The Pregame (NYC)

In preparation for their LIVE AT PUBKEY show downstairs, Frank Corva, Zac Guignard⁠ (Financial Freedom Content Associate at ⁠HRF⁠), and ⁠Will Casarin⁠ (founder of ⁠Damus⁠) crack open a few cold ones and pregame in the PubKey NYC Parlor, where they let loose for an UNFILTERED conversation about: Yes, centralized platforms strip autonomy, but Nostr’s open protocol flips control back to the userHow Damus broadcasts to 100+ relays at once, making deplatforming nearly impossibleWhy vibe coding is lowering the barrier to building decentralized appsWhat it'll mean for our current online incentives for content to go viral without an algorithm (hint: it disrupts the entire Internet)▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬PubKey meetups are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Join us to ask live questions and enjoy a pint together. Good food, bad opinions, great company.🧡 NYC Meetups: https://luma.com/user/pubkey🗽 PubKey NYC🗽 85 Washington Place🗽 New York, NY 10011Follow us on X: ⁠https://x.com/PubKey⁠

In preparation for their Live at PubKey show downstairs, Christian "CK" Keroles, Matt Ahlborg, and Kyle Olney (with host Thomas Pacchia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) crack open a few cold ones and pregame in the PubKey NYC Parlor, where they let loose for an UNFILTERED conversation about: Why Tether adoption in Argentina exploded while Bitcoin lagged behindThe problem with centralized AI APIsWhy OpenAI’s success mirrors Stripe’s (but who really controls the Internet?)How PayPerQ could reshape AI access for activists, educators, and anyone sick of SaaS modelsBitcoin's cultural split: is it still a tool for dissidents, or has it gone full TradFi?▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬PubKey meetups are FREE and PUBLIC. Join us to ask live questions, engage with experts, and enjoy a pint together:🗽 PubKey NYC🗽 85 Washington Place🗽 New York, NY 10011🧡 https://www.meetup.com/pubkey-meetups/events/🧡 https://luma.com/user/pubkeyCatch the next livestream on X: ⁠https://x.com/PubKey⁠

Quoth the Raven pre-games at the NYC Parlor with Thomas Pacchia and Matt Kita in preparation for his LIVE AT PUBKEY show downstairs. They let loose for an unfiltered, beer-fueled conversation about: Quoth the Raven's journey from disillusioned English major to bartender to short-seller... to accidental Bitcoin convertWhy the Fed is cornered the U.S. fiscal outlook is “beyond repair,” leaving most market participants due for a brutal reckoningWhat the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ad campaign says about the state of the nationWhy Bitcoin works not despite its culture, but because of it (“tattooed freaks,” dive bars, and all)▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬Catch the next Pre-game livestream by following us on X: ⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/PubKey⁠⁠⁠

Thomas Pacchia⁠⁠ and ⁠Drew Armstrong⁠ sit down for a livestreamed chat in the PubKey parlor with ⁠⁠Alex Leishman⁠⁠ (CEO and CTO of ⁠River⁠). They discuss:Why River prioritizes operational excellence over financial engineeringHow states like Ohio and cities like Roswell, NM are quietly becoming pro-BitcoinWhy the rise of Bitcoin treasury companies could create systemic risks (and how River’s approach differs from the $MSTR playbook )Whether "paper Bitcoin" is a threat among custodians like Coinbase▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: ⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/PubKey⁠⁠

Thomas Pacchia and Drew Armstrong sit down for a livestreamed chat in the PubKey parlor with ⁠Antoine Poinsot⁠ and ⁠ArbedOut⁠. Partway through, ⁠MrHODL⁠ crashes our studio to stir the pot. They discuss: What really caused the OP_RETURN firestorm, and why it’s about more than just inscriptions How the push for more data storage is creating incentives for harmful workarounds and network bloat Why Bitcoin Knots is no longer “just a slightly modified Core," and why that should concern you The tension between “community values” and miner incentives in the age of alternate implementations The uncomfortable legacy of mempool policy: from anti-spam fixes to today’s shadow consensus BONUS: the French idiom that perfectly captures why decentralized decision-making is so hard ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: ⁠https://x.com/PubKey⁠

Thomas Pacchia and Mike Germano sit down for a livestreamed chat with ⁠Ian Rogers⁠, who went from managing the Beastie Boys’ digital presence to running Beats Music, building luxury tech at LVMH, and now pushing self-custody mainstream as Chief Experience Officer at Ledger. They discuss: What the Beastie Boys taught Ian about decentralization LONG before Bitcoin How iTunes reshaped digital commerce (and what it got wrong) Why Louis Vuitton made him rethink scarcity, status, and what it means to “own” something How Ledger is designing hardware wallets for the next 100 million users Why streetwear, skating, and Bitcoin all thrive on earned identity, not marketing ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PubKey⁠

Berta Valle, a Nicaraguan journalist and vocal critic of the Daniel Ortega regime, joins Arsh Molu (Financial Freedom at the Human Rights Foundation) and Thomas Pacchia for a live-streamed chat in the PubKey Parlor, where they dive deep into:How Berta’s husband Félix Maradiaga went from professor to political prisonerThe moment her family lost access to all their savings overnightHow Nicaraguan police used banking data to hunt journalists and dissidentsHow exiled Nicaraguans are using freedom tech like to stay connected and fedThe terrifying legal trap of being declared stateless (and what it means for families)A daughter's letter that helped free her father from solitary confinement▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬Catch the next Spaces by following us on X: ⁠https://x.com/PubKey⁠