Episode notes
Alex Waltz is a prominent Bitcoin historian and film maker, who specializes in digging up information from the first months of Bitcoin's existence. Recently, he launched the ”First Bitcoin Miner” project in order to question whether or not Hal Finney truly was the second mining node on the Bitcoin network.
In this episode, we talk about his work and some geeky facts about Bitcoin's history.
Read Bitcoin: Year One (free download): https://bitcoin-takeover.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Bitcoin-Year-One-Vlad-Costea-Ani-Comic-Book-Demo.pdf
Read Alex's research: https://1stbitcoinminer.com
Sponsors:
Proudly sponsored by Orangerock.com: Trade Without Limits
Orangerock is the pro trading terminal that fits in your pocket. Perps and spot, instant cross-chain swaps, and a self-custodial wallet. Trade crypto, stocks, and commodities with up to 40x leverage. Your keys, no surveillance.
Get app: https://go.orangerock.com/bitcoin-takeover
Sideshift, the place where you can exchange your stablecoins for unconfiscatable, free market money: https://sideshift.ai
LayerTwo Labs, creators of BIP300 and builders of the Drivechain. Now they're hard forking Bitcoin to create Ecash too: https://ecash.com
Cake Wallet, your privacy-friendly self-custody companion. Enables silent payments, PayJoins & Lightning for Bitcoin. Also supports Monero, Zcash, Zano & more. Available on desktop & mobile: https://cakewallet.com
Time stamps:
00:00:41 Introducing Alex Waltz & His Projects
00:03:34 The Philosophy of Art and Filmmaking
00:05:18 Alex's Research for "First Bitcoin Miner"
00:09:28 The First Bitcoin Miners: Hal Finney vs. Dustin Trammell
00:14:37 Early Bitcoin History and Cypherpunk Involvement
00:21:28 Debating Sergio Lerner's "Patoshi" Research
00:25:39 The Technicals of the Patoshi Pattern
00:37:30 Zcash Giveaway Announcement
00:40:10 The Research Process and Dedication
00:43:11 Analyzing Early Bitcoin Block Times
00:50:35 Explaining the Extra Nonce and Network Halts
01:10:18 Satoshi Was in California?
01:25:49 Why This Research Matters
01:36:18 Feedback and Cinematography
01:49:25 The "Satoshi's Don't Exist" Movie Saga
02:00:41 The Bitcoin Community: Then and Now
02:18:43 The "Knots" Fork Controversy & Moral Panic
02:30:39 The Future of Bitcoin Development
02:34:38 Bitcoin's Use Case: Payments vs. Store of Value
02:46:33 What Is The Point of Bitcoin?
02:56:38 Alex's First Bitcoin Purchase
03:00:38 Early Bitcoin Wallets
03:16:20 Mircea Popescu: A Bitcoin Legend
03:48:07 Growing Up in 90s Romania
04:00:48 Final Message: Take Risks and Build
In this episode, we talk about his work and some geeky facts about Bitcoin's history.
Read Bitcoin: Year One (free download): https://bitcoin-takeover.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Bitcoin-Year-One-Vlad-Costea-Ani-Comic-Book-Demo.pdf
Read Alex's research: https://1stbitcoinminer.com
Sponsors:
Proudly sponsored by Orangerock.com: Trade Without Limits
Orangerock is the pro trading terminal that fits in your pocket. Perps and spot, instant cross-chain swaps, and a self-custodial wallet. Trade crypto, stocks, and commodities with up to 40x leverage. Your keys, no surveillance.
Get app: https://go.orangerock.com/bitcoin-takeover
Sideshift, the place where you can exchange your stablecoins for unconfiscatable, free market money: https://sideshift.ai
LayerTwo Labs, creators of BIP300 and builders of the Drivechain. Now they're hard forking Bitcoin to create Ecash too: https://ecash.com
Cake Wallet, your privacy-friendly self-custody companion. Enables silent payments, PayJoins & Lightning for Bitcoin. Also supports Monero, Zcash, Zano & more. Available on desktop & mobile: https://cakewallet.com
Time stamps:
00:00:41 Introducing Alex Waltz & His Projects
00:03:34 The Philosophy of Art and Filmmaking
00:05:18 Alex's Research for "First Bitcoin Miner"
00:09:28 The First Bitcoin Miners: Hal Finney vs. Dustin Trammell
00:14:37 Early Bitcoin History and Cypherpunk Involvement
00:21:28 Debating Sergio Lerner's "Patoshi" Research
00:25:39 The Technicals of the Patoshi Pattern
00:37:30 Zcash Giveaway Announcement
00:40:10 The Research Process and Dedication
00:43:11 Analyzing Early Bitcoin Block Times
00:50:35 Explaining the Extra Nonce and Network Halts
01:10:18 Satoshi Was in California?
01:25:49 Why This Research Matters
01:36:18 Feedback and Cinematography
01:49:25 The "Satoshi's Don't Exist" Movie Saga
02:00:41 The Bitcoin Community: Then and Now
02:18:43 The "Knots" Fork Controversy & Moral Panic
02:30:39 The Future of Bitcoin Development
02:34:38 Bitcoin's Use Case: Payments vs. Store of Value
02:46:33 What Is The Point of Bitcoin?
02:56:38 Alex's First Bitcoin Purchase
03:00:38 Early Bitcoin Wallets
03:16:20 Mircea Popescu: A Bitcoin Legend
03:48:07 Growing Up in 90s Romania
04:00:48 Final Message: Take Risks and Build
