From Catalyst to Scale: Why We’re Launching the Digital Money Interview Series

Summary: As part of our Digital Money Interview Series on Bitcoin, Fiat and Rock’n’Roll, we’ll accompany each episode with a blog post capturing the most compelling ideas and takeaways from our conversations on digital money. In this first post, Jonas sits down with Jonathan to explore why we’re launching this series now, what we hope to achieve with it, and how the digital money conversation has evolved over the past several years.

Why This Series, and Why Now?

When Bitcoin, Fiat and Rock’n’Roll first launched in 2019, digital money was still largely a theoretical discussion. Stablecoins were new, regulatory clarity was missing, and many conversations revolved around white papers rather than real-world products.

That timing of the launch of the podcast wasn’t accidental as it coincided with the announcement of Libra, the stablecoin project initiated by Facebook (now Meta). In their conversation, Jonas and Jonathan reflect on that period as a defining moment for the entire digital money ecosystem.

Rather than seeing Libra as a failure, Jonathan describes it as a catalyst - one that forced regulators, central banks, and financial institutions to engage seriously with digital money much earlier than they otherwise would have.

“I don’t see Libra as a failure. I see it much more as a catalyst.”

As a result, many ideas that felt controversial or difficult to explain in 2019 - stablecoins, reserve-backed tokens, the concept of minting and burning, new governance models - are now widely understood and increasingly mainstream.

From “Is This Possible?” to “How Does This Scale?”

A central theme of Jonas’ interview with Jonathan is how dramatically the focus has shifted in recent years.

Back then, the key question was whether digital money could work at all. Today, the ecosystem is grappling with a much more practical challenge: scale.

“Back then we were still at the ‘is this possible?’ stage. Now we’re very clearly at the ‘how does this scale?’ stage.”

Stablecoins now reach millions of users, payment providers are integrating them, and regulators are moving from theory to execution. Jonathan describes this moment as a critical scaling phase - one where trust, governance, regulation, and real customer needs matter far more than experimental technology alone.

Ideas that can turn into durable infrastructure will endure. Others won’t.

Why a Global Perspective Is Essential

Although Bitcoin, Fiat and Rock’n’Roll has traditionally had a strong European focus, Jonas and Jonathan agree that digital money cannot be understood through a purely regional lens.

Jonathan’s background - growing up in the US, working globally, and now living in Europe - shapes the approach to the series. Europe has made important regulatory contributions, such as MiCA, but payments and financial infrastructure are inherently global.

That’s why the Digital Money Interview Series will feature voices from across jurisdictions: the US, Europe, Singapore, the Middle East, Africa, and neighboring financial hubs like Switzerland. Many of the guests have worked at an international level, with regulators, standards bodies, or global institutions.

The goal is to bring an outside-in perspective to the European discussion - and a grounded, practitioner-led perspective to the global one.

What We Hope Listeners Take Away

With the Digital Money Interview Series, our aim is to expand the digital money discussion by learning from people who have actually built and operated regulated financial products at scale.

We hope listeners come away with:

• A more nuanced understanding of digital money

• A better appreciation for regulatory and operational trade-offs

• A clearer sense of how global this space really is

Above all, this series reflects a shared belief: digital money is no longer a future concept - it’s becoming part of the financial fabric we already rely on.

Notable Quotes

“I don’t see Libra as a failure. I see it much more as a catalyst.” “Back then we were asking if this was possible. Now we’re asking how it scales.”