Bitcoin Lending | With Fred Krueger and Ben Sigman

Fred Krueger has always “followed the money” from Finance in the 80s, to software in the 90s, to the internet in 00s… and finally, to Bitcoin.A self-described “opportunist,” it was the networks-effects argument that ultimately set Fred on a heavy Bitcoin-focused path—and more recently opened his eyes to the possibility that “fast chains” too will disrupt the fiat system permanently.In this episode of Bitcoin Rails, I sat down with Fred and his Bitcoin experimentation partner Ben Sigman to discuss their contrarian takes on “what makes Bitcoin tick” and why Bitcoin lending and "fast chain" stables will fundamentally facelift Bitcoin’s long-term adoption.Is it possible that Stables could be a gateway drug for Bitcoin? While money maxis continue not-so-successfully to make fast Bitcoin payments a thing… perhaps the true path for Bitcoin adoption is in embracing the smooth, fast UX of stables on chains like Solana… and watching this techno-behavioral shift open the door to mainstream Bitcoin adoption.This episode is powered by Best In Slot (@bestinslotxyz), the leading API for Ordinals and BRC20 data aggregation and indexing—as well as Citrea (@citrea_xyz), a leading 'Bitcoin Rollup' technology and core contributor to the BitVM alliance.TIMESTAMPS:____00:55 Fred Krueger: an opportunist from Wall Street04:58 Meeting Brock Pierce in 2013, talking Bitcoin08:20 Fred’s 2016 Bitcoin Mixer09:45 Ben, the dark web, and Bitcoin11:08 Fading Bitcoin; longing EOS13:23 Tom Lee convinces Fred of $1 Million BTC17:55 There is no second best21:30 Bitcoin ETFs: When Fred blew up on Twitter23:13 What the bears didn’t get about the Bitcoin ETFs24:30 The “wall of money” coming for Bitcoin26:00 Fred’s next interest: Bitcoin Power Law29:40 Building a Bitcoin wallet and the reality of BTC adoption34:08 Ordinals, art, and experimentation on Bitcoin38:30 Domain names on Bitcoin41:07 Bitcoin mortgages: what maxis really want44:00 Will there be Bitcoin mortgages supported by the government?45:50 A new Bitcoin vault system for borrowing against BTC50:00 A two-sided lending marketplace for BTC53:10 Earning yield on stablecoins was the story of 202054:15 WTF is StupidCoin?56:30 Fred’s memecoins and Bitcoin maxi outrage59:10 Trump enters the memecoin game01:00:00 Coming to appreciate Solana01:01:35 Gambling is the “booster” for crypto01:03:30 Will BTC ever be a unit of account?01:04:30 Is Solana marketable to 8 billion people?01:05:30 Most people will use Solana for stablecoins01:06:50 Will there be a “tokenization of everything?”01:08:00 The first mass market will be crypto, not bitcoin01:10:00 Bitcoin will win - so will fast blockchains