The Bitcoin Matrix

"We need Bitcoiners to fight for Bitcoin. If no one fights for Bitcoin, Bitcoin will very soon be dead."

Hodlonaut is a Bitcoin citizen journalist, the founder of the Citadel21 zine, the man behind the 2019 Lightning Torch, and the person who told the simple truth about Craig Wright and then stood in the fire for five years over it. Most recently he is the author of the Capture series, a deep investigation into how informal power over Bitcoin Core was assembled, exercised, and defended.

We recorded this on August 2, 2026, in the middle of the ColdCard fallout, and the grief of that moment runs underneath the whole conversation. From there we go all the way back: how he found Bitcoin in 2013, the Pirate Bay ethos, Citadel21, and the birth of Hodlonaut and the Space Cat. We get into the Lightning Torch as a three-month experiment in trust, the Craig Wright war and how stoicism carried him through it, and then the heart of it: the Capture series, the "priesthood" narrative around Core, the OP_RETURN uncap, the DEI and "extractive" playbook used to shut down criticism, why every line of code must serve monetary sovereignty, and his return to fully supporting BIP-110. This is a conversation about the human layer of Bitcoin, and why we have to fight for it.

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🎙️ GUEST

Hodlonaut — Bitcoin citizen journalist. Founder and editor of the Citadel21 zine. Originator of the Lightning Torch. Author of the Capture series (Articles 1-3 out, Article 4 forthcoming). Based in Norway.

Hodlonaut on X → x.com/hodlonaut

Citadel21 → https://www.citadel21.com/The

Capture series → https://www.citadel21.com/the-network

💰 SPONSORS & DISCOUNTS

🐟 Firefish — Don't sell your Bitcoin. Live off it. Non-custodial Bitcoin-backed loans. Your keys stay in 3-of-3 multisig. Rehypothecation is cryptographically impossible. $160M+ facilitated. 27,000+ users across 70 countries. 30% OFF the fees on your first loan → firefish.io/?ref=MATRIX | code MATRIX

🔑 Stamp Seed — After this week, back up your seed somewhere a bug can't reach. Hammer your seed words into solid titanium, fire-resistant to 3,000°F, and pair it with multisig to remove single points of failure. 21% OFF → stampseed.com | code MATRIX

₿ Bitcoin Well — Concierge OTC for serious Bitcoin buys. $50k+ handled one-on-one, from first call to settlement. Global, by application. infinite.bitcoinwell.com/get-qualified/bitcoinmatrix🔐 Unchained — 90,000+ BTC secured in collaborative multisig since 2016. Bitcoin-only. Never lent out a sat. IRAs, loans, inheritance planning. 10% OFF → unchained.com/matrix | code MATRIX10

💎 River — Buy Bitcoin the right way. Up to $100 FREE Bitcoin. river.com/matrix🏥 CrowdHealth — Ditch your fiat health insurance like my family did. Join us at CrowdHealth. joincrowdhealth.com | code MATRIX

🛡️ Meanwhile — The world's first Bitcoin life insurance policy. Premiums and payouts in Bitcoin. meanwhile.bm | code YTPFYD

⛏️ Sazmining — You took the red pill on money. Now own the machine that makes it. Mine your own Bitcoin: own the hardware, 100% renewable, non-custodial, coins straight from the network to your wallet. No intermediary ever holds them. $100 OFF any rig → deals.sazmining.com/bitcoinmatrix | code BTCMATRIX

🙏 SUPPORT THE SHOW

⚡ Strike → BitcoinMatrix@strike.me💵 PayPal → paypal.biz/BitcoinMatrix💚 Cash App → cash.app/$BitcoinMatrix

💜 Venmo → venmo.com/u/bitcoinmatrix📬 PO Box → The Bitcoin Matrix, P.O. Box 18056, Sarasota, FL 34231

📱 FOLLOW

🌐 Website → TheBitcoinMatrix.com🐦 Cedric on X → x.com/cedyoungelman🐦 Show on X → x.com/_bitcoinmatrix🟣 Nostr → npub12tq9jxmt707gd5vnce3tqllpm67ktr0mqskcvy58qqa4d074pz9s4ukdcs

⚠️ DISCLAIMER For entertainment and educational purposes only. Not financial, legal, or investment advice. Always do your own research.

