Stephan Livera Podcast

A South African circular economy is already running real payments on Fedimint with seven guardians on Start9 boxes. Users send eCash with zero fees inside the federation and feel the same simplicity as Wallet of Satoshi—except the custody is local and the privacy model is different.
Hermann and Joshi explain how non-technical guardians set up 5-of-7 multisig, how the Conduit wallet hides complexity, and why Fedimint beats Liquid on on-chain integration and local trust. They also cover Lightning gateway economics and why small federations may beat one global Spark.
Bitcoiners exploring Lightning, eCash privacy, and circular economies in emerging markets should listen.
Key Takeaways:
Seven-guardian 5-of-7 multisig on Start9 now runs daily in South Africa with high reliability.

Users inside the same federation enjoy true zero-fee eCash transfers.

Conduit wallet offers a lighter, payments-focused alternative to Fedi with regional QR support.

Migration between federations is smooth with parallel running and user-controlled timing.

Fedimint severs the transaction graph for privacy while Liquid hides amounts but retains the graph.

Local guardians reduce the “custodial guilt” felt when onboarding users to foreign services.

Lightning gateways can become profitable side businesses with only a few hours of monthly work.

Geographic spread of guardians improves resilience against local internet or power outages.

Onboarding still requires one extra step—joining the federation—after app install.

Fedimint is on-chain native, allowing direct receive and send without intermediate swaps.

Timestamps:
00:00 - Fedimint Goes Live in South Africa
01:48 - Magic: Pay Across Africa
04:15 - Onboard Users Without Custodial Guilt
08:08 - Zero Fees Shock Rural Users
11:04 - Liquid vs Fedimint Privacy Showdown
13:32 - Many Small Federations Or Global Spark
16:09 - Non-Techies Run Bitcoin Guardians Easily
18:14 - 5-of-7 Multisig Survives Two Failures
20:53 - Fedimint QR Is a 5-of-7 Multisig
24:05 - Gateway: Profitable Hobby in Hours/Month
31:06 - Trust Locals Over Anonymous Custodians
34:55 - Spread Guardians to Survive Outages
Links: 
Bitcoin Ekasi: https://bitcoinekasi.org

Fedimint: https://fedimint.org

Conduit Wallet: https://joschisan.github.io/conduit/

SLP651 with Eric & Joschi: https://stephanlivera.com/651

Follow Hermann: https://x.com/vryfokkenou

Follow Joschi: https://x.com/joschisanbtc

Stephan Livera links:
Follow me on X: @stephanlivera

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In this episode,  NVK rejoins me to discuss the latest developments in Bitcoin self-custody, hardware wallets, and privacy solutions, providing valuable insights for enthusiasts and practitioners alike.
Timestamps:
00:00 Quarterly Self-Custody Update
01:28 Sparrow Wallet Update & Silent Payments
05:41 Coldcard MK5 & Recent Firmware Updates
07:53 The Evolution of Co-signing & MuSig2
11:58 Liana & Nunchuk Wallet Updates
17:16 Cove, BlueWallet & Mobile Wallet Progress
19:09 BitKey V2 & Pragmatic Self-Custody
22:55 Open Hardware Wallet Project Updates
27:15 Merchant Payments & Bitcoin Commerce
31:19 Stable Balance Wallets & Self-Custody
36:38 Hardware Wallet Security Updates
39:07 ARCA: Personal Data Haven Explained
Links: 

Stephan Livera links:
Follow me on X: @stephanlivera

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In this episode, Alejandro De La Torre, CEO of @DMND_Sv2, joins me to discuss the mining of Bitcoin block 955,318 — the first known Stratum V2 block on mainnet.
We break down what happened, the benefits of Stratum V2, how it improves efficiency and we talk about SV2 adoption more broadly.
A great episode for anyone who wants to understand where Bitcoin mining is heading.
Timestamps:
00:00 The First Stratum V2 Block: What Happened?
01:08 How Does Miner Transaction Selection Change Bitcoin Mining?
01:58 Can SV2 Mining Pools Still Reject Blocks Though?
03:19 Can Miners Easily Switch Pools with Stratum V2?
04:45 Major Mining Pools Joining the Stratum V2 Working Group
05:40 Hardware & Firmware Support for Stratum V2
07:43 Is Miner Interest in Stratum V2 Growing?
09:00 The Biggest Benefits of Stratum V2 for Miners
10:21 How Does DMND's SLICE Payout System Compare to FPPS?
11:50 What Needs to Happen for Stratum V2 to Become the Standard?
13:21 Should Miners Start Building Their Own Block Templates?
Links: 
Alejandro’s announcement post: https://x.com/bitentrepreneur/status/2070131040992035235

DMND Pool: https://www.dmnd.work

Alejandro on X: https://x.com/bitentrepreneur

Stephan Livera links:
Follow me on X: @stephanlivera

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In this episode, Adrian Morris joins the show to discuss Bitcoin Treasury Companies. We explore whether MSTR and STRC are over, sustainable mNAV premiums, the impact of leverage, the right way to calculate mNAV, how many such companies can realistically exist, and how this space evolves through bull and bear markets.
Timestamps:
00:00 What are Bitcoin Treasury Skeptics Getting Wrong?
03:55 Is it over for STRC? Par vs Peg
06:30 The level of correlation to Bitcoin price
07:10 Critiques of STRC marketing?
09:02 Market Dynamics and Bitcoin Correlation
10:50 Should Strategy Do Something About STRC?
13:55 Is it a waiting game?
14:40 Is the bitcoin treasury risk mispriced? When is a premium justified?
19:26 Leverage or Amplification embedded in the structure
24:10 Operating or Financing Flows to Get Bitcoin?
26:15 mNAV
29:12 Thoughts on CEBE Analysis
32:30 Different forms of mNAV
36:12 Sentiment’s role is amplified
40:32 “Just Tread Water and Survive Until the Bull”
42:47 Will the Correlation to Bitcoin Price increase over time?
46:18 Growth Opportunities: Mergers and Acquisitions 
48:23 The Bitcoin Treasury Model - How Replicable is it?
51:50 Where are we in this cycle?
53:42 AI Analysis: Tools and Techniques for Investors
58:55 Is AI being overbuilt? 
1:01:40 Open Weights and Local AI?
Links: 
Adrian on X: https://x.com/_Adrian

True North: https://tnorth.com/

Bitcoin For Corporations: https://bitcoinforcorporations.com/

Stephan Livera links:
Follow me on X: @stephanlivera

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In this episode, Craig Raw returns to discuss Sparrow’s Silent Payments and Frigate integration, where multisig UX stands in 2026, his thoughts on building Bitcoin wallet software solo, and the ongoing challenges of distribution and platform risk.
We discuss:
Silent Payments and their impact on privacy and UX

Platform risks and the importance of pragmatic development

Standards and interoperability in Bitcoin wallets

The future of multi-sig UX and hardware wallet support

Cryptographic innovations like Frigate for scalable scanning

Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro and Apple’s Walled Garden
05:30 - Pragmatism in Bitcoin
06:30 - Silent Payments: A New Era for Bitcoin Transactions
08:40 - Biggest Challenge in Bitcoin Privacy today
12:03 - Why Address Re Use is so prevalent today
13:40 - Contrasting Silent Payments and Lightning Address
16:00 - The Benefits of Silent Payments Far Outweigh Incremental Complexity
19:00 - The Future if the Bitcoin Community Doesn’t Move on this
22:45 - Privacy vs Convenience
25:40 - Putting SP and Lightning Address together
28:30 - The Scanning Challenge for SP and Frigate
37:20 - Hardware Reqruirements for Frigate
41:00 - Can Hardware Wallets Support SP?
49:55 - Bitcoin Multi Sig in 2026
51:30 - Craig on Miniscript use - Inheritance, Timelocking
53:20 - Miniscript refresh privacy concern
55:30 - Miniscript for managed solutions
59:00 - Multi Sig Quorum Registration
1:01:00 - Mixed Vendor Multi Sig setups
1:04:00 - Wallet Labelling BIP
1:06:44 -  Bitcoin Adoption: Balancing Purism and Pragmatism
1:09:00 - What to do about bad regulations or laws? 
1:12:00 - Could Government Target Silent Payments?
1:13:39 -  Sustainability of Sparrow Wallet Development
Links: 
https://x.com/SparrowWallet

https://x.com/CraigRaw

sparrowwallet.com 

Stephan Livera links:
Follow me on X: @stephanlivera

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