A Tale of 2 Bitcoiners w/ Peter McCormack & Pascal Gauthier

Everybody starts somewhere. Why did those big guys even buy their first Bitcoin? What are their visions for the future?

On The Ledger tells you the genesis of Peter McCormack and Pascal Gautier’s bitcoin life, as well as their coming projects. Peter McCormack is the man behind “What Bitcoin Did”, the most popular Bitcoin podcast out there. Pascal Gautier is the Chairman & CEO of Ledger. Two big shots, one inspiring crypto tale.

On the 31st of October 2008, a link to a paper authored by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System was posted to a mailing list. The rest is history. Bitcoin and blockchain technology, ignited a decentralized revolution that is disrupting traditional finance, economics and the way people perceive money. 

But Bitcoin didn’t have an easy path, it’s been and is still being fought by a significant portion of the business, media and political industries. And although Bitcoin was pronounced dead more than 422 times by journalists, it is well and truly alive, now more than ever. 

Why? Because Bitcoin is more than just a technology, it’s an idea, one that is held and protected by a community with a vision. The key word here is community, this is what today’s very special episode is all about, a tale of two Bitcoiners. 

Peter is the man behind “What Bitcoin Did”, the most popular Bitcoin podcast out there. And let’s put it this way: the content and value added to the community has been nothing short of amazing. Yet, what most people don’t know is that Peter actually spent 20 years in marketing and advertising before discovering Bitcoin and resigning from his job to pursue his vision. A vision that is coming to life furthermore everyday, a few weeks ago he interviewed El Salvador’s president, and this feels like the beginning of something new. We’ll be diving into it all in a few minutes. 

But before that, let me announce my second very special guest. I am thrilled and humbled to welcome the Chairman & CEO of Ledger, Pascal Gauthier. Pascal is a business pioneer and serial investor. He held notable positions at companies such as Kelkoo, Mosaic Ventures and Criteo where he was instrumental in the pivot to advertising. But like Peter, Pascal left the Web 2 world behind to join the Web 3 revolution by investing and becoming part of prominent ventures such as Kaiko, a financial data website on Bitcoin, Komainu, a company that safeguards BTCs on behalf of financial institutions and of course Ledger, where he recently raised around 400 million dollars, to take the company to Unicorn status. 

And now, it’s time to begin our long-awaited discussion.