"Bitcoin secures over a trillion dollars in value. It has no security team."

Luke de Wolf is a cybersecurity professional and author of Defending Bitcoin. Luke spent his career defending critical infrastructure, the control systems behind power grids and gas pipelines. His claim: Bitcoin is the world's first decentralized critical infrastructure, and it should be defended with the same risk-management frameworks that protect the physical world. A trillion-dollar network with no security team. And Luke is a former BIP-110 skeptic who flipped to supporting it making him a moderate who pisses off both sides.

We get into the CIA triad and why availability is the whole game, people as the weakest link and the Stuxnet lesson, the real cost of running a node over time, spam as a DDoS and the hidden tax on Bitcoin, the two CVEs behind inscriptions, and the full BIP-110 fight. We discuss why he flipped, the game theory of activation, soft fork vs hard fork, the intolerant minority, and whether BIP-110 even has a failed state. This is the defender's case for Bitcoin, and the fight is happening right now.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

🎙️ GUEST Luke DeWolf — cybersecurity / critical-infrastructure professional. Co-host of the Freedom Footprint Show (with Knut Svanholm). Organizer of BTC Helsinki.

Defending Bitcoin (book) → defendingbitcoin.com — free companion material and a threat-model worksheet. Pay in Bitcoin via the Bitcoin Infinity Store. Also on Amazon.

Endorsements:

Jeff Booth — "the cybersecurity book Bitcoin has been waiting for."

Larry Lepard — "Read it before you need it."

Luke on X → x.com/LukeDeWolf

Conference → BTCHel.com (Helsinki, Finland)

💰 SPONSORS & DISCOUNTS

🐟 Firefish — Don't sell your Bitcoin. Live off it. Non-custodial Bitcoin-backed loans. Your keys stay in 3-of-3 multisig. Rehypothecation is cryptographically impossible. $160M+ facilitated. 27,000+ users across 70 countries. 30% OFF the fees on your first loan → firefish.io/?ref=MATRIX | code MATRIX

🔑 Stamp Seed — Between 3-6 million Bitcoin are lost forever. Most of it paper. Hammer your seed words into solid titanium — fire-resistant to 3,000°F. 15% OFF → stampseed.com | code MATRIX

🟠 Club Orange — The location-based social network built for the Bitcoin community. Find Bitcoiners, meetups, and merchants near you. Download in the App Store or Google Play. cluborange.org/matrix-podcast

₿ Bitcoin Well — Concierge OTC for serious Bitcoin buys. $50k+ handled one-on-one, from first call to settlement. Global, by application. infinite.bitcoinwell.com/get-qualified/bitcoinmatrix

🟧 The Bitcoin Way — Bitcoin, cybersecurity & Plan B services. Become a sovereign individual — self-custody setup and security done with you, one-on-one. thebitcoinway.com

🔐 Unchained — 90,000+ BTC secured in collaborative multisig since 2016. Bitcoin-only. Never lent out a sat. IRAs, loans, inheritance planning. 10% OFF → unchained.com/matrix | code MATRIX10

💎 River — Buy Bitcoin the right way. Up to $100 FREE Bitcoin. river.com/matrix

🏥 CrowdHealth — Ditch your fiat health insurance like my family did. Join us at CrowdHealth. joincrowdhealth.com | code MATRIX

🛡️ Meanwhile — The world's first Bitcoin life insurance policy. Premiums and payouts in Bitcoin. meanwhile.bm | code YTPFYD

⛏️ Sazmining — You took the red pill on money. Now own the machine that makes it. Mine your own Bitcoin: own the hardware, 100% renewable, non-custodial, coins straight from the network to your wallet. No intermediary ever holds them. $100 OFF any rig → deals.sazmining.com/bitcoinmatrix | code BTCMATRIX

