The Bitcoin Frontier: Daily Summaries Delivered

Inside Wall Street’s bitcoin playbook with Denny Galindo

Denny is a wealth manager and bitcoin research lead at Morgan Stanley, where he bridges traditional finance and bitcoin for high-net-worth investors. He operates inside one of the world’s largest financial institutions while developing frameworks to help advisors understand and allocate to bitcoin. In this episode, Denny joins The Bitcoin Frontier to share how investors should think about bitcoin in a portfolio, the three core investor buckets driving adoption, and his thoughts on determining whether you’re underweight or overweight bitcoin. We dig into bitcoin’s market cycles and seasonal framework, the role of global money supply in driving returns, and practical strategies for gaining exposure in a volatile asset. SUPPORT THE PODCAST: → Subscribe → Leave a review → Share the show with your friends and family → Send us an email: podcast@unchained.com → Learn more about Unchained: https://unchained.com/?utm_source=you... → Book a free call with a bitcoin expert: https://unchained.com/consultation?ut... TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 – Intro & Denny’s role bridging traditional finance and bitcoin 2:00 – From equity research to leading bitcoin insights at Morgan Stanley 4:20 – The three investor buckets: digital gold, venture, and diversifier 7:30 – How institutions evaluate volatility and correlation 10:50 – Where bitcoin fits in portfolios today (risk asset vs store of value) 14:00 – How to determine if you’re underweight or overweight bitcoin 18:00 – Why most investors are still early (0–4% allocation range) 21:40 – Will the three investor frameworks converge over time? 23:10 – Bitcoin cycles: macro liquidity vs halving-driven supply shocks 26:30 – Using cycles for rebalancing vs long-term holding strategies 31:20 – Tail risks: quantum computing and “earthquake” scenarios 36:10 – Bitcoin as a global store of value and M2-driven returns 41:10 – Modeling long-term returns: monetary expansion + adoption 48:30 – How to build a position: dollar-cost averaging and timing 52:15 – Seasons of bitcoin: winter, spring, and portfolio adjustments 55:00 – What it takes for bitcoin to become a standard portfolio allocation WHERE TO FOLLOW US: → Unchained X: https://x.com/unchained → Unchained LinkedIn: / unchainedcom → Unchained Newsletter: https://unchained.com/newsletter → Denny Galindo’s Twitter: https://x.com/DennyGalindo → Timot Lamarre’s Twitter: https://x.com/TimotLamarre

Venture on a bitcoin standard with Allen Farrington

Dictators fuel bitcoin adoption with Anna Chekhovich | The Last Free Americans

Bitcoin’s volatility is the signal in the noise with Mark Connors

Open-source lawfare and bitcoin’s defense with Peter Van Valkenburgh | The Last Free Americans

Peter Van Valkenburgh is the Executive Director of Coin Center, a leading nonprofit research and advocacy group focused on cryptocurrency policy. In this episode, Peter joins The Bitcoin Frontier to explore why defending the right to self-custody is about much more than bitcoin — it’s about the future of individual freedom, open-source innovation, and financial privacy. We dig into the parallels between the 1990s “crypto wars” and today’s digital sovereignty battles, the threats facing developers of privacy tools, and the constitutional foundations for privacy and property in the digital age. SUPPORT THE PODCAST: → Subscribe → Leave a review → Share the show with your friends and family → Send us an email: podcast@unchained.com → Learn more about Unchained: https://unchained.com/?utm_source=you... → Book a free call with a bitcoin expert: https://unchained.com/consultation?ut... TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 – Intro and Peter’s journey from acting to bitcoin policy 2:00 – Discovering the cypherpunks and the roots of internet freedom 4:00 – Entering bitcoin through law school and meeting Jerry Brito 6:00 – Founding Coin Center and defining “permissionless innovation” 9:00 – The mission: protecting the freedom to build and use open blockchains 11:00 – Bitcoin’s privacy problem and the legal risks of building privacy tech 13:00 – Educating DC: explaining bitcoin to Congress in the early days 16:00 – Navigating the SEC, ICOs, and defining what counts as a security 18:30 – The evolution from education to constitutional litigation 22:00 – Bitcoin as the revival of a “bearer instrument” economy 26:00 – The “secret right to cash” and the Fourth Amendment’s blind spot 30:00 – Privacy, property, and what bitcoin reveals about constitutional limits 35:00 – The Keep Your Coins Act and why it matters for financial sovereignty 43:00 – The DOJ’s shift toward prosecuting developers — and why it’s dangerous 46:00 – Inside the Tornado Cash and Samurai Wallet prosecutions 50:00 – How Coin Center is fighting for software publishing rights 54:00 – Legislative progress: Clarity, Keep Your Coins, and BRCA 1:00:00 – Lessons from the 1990s encryption wars 1:03:00 – How liability protections shaped (and centralized) the internet 1:08:00 – The convenience dilemma: why self-custody must become easier 1:12:00 – The Bank Secrecy Act, mass surveillance, and new legal challenges 1:19:00 – Coin Center’s constitutional lawsuits for privacy and association rights 1:23:00 – Why the BSA is ripe for reform — and bitcoin’s role in that debate 1:27:00 – Zero-knowledge proofs, AML, and a future of privacy-preserving compliance 1:29:00 – How self-custody wallets enable digital identity and personal sovereignty 1:31:00 – Closing thoughts: bitcoin as the foundation for a freer digital future WHERE TO FOLLOW US: → Unchained X: https://x.com/unchained → Unchained LinkedIn: / unchainedcom → Unchained Newsletter: https://unchained.com/newsletter → Joe Kelly’s Twitter: https://x.com/josephkelly → Peter Van Valkenburgh’s Twitter: https://x.com/valkenburgh

