Bitcoin Takeover Podcast

S17 E13: Charlie Spears on Blockspace, Bitcoin Culture & OP_NEXT

Charlie Spears is a co-founder of Blockspace media, an organization which specializes in publishing articles and podcasts about Bitcoin mining and scaling. In this episode, we talk about the rise of AI, Bitcoin culture, ...

2026-03-17

Episode notes

Charlie Spears is a co-founder of Blockspace media, an organization which specializes in publishing articles and podcasts about Bitcoin mining and scaling. In this episode, we talk about the rise of AI, Bitcoin culture, and the upcoming OP_NEXT event.

Time stamps:

00:01:07 – Introduction & Spook Joke

00:05:04 – Blockspace Media Origins

00:08:34 – Technical Glitches

00:11:27 – The Gwart Show

00:13:50 – Bitcoin Media Landscape

00:17:25 – Blockworks vs. Blockspace

00:19:22 – AI’s Impact on Media

00:21:07 – AI Workflow & Security

00:22:30 – Voice Cloning Risks

00:24:41 – AI Content & Authenticity

00:27:45 – AI & Bitcoin Mining

00:30:20 – AI Replacing Creative Work

00:33:02 – Charlie's Music Career & Podcasting

00:36:03 – Cake Wallet Giveaway

00:40:13 – Bitcoin Privacy & Zcash

00:41:18 – Bitcoin Culture Critique

00:47:54 – Altcoins & EVM on Bitcoin

00:51:44 – Lightning Network UX

00:58:20 – Custodial vs. Non-Custodial Lightning

01:01:31 – Scaling Bitcoin & Sponsors

01:06:12 – Giveaway Winner

01:08:22 – AI’s Impact on Mining

01:12:49 – Blockspace Value & Fees

01:19:27 – Bitcoin Development & Conferences

01:27:24 – Covenants & Soft Forks

01:29:13 – Toxicity & Freedom Tech

01:40:58 – Altcoins, DeFi & Bitcoin Openness

01:46:03 – Transaction Fees & Security

01:52:39 – Bitcoin Maximalism Evolution

01:57:59 – OGs, DeFi & Airdrops

02:00:49 – Closing Thoughts

02:03:05 – Outro & OP_NEXT Promotion