🙏 SUPPORT THE SHOW

⚡ Strike → BitcoinMatrix@strike.me

💵 PayPal → paypal.biz/BitcoinMatrix

💚 Cash App → cash.app/$BitcoinMatrix

💜 Venmo → venmo.com/u/bitcoinmatrix

📬 PO Box → The Bitcoin Matrix, P.O. Box 18056, Sarasota, FL 34231

📱 FOLLOW

🌐 Website → TheBitcoinMatrix.com

🐦 Cedric on X → x.com/cedyoungelman

🐦 Show on X → x.com/_bitcoinmatrix

🟣 Nostr → npub12tq9jxmt707gd5vnce3tqllpm67ktr0mqskcvy58qqa4d074pz9s4ukdcs

⚠️ DISCLAIMER For entertainment and educational purposes only. Not financial, legal, or investment advice. Always do your own research.

"Most of the money problems we talk about with Bitcoin — they're not money problems. They're time problems."

Scott Dedels — founder of Block Rewards and author of The Age of Time — says the clock is a technology. It was invented about 600 years ago, and somewhere along the way we forgot it was ever invented at all. His claim: the problem of time is upstream of the problem of money. Fiat was downstream of a civilization that had already agreed to be ruled by a machine that only moves forward, in the direction of consumption. We went from asking what is time to only ever asking what time is it. We get into the Prague Orloj and the birth of mechanical time, the 1944 essay that turned time into a commodity, Saturn as civilization's invisible operating system, why we stopped building 300-year cathedrals, AI and the information hyperstream — and Bitcoin as a ten-minute heartbeat no one controls.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

🎙️ GUEST

Scott Dedels — Block Rewards, Bitcoin payroll. US waitlist now open.

The Age of Time (book) → theageoftime.com — autographed copies, pay in Bitcoin. Also on Amazon.

Scott on X → x.com/LanternBitcoinAlso author of The Dao of Bitcoin

💰 SPONSORS & DISCOUNTS

🐟 Firefish — Don't sell your Bitcoin. Live off it. Non-custodial Bitcoin-backed loans. Your keys stay in 3-of-3 multisig. Rehypothecation is cryptographically impossible. $160M+ facilitated. 27,000+ users across 70 countries. firefish.io/?ref=MATRIX | code MATRIX

🔑 Stamp Seed — Between 3-6 million Bitcoin are lost forever. Most of it paper. Hammer your seed words into solid titanium — fire-resistant to 3,000°F. 15% OFF → stampseed.com | code MATRIX

🟠 Club Orange — The location-based social network built for the Bitcoin community. Find Bitcoiners, meetups, and merchants near you. Download in the App Store or Google Play. cluborange.org/matrix-podcast₿ Bitcoin Well — Concierge OTC for serious Bitcoin buys. $50k+ handled one-on-one, from first call to settlement. Global, by application. infinite.bitcoinwell.com/get-qualified/bitcoinmatrix🟧 The Bitcoin Way — Bitcoin, cybersecurity & Plan B services. Become a sovereign individual — self-custody setup and security done with you, one-on-one. thebitcoinway.com🔐 Unchained — 90,000+ BTC secured in collaborative multisig since 2016. Bitcoin-only. Never lent out a sat. IRAs, loans, inheritance planning. 10% OFF → unchained.com/matrix | code MATRIX10

💎 River — Buy Bitcoin the right way. Up to $100 FREE Bitcoin. river.com/matrix🏥 CrowdHealth — Ditch your fiat health insurance like my family did. Join us at CrowdHealth. joincrowdhealth.com | code MATRIX

🛡️ Meanwhile — The world's first Bitcoin life insurance policy. Premiums and payouts in Bitcoin. meanwhile.bm | code YTPFYD

⛏️ Sazmining — You took the red pill on money. Now own the machine that makes it. Mine your own Bitcoin: own the hardware, 100% renewable, non-custodial, coins straight from the network to your wallet. No intermediary ever holds them. $100 OFF any rig → deals.sazmining.com/bitcoinmatrix | code BTCMATRIX

