In preparation for his LIVE AT PUBKEY show downstairs, Erik Cason (author of Cryptosovereignty: The Encrypted Political Philosophy of Bitcoin) grabs a cold one with host Thomas Pacchia in the PubKey NYC Parlor, where they let loose for an UNFILTERED conversation about:
How Bitcoin introduced a new form of political power that will reshape the structure of nation-states
Why fiat’s century-long decay (from greenbacks to 1971 to the GFC) created today’s nihilism, instability, and rising extremism
What Bitcoiners get WRONG about central bankers, Cantillon dynamics, and the moral psychology behind money printing
The coming clash between custodial Bitcoin (ETFs, treasuries) and self-sovereign Bitcoin
Why AI and proprietary language models are becoming the new battleground for human autonomy
How generational resentment, collapsing institutions, and political polarization could push America toward a Weimar-style fork
Why REAL self-sovereignty demands new hardware, new UX, and a cultural shift toward running your own stack
Whether Bitcoiners must eventually organize politically to avoid both authoritarian capture and extremist backlash
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Welcome home. PubKey is a bar and cultural venue located in New York City and Washington D.C. (With more locations coming!)
We host FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC events for the curious, the rebellious, and the orange-pilled.
Visit PubKey:
🗽 PubKey NYC
🗽 85 Washington Place
🗽 New York, NY 10011
🇺🇸 PubKey D.C.
🇺🇸 410 7th St NW
🇺🇸 Washington, DC 20004
🧡 Register for FREE weekly meetups and events: https://luma.com/user/pubkey
🍔 Check out our food menu (yes, we discount 21% if you pay in BTC!): https://pubkey.bar/menu
Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your nym.
Est. 735075.
In preparation for their LIVE AT PUBKEY show downstairs, Frank Corva and David Z. Morris (journalist at The Rage) crack open a few cold ones with host Thomas Pacchia and pregame in the PubKey NYC Parlor, where they let loose for an UNFILTERED conversation about the Samourai Wallet trial verdict:
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PubKey meetups are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Join us to ask live questions and enjoy a pint together. Good food, bad opinions, great company.
🧡 NYC Meetups: https://luma.com/user/pubkey
🗽 PubKey NYC
🗽 85 Washington Place
🗽 New York, NY 10011
Follow us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
In preparation for their LIVE AT PUBKEY show downstairs, Frank Corva, Zac Guignard (Financial Freedom Content Associate at HRF), and Will Casarin (founder of Damus) crack open a few cold ones and pregame in the PubKey NYC Parlor, where they let loose for an UNFILTERED conversation about:
Yes, centralized platforms strip autonomy, but Nostr’s open protocol flips control back to the user
How Damus broadcasts to 100+ relays at once, making deplatforming nearly impossible
Why vibe coding is lowering the barrier to building decentralized apps
What it'll mean for our current online incentives for content to go viral without an algorithm (hint: it disrupts the entire Internet)
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PubKey meetups are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Join us to ask live questions and enjoy a pint together. Good food, bad opinions, great company.
🧡 NYC Meetups: https://luma.com/user/pubkey
🗽 PubKey NYC
🗽 85 Washington Place
🗽 New York, NY 10011
Follow us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Thomas Pacchia and Jorge Jraissati (Venezuelan activist and president of the Economic Inclusion Group) crack open a few cold ones and pregame in the PubKey NYC Parlor, where they let loose for an UNFILTERED conversation about:
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PubKey meetups are FREE and PUBLIC. Join us to ask live questions, engage with experts, and enjoy a pint together:
🗽 PubKey NYC
🗽 85 Washington Place
🗽 New York, NY 10011
🧡 https://www.meetup.com/pubkey-meetups/events/
🧡 https://luma.com/user/pubkey
Catch the next livestream on X: https://x.com/PubKey
In preparation for their Live at PubKey show downstairs, Christian "CK" Keroles, Matt Ahlborg, and Kyle Olney (with host Thomas Pacchia) crack open a few cold ones and pregame in the PubKey NYC Parlor, where they let loose for an UNFILTERED conversation about:
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PubKey meetups are FREE and PUBLIC. Join us to ask live questions, engage with experts, and enjoy a pint together:
🗽 PubKey NYC
🗽 85 Washington Place
🗽 New York, NY 10011
🧡 https://www.meetup.com/pubkey-meetups/events/
🧡 https://luma.com/user/pubkey
Catch the next livestream on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert pre-game at the PubKey NYC Parlor (with hosts Thomas Pacchia and Mike Germano) in preparation for their LIVE AT PUBKEY show downstairs. They let loose for an unfiltered, beer-fueled conversation about:
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Catch the next Pre-game livestream by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Quoth the Raven pre-games at the NYC Parlor with Thomas Pacchia and Matt Kita in preparation for his LIVE AT PUBKEY show downstairs. They let loose for an unfiltered, beer-fueled conversation about:
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Catch the next Pre-game livestream by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Thomas Pacchia sits down for a livestreamed chat in the PubKey Parlor with Alex Li (Bitcoin development lead at the Human Rights Foundation) and Alex Gleason (currently Soapbox, formerly ex-Head of Engineering at Truth Social). They discuss:
Why Nostr's keypair system makes it more secure than Twitter (or even Mastodon)
How Alex Gleason’s open-source software got co-opted by Truth Social, and how he discovered Trump Media wasn't TRULY interested in free speech
The massive vulnerabilities in Bluesky’s architecture and why it’s still “fake decentralization”
How AI is unlocking creative potential for both activists and developers on the frontlines of freedom tech
Why Bitcoin is still the glue that holds it all together... and why we need “freedom go up” alongside number go up