Self-custody rights are property rights Seth Hertlein | The Last Free Americans

Seth Hertlein is the Global Head of Policy at Ledger and one of the earliest, most persistent advocates for bitcoin self-custody in Washington. Known for his “lone ranger” years as the only lobbyist focused on protecting non-custodial rights, he brings a rare combination of securities law expertise, political insight, and deep conviction about individual property rights. In this episode, Seth joins The Last Free Americans to share how he fell down the bitcoin rabbit hole, why self-custody is a return to humanity’s oldest property norms, and how today’s policy battles will define digital freedom for generations. We dig into the evolution of financial intermediaries, the history of natural rights from Aristotle to the framers, and the real political forces lining up for and against self-custody. SUPPORT THE PODCAST: → Subscribe → Leave a review → Share the show with your friends and family → Send us an email: podcast@unchained.com → Learn more about Unchained: https://unchained.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast → Book a free call with a bitcoin expert: https://unchained.com/consultation?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 – Intro to The Last Free Americans & Seth’s unique role in policy 2:20 – How a securities regulator became an “accidental crypto lobbyist” 5:03 – Early bitcoin reading, monetary policy, and recognizing its political nature 7:43 – The aha moment of self-custody: from Ledger device to first withdrawal 12:58 – Ownership vs. possession: how financial markets drifted into full intermediation 16:40 – Why self-custody is not new: property as a natural human right 22:45 – How centralization overtook markets: certificates, DTCC, and efficiency tradeoffs 27:58 – 2021: the year Washington and the industry “woke up” to each other 33:10 – Keep Your Coins Act, Canadian truckers, and why lawful peer-to-peer matters 38:40 – Property rights, natural law, and the framers’ blind spots on privacy 45:55 – Executive Order 6102, takings law, and lessons for bitcoin 52:03 – How the Bank Secrecy Act and third-party doctrine became digital surveillance 59:42 – The three camps opposing self-custody: nats-ec hawks, socialists, and bureaucracies 1:05:40 – The IRS broker rule, CRA repeal, and precedents for stopping overreach 1:11:22 – House vs. Senate language: what “retain the right” really means 1:17:14 – Odds of passage in 2024 and why Senate floor time is everything 1:22:44 – The global landscape: why America is still the last best hope 1:27:50 – What comes next: privacy as the next digital freedom frontier 1:32:10 – Closing thoughts on restoring founding principles through Bitcoin WHERE TO FOLLOW US: → Unchained X: https://x.com/unchained → Unchained LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/unchainedcom → Unchained Newsletter: https://unchained.com/newsletter → Joe Kelly’s Twitter: https://x.com/josephkelly → Seth Hertlein’s Twitter: https://x.com/SethHertlein

