the discussion. I tried to edit the interruptions out, but often it’s better to just leave them in to preserve the true flow of the conversation.

Anyway, long story short: this film project fell foul of the so-called pandemic, which was still (kind of) raging in the background at the time of recording. I ended up closing my office and going abroad with my family to escape the draconian measures the UK was experiencing at the time. As a result, this interview—plus many more with the likes of Nic Carter, Brandon Quittem, Max Hillebrand, Tomer Strolight, Knut Svanholm, Harry Sudock (to name just a few)—have all sat idle on a hard drive for the last four years.

Now, I hate seeing things go to waste, so I figured this might be the perfect place to finally publish these conversations. You’ll discover tons of signal here, of course, but what I found especially fascinating was observing just how much things have changed since these discussions back in 2021. And I don’t mean just my own understanding of the subjects discussed (I remember really struggling with the concept of proof of work), but also the massive changes we’ve seen in the adoption and public image of Bitcoin itself.

Anyway, here’s the conversation. I would class Gigi as—well, in my case at least—the most respected Bitcoiner out there. He’s been at the sharp end of the Bitcoin wedge for a very long time, and I think these two interviews represent an excellent snapshot of that particular moment in Bitcoin’s history. Plus, it’s Gigi, so obviously, there’s a ton of alpha too.

Anyway, enjoy the conversation, and see you on the next one.