“With my podcast and Bitcoin, I suddenly have access to two important things: sponsors who will invest the money to allow us to do everything we’ve done here and then followers who follow my podcast who will support it.”

Biography:

Peter McCormack is a storyteller, commentator and host of What Bitcoin Did, one of the most listened to and viewed Web3 and crypto podcasts. McCormack also hosts the Defiance podcast and has over 500,000 followers on Twitter alone. What Bitcoin Did started in 2017 and has aired over 500 episodes, with three new shows typically published every week. Having chatted with many Web3 trailblazers, the podcast covers topics on Bitcoin, the Lightning Network, libertarianism, censorship and more. McCormack attended Buckinghamshire New University in 1997 to pursue a degree in music industry management but dropped out to found his own startup in 2000.

McCormack is famously known for calling Craig Wright a fraud when Wright claimed to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto — which sparked a subsequent legal battle. McCormack is also the chairman of the Real Bedford football club. Before launching What Bitcoin Did and Defiance, McCormack co-founded a marketing agency after gaining experience in journalism through his various senior roles at Evolving Media Network, Rapier UK and Bantr.tv, an online social network for soccer fans.

McCormack’s 2022:

McCormack often discussed the technology and fundamentals of Bitcoin and hosted guests who criticized government policies and proclaimed the need for Bitcoin as a store of value. He also interviewed United States Senator Ted Cruz and discussed the importance of Bitcoin in the state of Texas. In late 2022, McCormack released his film Follow The Money #2 – Inflation, The Hidden Tax, in which he visits Bedford and Harlow to document the impact of inflation on families and businesses.

Apart from these projects, he often raised topics surrounding the economic purity of Bitcoin and options for carbon neutrality for blockchain. He criticized traditional capital markets during the Credit Suisse crisis and said FTX’s collapse highlighted the failures of the centralized system. In October, he released an episode of What Bitcoin Did featuring Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, in which he said the U.S. Federal Reserve was missing all signs of deflation and argued it was critical to invest in disruptive technology innovation. In December, McCormack’s battle with Wright reached a key milestone when the U.K.’s High Court ruled that McCormack should pay Wright over $1 million to cover his legal costs.

McCormack’s 2023:

McCormack’s 2023 looks to be business as usual for him as a content creator, with the only thorn in his side being the Wright legal case. The year began with a hearing on Jan. 12, and a substantive hearing has been scheduled for April.

At Real Bedford, though, it has been an eventful start. The club found itself amid controversy when an opposing player, who is Sikh, received a red card for getting angry after his patka (a religious head covering) was pulled off by a Real Bedford player. However, the team was sitting at the top of the table at the start of the year, and it looks set for a successful campaign. 

McCormack’s work behind the microphone as a podcaster continues, and he has already spoken about Grayscale Bitcoin Trust with Steven McClurg, Bitcoin security with Jameson Lopp, and the macro outlook for the economy and Bitcoin with Lyn Alden Schwartzer. McCormack and his storytelling will likely continue as an ever-present element of the crypto ecosystem while the market hopefully recovers from the abyss of 2022.