$220K bitcoin scam blindsides a mining CEO with Kent Halliburton

Kent is the CEO of Sazmining and a longtime bitcoiner who previously led large-scale solar operations before building a non-custodial bitcoin mining platform. Recently, he became the victim of a sophisticated in-person scam that resulted in the loss of $220,000 worth of bitcoin. In this episode, Kent joins The Bitcoin Frontier to share exactly what happened during the scam, what red flags he missed, and why he decided to go public. We dig into the psychology of social engineering, how attackers exploit self-interest, and why even experienced bitcoiners remain vulnerable. We also cover how to build operational security inside a business to mitigate social engineering attacks, how families can prepare for deepfake attacks, and why bitcoin’s immutability still strengthens personal responsibility even in difficult moments. SUPPORT THE PODCAST: → Subscribe → Leave a review → Share the show with your friends and family → Send us an email: podcast@unchained.com → Learn more about Unchained: https://unchained.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast → Book a free call with a bitcoin expert: https://unchained.com/consultation?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 – Intro & Kent’s disclosure of a $220k bitcoin scam 3:20 – Why he chose to go public: PSA, law-enforcement pressure, and justice 7:10 – Kent’s background in solar, bitcoin, and building Sazmining 10:05 – The setup: a “family office” deal, travel, and early yellow flags 14:40 – The first meeting in Amsterdam & unusual trust-building exercises 19:00 – How the attackers built credibility and portrayed ultra-wealth 23:15 – The second meeting, Atomic Wallet, and how the sweep unfolded 28:40 – The psychological trap: self-interest, exhaustion, and urgency 34:00 – Why immutability didn’t shake his conviction in bitcoin 37:25 – Internal policy changes: whitelisting, diligence, and cooling-off periods 41:50 – Distinguishing roles: CEO instincts vs. bitcoiner instincts 45:05 – Scam evolution, social engineering, and the danger of urgency 49:20 – Efforts to recover funds & the limits of both private and public options 54:10 – How AI deepfakes raise the stakes for family safety 57:20 – Why code words, local trust, and multisig can protect loved ones 59:40 – Closing thoughts, personal accountability & Sazmining’s mission WHERE TO FOLLOW US: → Unchained X: https://x.com/unchained → Unchained LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/unchainedcom → Unchained Newsletter: https://unchained.com/newsletter → Kent Halliburton’s Twitter: https://x.com/khalliburton → Timot Lamarre’s Twitter: https://x.com/TimotLamarre

Self-custody is foundational to bitcoin's value with Zack Shapiro | The Last Free Americans

Zack Shapiro is the head of legal and policy at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and a key architect behind the Peer-to-Peer Rights Fund. He’s spent years on the frontlines where law, technology, and human freedom intersect—helping lawmakers and judges understand what it means to hold value in the digital age. In this episode, Zack joins The Bitcoin Frontier to break down why self-custody is foundational to bitcoin’s value, how the Clarity Act could define financial freedom for a generation, and why the right to hold your own money might be the most American right of all. We dig into the constitutional roots of property rights, how U.S. law is being stretched to fit a peer-to-peer world, and why the fight for non-custodial software developers will determine the future of bitcoin in America. SUPPORT THE PODCAST: → Subscribe → Leave a review → Share the show with your friends and family → Send us an email: podcast@unchained.com → Learn more about Unchained: https://unchained.com/?utm_source=you... → Book a free call with a bitcoin expert: https://unchained.com/consultation?ut... TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 – Intro & the mission behind The Last Free Americans series 2:00 – What self-custody really means and why it’s the foundation of bitcoin’s value 3:45 – ETFs, financialization, and the fading connection to real bitcoin 5:00 – Why self-custody matters more than ever in 2025 6:15 – How outdated laws are clashing with a peer-to-peer world 7:40 – The Clarity Act and the battle for non-custodial rights 9:00 – Would bitcoin even be valuable without self-custody? 10:00 – How self-custody connects to America’s founding values 12:00 – The Constitution’s protections for holding bitcoin: 1st, 4th, 5th, 9th Amendments 16:00 – The history lesson: Executive Order 6102 and gold confiscation 18:30 – Enumerated powers, the 9th Amendment, and the people’s retained rights 21:00 – Why protecting non-custodial developers is critical to freedom 23:30 – Tornado Cash, Samurai Wallet, and the dangerous new legal precedents 27:30 – Knowledge vs. intent: how the DOJ’s theories stretch the law 31:00 – The risk of calling developers “money transmitters” 33:30 – Steelmanning the other side: why regulators see a loophole 37:00 – How the Bank Secrecy Act evolved from mob busting to digital dragnet 40:30 – From halawa networks to bitcoin: applying old laws to new rails 42:30 – The real ideological divide: state control vs. individual liberty 46:00 – Why self-custody embodies the American idea of limited government 47:30 – If Bitcoin existed in 1776, would the framers have protected self-custody? 49:00 – Strategy going forward: the Clarity Act, education, and vigilance 52:00 – The political battle ahead: Elizabeth Warren, ICOs, and what’s really at stake 54:00 – How bitcoin helps the least powerful—and why that matters most WHERE TO FOLLOW US: → Unchained X: https://x.com/unchained → Unchained LinkedIn: / unchainedcom → Unchained Newsletter: