I’m really happy to introduce the newest guest on the Bitcoin To Freedom podcast – Rodolfo Novak, a Toronto-based entrepreneur and a very early bitcoin adopter whose passion for creating bitcoin solutions is well-documented.

Rodolfo is the co-founder of CoinKite, a company that has been developing bitcoin solutions since 2012. That’s pretty much what Rodolfo does from the early days of bitcoin, focusing on the hardware side of it. Talking with him, you really get the sense he strongly believes in what he does, and that there’s no obstacle a well-thought-out idea cannot overcome.

I was fascinated by the idea of creating a physical bitcoin solution that was actually trustless.

Rodolfo Novak

The fellow Canadian is a busy man, currently attached to a number of projects. However, he’s currently most involved with Opendime and Coldcard, a couple of subjects we cover extensively during our talk. Rodolfo shares how such a small thing like a memory card can improve a hard wallet, and the implications of a well-timed backup.

In particular, Rodolfo is really vocal about bitcoin’s mass acceptance. His views on bitcoin going mainstream make a lot of sense when you consider the global reach of it, and the underlying economic effect. My guest also has a couple of personal rules when it comes to entrepreneurship (which totally make sense in the grand scale), as well as interesting views on bitcoin privacy and how it can move forward.

Rodolfo is an avid believer in online freedom of expression (hence his Mastodon engagement), and a frequent reader in terms of differing views, knowledge, and everything else (hence tons of recommendations).

In short, that would be Rodolfo Novak’s guest appearance on today’s episode. Now let’s hear what he has to say!

In this episode you’ll discover:

0:43 – How Opendime came to be.

2:36 – Rodolfo explains why a certain project is worthy of his time.

4:31 – How Opendime functions (a trustless trust, as my guest calls it).

5:44 – Security characteristics that Coldcard has that the competition lacks.

7:11 – What Rodolfo sees as Trezor’s main weakness.

7:54 – How a micro SD card is used for signing in transactions and the importance of cold storage.

8:50 – On how Coldcard is used and the importance of backup.

11:07 – Rodolfo mentions industrial-grade Micro SD cards (the ones that go into race cars, i.e.).

11:52 – What Rodolfo is most excited about in future Opendime developments.

12:34 – What bitcoin needs to overcome to really go mainstream, and how it’s seen different across the globe.

16:09 – What bitcoin improvement will be the most exciting, according to Rodolfo.

17:20 – On how bitcoin privacy will be accomplished (hint: it’s already there).

20:41 – The biggest opportunities for entrepreneurs today.

22:43 – On Mastodon (not the band) and the freedom it brings.

23:57 – What Rodolfo’s Twitter profile image actually means (you have to check it out!).

25:11 – Rodolfo shares his recommendations on books, blogs, and even social media for better bitcoin understanding.

27:18 – Rodolfo shares final words of wisdom.

Key takeaways

I don’t like to be trusted. I want people to trust the code, the cryptography, and themselves.

The reality is, most people don’t lose money by being hacked. Most people lose money by screwing themselves up.

Bitcoin already is mainstream, it’s just not used by the mainstream.

If you do your bitcoining correctly, you already have a lot of privacy.

Don’t make funding the thing that limits you from starting a business.