Episode Details

In this episode of Sat Chats, we meet Spencer—front-end dev, early Bitcoiner, and proud grandson of the most legendary Icelandic Napster grandma of all time. His Bitcoin journey started in a political science class during the WikiLeaks era, leading him to mine on a MacBook in the middle of lectures, get called out by his professor, and eventually buy ASICs out of car trunks in Miami with stacks of cash.

We trace his path from peer-to-peer file sharing to peer-to-peer money, explore the hacker mindset that made Bitcoin click, and ask whether mining still makes sense—or if you're better off just stacking.

We cover:

✅ Mining in dorm rooms and garages

✅ Why Spencer still runs a miner today

✅ CIA rumors, Satoshi’s disappearance, and Bitcoin’s origin story

✅ When to buy vs. build

✅ Jalapeño Lime hummus and ungovernable energy

Chapters

00:00 Episode Preview/Intro

01:59 Becoming Ungovernable with Bitcoin

06:35 The Emotional Connection to Money

08:33 The Hacker Mentality and Bitcoin

12:32 The Role of Curiosity in Bitcoin Adoption

22:45 Common Objections to Bitcoin Mining

31:38 Current State of Bitcoin Mining

38:35 Reflections on a Decade of Mining

Spencer is obviously a smart person but he gets a choice: $50 in fiat or $50 in sats… will his choice throw a wrench in the Sat Chats studio vibes?

Support Sat Chats directly by:

— Zapping Lightning to satchats@getalby.com

— Grabbing your slot in the studio today at https://satchats.com/

— Sending Bitcoin to bc1q5yrwe6qxujzumg5j28g0rvckx9n859sa08fupc