Join us in this exciting episode of Bitcoin Talk as we sit down with Saravanan Mani, and find out about how to become a self-taught Bitcoin Developer, "The Desi Version" Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 03:55 Experience with Bitgo 05:23 First Encounter to Bitcoin 08:41 Is Bitcoin Obvious for CS students 14:19 Proof of Work vs Proof of XYZ 20:08 Fallacy of Proof of Useful Work 24:28 Working on Bitcoin seriously 32:28 Resources to get started with 33:20 Challenges in the Bitcoin/LN Dev Ecosystem 36:24 Missing Educational Material Styles 39:20 Learning Crypto as Bitcoin Dev 43:20 Learning via a Community 51:35 Community Activities 53:30 Bitcoin and Politics 57:20 Path Forward Related Links: Mastering Bitcoin: https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook Programming Bitcoin: https://github.com/jimmysong/programmingbitcoin LightHouse: https://lnlighthouse.online/

Join us in this episode of Bitcoin Talk with Saiyasodharan as we explore his journey to becoming a UI/UX Developer in Bitcoin. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 02:50 Transition to Bitcoin Career 04:50 POW Project, Lighthouse. 06:40 Life as a Bitcoin Dev 07:20 UI/UX Landscape of Bitcoin 10:45 Cutting-edge Bitcoin UI/UX 12:10 Where to start from for UI/UX devs 13:50 Getting Involved in the Community 15:45 Design Tools 18:20 What is Bitcoin? 21:30 How Bitcoin Changed You. 25:25 Why should young people care about Bitcoin? 28:20 Why Bitcoin is Hope? 29:30 Implications of Bitcoin to Nation States. 32:00 Bitcoin India Community. Related Links: https://lnlighthouse.online/

🎙️Bitcoin Talks with Abhijay 🎙️ Hosted by @TheBitcoinDialectic, this episode explores Abhijay's journey into Bitcoin open source, his previous work on BtcpayServer, AI-powered multilingual tools, and practical advice on contributing, grants, and building a career in Bitcoin. Whether you're a student or developer, this is a conversation you don't want to miss. Key Timestamps: 01:27 – Abhijay's background and open-source journey. 13:23 – What is BTCPay Server? 16:37 – BTCPay Server's non-custodial infrastructure 18:50 – Unlocking functionality: Extensions vs. Plugins. 32:08 – Global use cases for merchants and SaaS. 33:19 – How the project handles long-term sustainability 44:28 – AI-driven multilingual translations 54:57 – Actionable advice for young developers 01:05:48 – Navigate funding, grants, and fellowships 01:13:01 – The future of Bitcoin adoption over the next 5 years.

0:00 - 1:49 Introduction and background of Coding P and her path into Bitcoin 1:49 - 8:11 Navigating the learning curve and the Summer of Bitcoin initiative 8:11 - 12:56 Explanation of the Bitcoin Development Kit (BDK) and its role in building wallets 12:56 - 17:36 Technical contributions, specifically BDK-redb, and the importance of Rust 17:36 - 31:21 Community structure, Bitshala's role, and trust in infrastructure 31:21 - 41:14 Advice for newcomers on contributing and getting started with GitHub 41:14 - 56:17 Future innovations, advice for women in tech, and long-term outlook

