We sat down with Carl Dong — former Bitcoin Core contributor, now founder of Obscura VPN focused on real-world censorship resistance.

In this episode, we dive into:

- Why Carl walked away from Bitcoin Core development to tackle privacy head-on

- What sets Obscura apart from other VPNs

- Lessons from the Great Firewall and routing traffic through hostile networks

- Chinese numerology

- Carl & Casey's long and storied shared history

FOLLOW CARL: https://x.com/carl_dong

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Or support the podcast by sending a BTC donation: bc1qztncp7lmcxdgude4px2vzh72p2yu2aud0eyzys

ORDINALS PROTOCOL SHIRT: https://shop.inscribing.com/products/ordinals-protocol-shirt

TIMESTAMPS

:0:00 Intro & Carl's journey to Bitcoin development

11:59 Hard problems in Bitcoin

16:00 Binaries, compliers, and reproducible builds

37:30 Transitioning from Bitcoin core to working on Obscura VPN

1:05:00 Advice for current Bitcoin core contributors

1:10:00 Ordinals numerology

1:39:00 Outro

While Bitcoin 2025 and Inscribing Vegas lit up the Strip, we camped out with a mic and grabbed the builders behind the biggest moves in Ordinals. Episode #1 from Sin City features Nick Sainato —Gamma Co‑Founder, now debuting Signals.art, the platform out to kill the NFT whitelist grind and give everyone a social credit score.We dive into:- Whitelist grind culture & inefficiencies in the market- Price discovery and go-to-market strategies for NFTs- Signals.art walkthrough- Early Ordinals lore & Nick's origin storyFOLLOW NICK: https://x.com/nicksainatoFOLLOW SIGNALS: https://x.com/signalsartCLAIM 300 BARS ON SIGNALS.ART WITH CODE "#HMP": https://signals.art/Get bonus content by subscribing to @hellmoneypod on X: https://x.com/hellmoneypod/creator-subscriptions/subscribeOr support the podcast by sending a BTC donation: bc1qztncp7lmcxdgude4px2vzh72p2yu2aud0eyzys ORDINALS PROTOCOL SHIRT: https://shop.inscribing.com/products/ordinals-protocol-shirtTIMESTAMPS:0:00 Intro & Inscribing Vegas review8:55 Signals.art & where we're at in the market14:00 Fixing the whitelist grind18:30 What is Signals?29:00 Clearing price auction price discovery38:10 Signals is chain-agnostic41:00 Pricing psychology52:00 Mint behavior59:00 Signals walkthrough1:08:15 Nick Sainato origin story1:18:15 Early Ordinals lore1:25:50 Outro

On this episode of Hell Money, we’re locking in on final updates before we take over Las Vegas, Nevada. We’re auctioning the first piece from FUN!, the debut collection by Casey Rodarmor and Parker Day, and showing why Bitcoin-native auction tech beats the grift of legacy art houses.We explore:- Why Sotheby’s and Christie’s can’t compete with Bitcoin builders- Launching Megalith.art, the first Ordinals + Bitcoin-native auction platform- The debut piece from FUN! by Casey + Parker- How to use Ordinals Satscards for in-person trading of inscriptions, runes, and more- The OP_RETURN drama: Bitcoin podcasters vs. Bitcoin Core devsGet bonus content by subscribing to @hellmoneypod on X: https://x.com/hellmoneypod/creator-subscriptions/subscribeOr support the podcast by sending a BTC donation: bc1qztncp7lmcxdgude4px2vzh72p2yu2aud0eyzys 10% OFF INSCRIBING VEGAS: https://pretix.eu/inscribing/vegas/redeem?voucher=HELLMONEY10% OFF BITCOIN 2025: https://tickets.b.tc/code/inscribing/event/bitcoin-2025ORDINALS PROTOCOL SHIRT: https://shop.inscribing.com/products/ordinals-protocol-shirtTIMESTAMPS:0:00 Intro and Inscribing Vegas9:12 Megalith.art auction of FUN!27:50 Ordinals Satscards32:00 Ordinals Satscard tutorial42:15 OP_RETURN drama57:00 Outro