For the Love of Bitcoin with Courtney Warner Shrem

Today we have a very special episode; we are celebrating our 300th episode. I am joined by my lovely wife, Courtney Warner Shrem. Thank you so much to everyone who has been on this incredible journey with me, from the listeners to our team that make this amazing show possible; thank you from the bottom of my heart. We discuss various topics and stories, including how we met, the early days of Bitcoin, advice for people pursuing a career in the arts, our love for Bitcoin and crypto, persevering through tough times, the origin of Untold Stories, and much more. We begin this iconic episode by discussing the EVR days. Our conversation started by discussing how we first met. Courtney shares how she became a cocktail waitress at EVR and helped facilitate the first payment of Bitcoin for a physical good in NYC. We discussed how in 2013, NYC was one of the few Bitcoin hubs and how, at the time, the community mainly existed in forums on cyberspace. We discuss the various legendary personalities who hung out at EVR. We share a charming story of how we were set up on a blind date by our friends who frequented the club. Our next conversation topic centered around traveling to our first Bitcoin Conference as a couple. Courtney shares her experience at the San Jose Bitcoin Conference and how small the community was at the time when compared to today’s conferences. An entertaining story we shared on the episode was the time I sold Fred Wilson his very first Bitcoin at Satoshi Square. Courtney explains the atmosphere and the electricity you felt when you would visit Satoshi Square. Another fun story we shared was about my and Vitalik’s first experience eating lobster. We pivot the conversation to discuss Courtney’s journey to Bitcoin and her passion for acting. Courtney discusses her experience pursuing acting and other artistic pursuits. Courtney shares her experience of her breakout role on set and the camaraderie that develops from being a part of the cast and crew on a movie set. We discuss how difficult it is to become a working actor and the grind it takes to break into the industry. She stresses the importance of creating opportunities for yourself in any artistic pursuit. Our next conversation topic centered around our various travels. We discuss our experience attending to La BitConf. We share memorable stories of our experience visiting Buenos Aires and the craziness of the conference. We pivot to discuss Stacy Herbert officiated our wedding and how we almost codified our marriage on the blockchain. We discuss the iconic Proof-of-Steak, which started the tradition of Bitcoin Steak Dinners. We discuss our various challenges during our relationship and how we have used them as springboards to further our relationship and lives to bigger and better places. We discussed how I used Steem as a way to reintroduce myself to the crypto community by sharing my thoughts on blog posts and hanging out in the Steem community. We discuss how incredible the crypto community is and how the crypto community is filled with so much love and support. Our final conversation was discussing how Untold Stories was started. Please enjoy my conversation with Courtney Warner Shrem. Thank you to everyone who supports the show and the fantastic team that makes this show possible. Love you guys. -- This podcast is powered by Blockworks. For exclusive content and events that provide insights into the crypto and blockchain space, visit them at https://blockworks.co