We sat down with Paperpsych to explore his journey from calling Bitcoin a 'scam' to getting orange-pilled and building India’s grassroots Bitcoin infrastructure. 🛠️⚡ Key timestamps: 00:00 - 00:54: Podcast preview and highlights covering topics like Bitcoin adoption changes over the years, the legality of Bitcoin in India, and the user's first video podcast. 00:55 - 01:20: Introduction and casual banter about arranging this overdue conversation in Bangalore. 01:21 - 02:17: The speaker discusses their unique position in the community, observing and curating experiences for regular people, developers, and visitors. 02:18 - 04:22: The speaker introduces themselves, sharing their obsession with curating meaningful experiences, learning multifaceted skills (design, copywriting, operations), and how Bitcoin expanded their perspective. 04:23 - 09:23: The story of how the speaker discovered Bitcoin through friends in 2022, shifting from calling it a "scam" to getting "orange-pilled" during a 9-hour conversation at a technical conference track in Goa. 09:24 - 14:02: The speaker shares details about their life before Bitcoin, including navigating school, developing a passion for psychology and economics, teaching themselves marketing and copywriting during the 2020 pandemic, and copying famous artists to refine their design skills. 14:03 - 19:55: The transition into professional freelancing, selling social media content designs, and moving to Bangalore in May 2022. 19:56 - 23:34: Meeting the civil-engineer-turned-co-founder, Raj, and inquiring about how a non-technical person could contribute to Bitcoin infrastructure. 23:35 - 27:21: Joining Bitshala in early 2023, the origins of launching India's first "Bitdevs" meetup in Bangalore, and concretizing plans for a dedicated community coworking space featuring its distinct orange couch. 27:22 - 33:43: Discussion on funding models (relying on grants like the HRF), graphic design choices for community summits, and researching local artistry (such as blue pottery in Jaipur) to build a low-time-preference design language. 33:44 - 39:55: A typical day at the space and the types of events hosted, ranging from absolute beginner courses to advanced technical Bitdevs sessions. 39:56 - 45:32: Evolution of the local community over two years, moving from a 70% hardcore Bitcoiner attendance to a 90% curious newcomer crowd requiring more structured touchpoints. 45:33 - 52:04: Addressing common user hesitations like authority vs. decentralization, condemning media misrepresentation of cryptocurrency scams, and an appeal to facilitators to not aggressively shatter newcomers' belief systems. 52:05 - 56:50: Looking 5 years into the future—the speaker hopes for regulatory clarity to foster safer open-source software building and notes the rising awareness against "sheep mindsets" in the newer generation. 56:51 - 01:04:25: Deep reflection on working in the Bitcoin sector due to an inflation-driven economy that mandates high-stress investing, contrastingly looking back at a grandfathers' era where a single provider could easily afford a multi-child home. 01:04:26 - 01:07:53: Alternative career paths if not in Bitcoin (such as filmmaking and scriptwriting), highlighting inspiration drawn from creators like Exurb1a and Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag. 01:07:54 - 01:10:37: Social links and details on where the audience can find the speaker online. 01:10:38 - 01:13:33: The unappealing story behind how the speaker randomly came up with and adopted their pseudonym, "Paper Psych," originally registering it as a domain name back in 2018.

Building Open Source Bitcoin Tools & Hardware in India with Bala | Bitcoin Talks In this episode of Bitcoin Talks, host Digvijay sits down with Bala, an electrical engineer turned open-source Bitcoin developer and hardware entrepreneur. Bala shares his journey from buying Bitcoin on an exchange to building an open-source Rust library for Coin Selection, stress testing node software using fuzzing on Utreexo, and researching transaction introspection and covenants (vaults) to make self-custody safer. He also discusses co-founding Betasha, an Indian Bitcoin hardware company manufacturing home miners, stainless steel seed backup plates (Posha), and assembled SeedSigner devices locally. Key Discussion Topics: From Engineering to Bitcoin Dev: How studying macroeconomics and attending Bitshala cohorts inspired the leap into open source. Onboarding Newcomers: Why hands-on Lightning Network transactions outperform abstract theoretical discussions. Coin Selection & UTXO Management: How smart transaction algorithms reduce network fees during high and low fee environments. Covenants & Vault Constructs: Preventing key theft using time-locked spends and safe fallback addresses without compromising script safety. Hardware Manufacturing with Bitasha: Bringing accessible DIY miners, steel seed plates, and SeedSigners to India. Debating Protocol Ossification: Why ongoing maintenance and new features are critical for Bitcoin’s long-term security. Key Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction & Guest Background 00:42 – Personal Journey & Deep-Diving Macroeconomics 03:42 – Evolving from Exchange Investor to Bitcoin Developer 04:38 – Key Educational Podcasts (What Bitcoin Did, Stephan Livera) 05:32 – The Role of Bitshala Cohorts in Learning 09:07 – Shifting Views: From "Number Go Up" to Decentralized P2P Money 10:23 – The Best Way to Onboard Beginners using Lightning Wallets 13:02 – Choosing to Contribute Value to the Open-Source Ecosystem 14:56 – Understanding UTXO Optimization & Coin Selection Libraries 20:24 – Transaction Introspection, Covenants, and Scripting Trade-offs 24:39 – Vaults, Time-Locks, and Enhancing Self-Custody Security 29:56 – Fuzz Testing on Utreexo for Lightweight Mobile Nodes 32:21 – Founding Betasha: Building Bitcoin Hardware in India 33:50 – Betasha Product Overview: Home Miners, Seed Plates, & SeedSigners 34:57 – SeedSigners & The Importance of Manual Dice-Rolling Entropy 38:40 – The Self-Custody Spectrum: Laptops, Air-gapped Androids, & Hardware 41:40 – Navigating Developer Support, Mentorship, & Meetups 46:42 – Actionable Advice for Young Builders Entering the Space 47:40 – Future Outlook: Improving Self-Custody and Unit of Account Status 51:08 – Why Static Code Realistically Can't Work: Debating Ossification 56:40 – Power-Law Dynamics & Attracting Global Talent to Bitcoin Connect & Links: Guest (Bala): Twitter/X: @Bala_1116 Host (Digvijay): @Digvijay_BTC Bitshala Community: Learn and build Bitcoin open-source projects at bitshala.org If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell for more discussions on Bitcoin development, open source, and privacy!