🙏 SUPPORT THE SHOW

⚡ Strike → BitcoinMatrix@strike.me💵 PayPal → paypal.biz/BitcoinMatrix💚 Cash App → cash.app/$BitcoinMatrix

💜 Venmo → venmo.com/u/bitcoinmatrix📬 PO Box → The Bitcoin Matrix, P.O. Box 18056, Sarasota, FL 34231

📱 FOLLOW

🌐 Website → TheBitcoinMatrix.com🐦 Cedric on X → x.com/cedyoungelman🐦 Show on X → x.com/_bitcoinmatrix🟣 Nostr → npub12tq9jxmt707gd5vnce3tqllpm67ktr0mqskcvy58qqa4d074pz9s4ukdcs

⚠️ DISCLAIMER For entertainment and educational purposes only. Not financial, legal, or investment advice. Always do your own research.

"21 million isn't a promise. It's a rule — and rules only hold if your node enforces them."

Bitcoin Mechanic — of mining pool OCEAN — says Bitcoin is in a civil war, and most holders don't even know it's happening. The fight isn't over price. It's over who's actually in charge: Core or Knots, miners or developers — or the nodes that quietly outvote them all. We get into the Eye of Sauron turning toward Bitcoin, why 21 million is a rule and not a law of nature, what running Knots actually does, and the battle for the soul of Bitcoin.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

🎙️ GUEST

Bitcoin Mechanic — OCEAN → ocean.xyz

Mechanic on X → x.com/GrassFedBitcoin

OCEAN on X → x.com/ocean_mining

💰 SPONSORS & DISCOUNTS

🐟 Firefish — Don't sell your Bitcoin. Live off it. Non-custodial Bitcoin-backed loans. Your keys stay in 3-of-3 multisig. Rehypothecation is cryptographically impossible. $160M+ facilitated. 27,000+ users across 70 countries. firefish.io/?ref=MATRIX | code MATRIX

🔑 Stamp Seed — Between 3-6 million Bitcoin are lost forever. Most of it paper. Hammer your seed words into solid titanium — fire-resistant to 3,000°F. 15% OFF → stampseed.com | code MATRIX

🟠 Club Orange — The location-based social network built for the Bitcoin community. Find Bitcoiners, meetups, and merchants near you. Download in the App Store or Google Play. cluborange.org/matrix-podcast₿ Bitcoin Well — Concierge OTC for serious Bitcoin buys. $50k+ handled one-on-one, from first call to settlement. Global, by application. infinite.bitcoinwell.com/get-qualified/bitcoinmatrix🟧 The Bitcoin Way — Bitcoin, cybersecurity & Plan B services. Become a sovereign individual — self-custody setup and security done with you, one-on-one. thebitcoinway.com🔐 Unchained — 90,000+ BTC secured in collaborative multisig since 2016. Bitcoin-only. Never lent out a sat. IRAs, loans, inheritance planning. 10% OFF → unchained.com/matrix | code MATRIX10

💎 River — Buy Bitcoin the right way. Up to $100 FREE Bitcoin. river.com/matrix🏥 CrowdHealth — Ditch your fiat health insurance like my family did. Join us at CrowdHealth. joincrowdhealth.com | code MATRIX

🛡️ Meanwhile — The world's first Bitcoin life insurance policy. Premiums and payouts in Bitcoin. meanwhile.bm | code YTPFYD

⛏️ Sazmining — You took the red pill on money. Now own the machine that makes it. Mine your own Bitcoin: own the hardware, 100% renewable, non-custodial, coins straight from the network to your wallet. No intermediary ever holds them. $100 OFF any rig → deals.sazmining.com/bitcoinmatrix | code BTCMATRIX

🙏 SUPPORT THE SHOW

⚡ Strike → BitcoinMatrix@strike.me💵 PayPal → paypal.biz/BitcoinMatrix💚 Cash App → cash.app/$BitcoinMatrix

💜 Venmo → venmo.com/u/bitcoinmatrix📬 PO Box → The Bitcoin Matrix, P.O. Box 18056, Sarasota, FL 34231

📱 FOLLOW

🌐 Website → TheBitcoinMatrix.com🐦 Cedric on X → x.com/cedyoungelman🐦 Show on X → x.com/_bitcoinmatrix🟣 Nostr → npub12tq9jxmt707gd5vnce3tqllpm67ktr0mqskcvy58qqa4d074pz9s4ukdcs

⚠️ DISCLAIMER For entertainment and educational purposes only. Not financial, legal, or investment advice. Always do your own research.

