NEW EPISODE: #246# - JOSH SWIHART (@jswihart) Josh leads the team responsible for the development of Zcash ($ZEC). He is the founder of ZODL (Zcash Open Development Lab) which is also building @zodl_app, a privacy-focused self-custody wallet and the flagship wallet of Zcash. In this conversation, we discuss the importance of privacy and the urgent need for private money. Josh tells the story of how he came to care about privacy in the first place, why Zcash is better than alternatives like Monero, and how the recent Ironwood upgrade closes the loop on the vulnerability discovered earlier this year. I have personally held Zcash since 2019 and view it as one of the most important projects not only in crypto, but in the world. The alternative is increasingly scary - global surveillance in the age of AI. I also view Zcash as one of the most asymmetric bets in the world. I think it is reasonable to estimate the near-term upside using the current market cap of BTC, which is over $1 trillion. The current market cap of ZEC is a little less than $8 billion. Timestamps below. Links in first reply. Please enjoy. 00:00 Early Coding Roots 01:10 From Defense Tech to Data Mining 03:34 Creepy Crawler Wake Up Call 05:30 Crypto Meets Permanent Ledgers 06:36 Finding Zcash Purpose 08:48 How Surveillance Scales Today 18:01 Why Financial Privacy Matters 26:06 Choosing Zcash Over Rivals 31:08 Bitcoin Versus Zcash 43:02 Why Zcash Finally Took Off 50:46 Governance Drama and ZODL Spinout 56:41 Ironwood Security Sprint 01:05:41 Closing Thoughts and Thanks