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Thomas Pacchia and Drew Armstrong sit down for a livestreamed chat in the PubKey parlor with Alex Leishman (CEO and CTO of River). They discuss:
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Thomas Pacchia and Mike Germano sit down for a livestreamed chat in the PubKey parlor with Peter McCormack and his son Conor, the father-son duo behind Real Bedford FC. They discuss:
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Thomas Pacchia and Drew Armstrong sit down for a livestreamed chat in the PubKey parlor with Antoine Poinsot and ArbedOut. Partway through, American HODL joins the table to stir the pot. They discuss:
What really caused the OP_RETURN firestorm, and why it’s about more than just inscriptions
How the push for more data storage is creating incentives for harmful workarounds and network bloat
Why Bitcoin Knots is no longer “just a slightly modified Core," and why that should concern you
The tension between “community values” and miner incentives in the age of alternate implementations
The uncomfortable legacy of mempool policy: from anti-spam fixes to today’s shadow consensus
BONUS: the French idiom that perfectly captures why decentralized decision-making is so hard
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
The team is back from Bitcoin 2025 and the Oslo Freedom Forum! Thomas Pacchia hosts a packed post-conference debrief with Mike Germano, Drew Armstrong, and Frank Corva to break down what went down in Las Vegas and Oslo:
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Thomas Pacchia and Mike Germano sit down for a livestreamed chat with Ian Rogers, who went from managing the Beastie Boys’ digital presence to running Beats Music, building luxury tech at LVMH, and now pushing self-custody mainstream as Chief Experience Officer at Ledger. They discuss:
What the Beastie Boys taught Ian about decentralization LONG before Bitcoin
How iTunes reshaped digital commerce (and what it got wrong)
Why Louis Vuitton made him rethink scarcity, status, and what it means to “own” something
How Ledger is designing hardware wallets for the next 100 million users
Why streetwear, skating, and Bitcoin all thrive on earned identity, not marketing
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Thomas Pacchia sits down for a livestreamed chat with Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation. They discuss:
How HRF became an early Bitcoin-native organization (yes, even before Strategy)
The hidden power of activist-developer collisions at the Oslo Freedom Forum
Why authoritarian regimes (like North Korea) embracing Bitcoin might actually accelerate their collapse
The plan to bring open-source AI tools to human rights defenders and keep them out of OpenAI and Worldcoin's hands
... and what scaling really means for Bitcoin’s next 100 million users
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Berta Valle, a Nicaraguan journalist and vocal critic of the Daniel Ortega regime, joins Arsh Molu (Financial Freedom at the Human Rights Foundation) and Thomas Pacchia for a live-streamed chat in the PubKey Parlor, where they dive deep into:
How Berta’s husband Félix Maradiaga went from professor to political prisoner
The moment her family lost access to all their savings overnight
How Nicaraguan police used banking data to hunt journalists and dissidents
How exiled Nicaraguans are using freedom tech like to stay connected and fed
The terrifying legal trap of being declared stateless (and what it means for families)
A daughter's letter that helped free her father from solitary confinement
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Evan Mawarire, a Zimbabwean pastor-turned activist who led a peaceful uprising against dictator Robert Mugabe, joins Ayelen Osorio of the Human Rights Foundation, Femi Longe, and Thomas Pacchia for a live-streamed chat in the PubKey Parlor, where they dive deep into:
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Recorded on April 3rd, 2025 at PubKey NYC.
Frank Corva (political correspondent at Bitcoin Magazine) and John Dennehy (founder of My First Bitcoin) join Daniel Modell for a live-streamed chat in the PubKey Parlor, where they dive deep into:
The insane story of how John was detained by Salvadoran police—and how he got out of it
How My First Bitcoin went from one classroom to 25 countries without VC money or corporate sponsorship
Why Bitcoin education is still stuck in “step zero” (and what it 'll take to move beyond it)
The tension between Bitcoin adoption as a top-down state project versus a bottom-up liberation tool
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Recorded on March 31st, 2025 at PubKey NYC.
Dan O’Prey and Mas Nakachi join Daniel Modell for a live-streamed chat in the PubKey Parlor, where they discuss 1A1z's recent reports covering both the organizations that fund Bitcoin core devs and VC firms focused on Bitcoin companies. They dive into:
Why are there only 41 people maintaining a trillion-dollar network—and who’s paying them?
What happens when the most important software in the world runs on a shoestring budget?
The quiet role of Jack Dorsey and a handful of anonymous benefactors... and how normal people can be even more impactful
Why Bitcoin’s biggest security risk might be a spreadsheet no one’s looking at
The bizarre funding gap between flashy altcoin projects and Bitcoin companies
What the VC world still doesn’t get about Bitcoin and everyday users—and how that might be changing
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Recorded on March 20th, 2025 at PubKey NYC.
Thomas Pacchia sits down for a livestreamed chat with Trace Mayer, one of Bitcoin's earliest advocates.
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Recorded on March 19th, 2025 at PubKey NYC.
Frank Corva (political correspondent at Bitcoin Magazine) and Nick Neuman (CEO of Casa) join Daniel Modell for a live-streamed chat in the PubKey Parlor, where they dive deep into:
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Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: https://x.com/PubKey
Recorded on March 13th, 2025 at PubKey NYC.