"Mining isn't just how Bitcoin gets made — it's a decentralized money printer."

Kent Halliburton — CEO and co-founder of Sazmining — makes a claim that should bother everyone who only buys their Bitcoin: mining isn't just how Bitcoin gets made, it's a decentralized money printer anyone can run. He calls it hash punk. We get into why you get better Bitcoin when you mine it, his arc from solar to hosted mining, and the bigger thesis — Bitcoin isn't one zero-to-one innovation, it's two.

This is Bitcoin against the machine.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

🎙️ GUEST

Kent Halliburton — CEO & Co-Founder, Sazmining → sazmining.com

Sazmining on X → x.com/sazmining

Kent on X → x.com/khalliburton

💰 SPONSORS & DISCOUNTS

⛏️ Sazmining — You took the red pill on money. Now own the machine that makes it. Mine your own Bitcoin: own the hardware, 100% renewable, non-custodial, coins straight from the network to your wallet. No intermediary ever holds them. $100 OFF any rig → deals.sazmining.com/bitcoinmatrix | code BTCMATRIX

🐟 Firefish — Don't sell your Bitcoin. Live off it. Non-custodial Bitcoin-backed loans. Your keys stay in 3-of-3 multisig. Rehypothecation is cryptographically impossible. $160M+ facilitated. 27,000+ users across 70 countries. firefish.io/?ref=MATRIX | code MATRIX

🔑 Stamp Seed — Between 3-6 million Bitcoin are lost forever. Most of it paper. Hammer your seed words into solid titanium — fire-resistant to 3,000°F. 15% OFF → stampseed.com | code MATRIX

🟠 Club Orange — The location-based social network built for the Bitcoin community. Find Bitcoiners, meetups, and merchants near you. Download in the App Store or Google Play. cluborange.org/matrix-podcast

₿ Bitcoin Well — Concierge OTC for serious Bitcoin buys. $50k+ handled one-on-one, from first call to settlement. Global, by application. infinite.bitcoinwell.com/get-qualified/bitcoinmatrix

🟧 The Bitcoin Way — Bitcoin, cybersecurity & Plan B services. Become a sovereign individual — self-custody setup and security done with you, one-on-one. thebitcoinway.com

🔐 Unchained — 90,000+ BTC secured in collaborative multisig since 2016. Bitcoin-only. Never lent out a sat. IRAs, loans, inheritance planning. 10% OFF → unchained.com/matrix | code MATRIX10

💎 River — Buy Bitcoin the right way. Up to $100 FREE Bitcoin. river.com/matrix

🏥 CrowdHealth — Ditch your fiat health insurance like my family did. Join us at CrowdHealth. joincrowdhealth.com | code MATRIX

🛡️ Meanwhile — The world's first Bitcoin life insurance policy. Premiums and payouts in Bitcoin. meanwhile.bm | code YTPFYD

🙏 SUPPORT THE SHOW

⚡ Strike → BitcoinMatrix@strike.me

💵 PayPal → paypal.biz/BitcoinMatrix

💚 Cash App → cash.app/$BitcoinMatrix

💜 Venmo → venmo.com/u/bitcoinmatrix

📬 PO Box → The Bitcoin Matrix, P.O. Box 18056, Sarasota, FL 34231

📱 FOLLOW

🌐 Website → TheBitcoinMatrix.com

🐦 Cedric on X → x.com/cedyoungelman

🐦 Show on X → x.com/_bitcoinmatrix

🟣 Nostr → npub12tq9jxmt707gd5vnce3tqllpm67ktr0mqskcvy58qqa4d074pz9s4ukdcs

⚠️ DISCLAIMER For entertainment and educational purposes only. Not financial, legal, or investment advice. Always do your own research.