The Crypto Radio

'Every single Satoshi that exists is just someone keeping a secret from everyone else,' says the author and podcaster

What does it mean to live in the inverse of ‘clown world’?
For Knut Svanholm, the answer begins with money – specifically, the rules that quietly shape behavior across entire societies. “It’s about how everything on a Bitcoin standard is literally the inverse of how it is on a Fiat standard,” he told Guardians of Bitcoin.
From that inversion flows a critique not just of modern finance, but of politics, incentives, ownership, and power itself.
Svanholm, a Swedish author and longstanding voice in the Bitcoin community, sees today’s dominant monetary system as a distorted mirror – one that rewards proximity to power over merit, quantity over quality, and short-term gains over long-term responsibility. Bitcoin, in his view, flips those incentives on their head.
From ‘clown world’ to broken money
When Svanholm talks about “clown world,” he isn't pointing to culture or aesthetics, but to outcomes. In his view, fiat money quietly reshapes behavior by constantly losing value. “Fiat currencies are inflationary, meaning that people more and more prioritize quantity over quality and political connections, instead of excellence,” he said.
Inflation, in this framing, is not just rising prices but a moral hazard. When money steadily depreciates, saving becomes irrational and consumption accelerates. By contrast, Svanholm describes Bitcoin as structurally deflationary.– "Because it’s absolutely finite,” he said.
That scarcity, he argued, changed how decisions were made. “If things get cheaper, we buy more of them,” he said, pushing back on the idea that deflation was inherently harmful. “You will think twice before you choose to buy anything, meaning that you will prioritize quality over quantity. And I think this is a very beautiful thing.”
For Svanholm, fiat money was not a neutral tool but an extractive one. “Fiat money is created by banks and governments. They have a license to counterfeit your money, which is theft, straight up like this.” He did not soften the claim. “It is theft, and it’s on a massive scale.”
Politics without merit

That same incentive distortion, Svanholm argued, extends beyond money into politics. In his telling, “the clowns” are politicians operating in systems that reward popularity and signaling rather than competence. “Things get very clownish, when merit is not rewarded, but political connections and virtue signaling becomes more and more important,” he said.
Democracy, as practiced today, in his view incentivizes short-term appeasement. Politicians, he argued, do “what you think people want in order to get votes,” rather than what serves long-term societal health. While acknowledging that conditions differed between countries, he pointed to recurring patterns. “The UK is a bit of a mess at the moment,” he said, describing rising costs and social unrest as symptoms rather than isolated failures.
His critique extended to taxation itself. “All taxes are involuntary, we live under gun threat,” he said. “Our property is taken away from us, and we cheer for it, because we think it comes to good use.” What remains unknown, in his view, is what societies might look like under genuine market coordination rather than permanent intervention.
Property, speech, and incentives
The same logic, Svanholm argued, applies to rights. Observing migration patterns, he pointed to the UAE as an example of revealed preference. “People still choose to move to UAE because of lower taxes,” he said, despite more limited speech protections. “By their actions, they show that they prioritize property rights over freedom of speech laws.”
Drawing on philosopher Murray Rothbard, he added, “Freedom of speech is only necessary where a property violation has happened before in a so called public space.” The statement is deliberately provocative, but the argument remains rooted in incentives. Systems protect what they economically value.
That view carries over into the digital realm. “If I own a social media platform, and I want it to be successful, I have an incentive to care about freedom of speech,” he said. Market pressure, not regulation, ultimately determine openness.
Disagreements inside Bitcoin

Svanholm rejected the idea that Bitcoin itself is free of conflict. In fact, he sees disagreement as essential. Without leaders, the system advances through argument. “That’s what happens in a leaderless system," he said. "There is no authority here that can decide this or that.”
One ongoing debate concerns whether Bitcoin should allow more non-financial data to be stored on its blockchain. Expanding a feature known as OP_RETURN could theoretically enable spam or even illegal content. “If you increase OP_RETURN too much you could potentially store a small video in it and stuff and really nasty stuff that no one wants to see,” he said.
At the same time, he acknowledged that such abuses were already possible. “You can do that now. You will still be able do that in the future too.” The disagreement, he argued, was not about perfection but trade-offs.
What worries him more is imbalance within the community. “You have the more 180 IQ Silicon Valley types that are often very technically competent [but] are not as economically literate,” he said. “You want Bitcoiners to be both technical and economically literate.”
Bitcoin, ownership, and a gradual shift
For Svanholm, Bitcoin is as much culture as code. His own path led him into writing, publishing, and even music as ways to process its impact.
He helps run a Bitcoin-focused publishing company in Estonia and plays in the band Toshiro Moto, arguing that entertainment and humor are part of spreading ideas. “If the audience is not entertained, they won’t care,” he said.
Philosophically, his most distinctive claim concerns what it means to own Bitcoin. “Every single Satoshi that exists is just someone keeping a secret from everyone else,” he said. “The ability to move [Bitcoin] is strictly in your head.” Because ownership rests on information rather than institutions, he argued, it “changed the profitability of violence,” making coercion less effective over time.
Svanholm expects change to be gradual, likening Bitcoin to a new language of value. Ultimately, he said, “the real currency of the future is integrity and your reputation. Honesty and sincerity will be rewarded more and more.”

'If courts lack a basic understanding of distributed ledger technology, they cannot properly deliver justice,' says blockchain lawyer Olayimika Oyebanji

How can courts rule on blockchain disputes if future lawyers are never taught how the technology works?
With blockchain becoming a vital tool for real-world applications, Nigerian legal professionals are advocating for its inclusion in law education across universities nationwide to address emerging legal frontiers such as smart contracts, DeFi disputes, and digital asset regulation.
“Smart contracts should be included in law curricula, especially given their impact on legal interpretation,” Nigerain lawyer Senator Ihenyen told The Crypto Radio.
“It’s interesting to see how jurisdictions define smart contracts within contract law, helping users understand their risks, implications, and bugs,” he explained.
Ihenyen founded Infusion Lawyers in Nigeria in 2017. He said, “NFTs are expected to reshape how intellectual property ownership, transfer, and usage are defined.”
He also believes that The Investment and Securities Act 2025 “is significant because it formally recognizes virtual assets as securities, marking a major regulatory milestone.”
“With this law in place, Nigeria now has a formal licensing regime allowing both local and foreign players to operate legally under SEC oversight,” Ihenyen noted.
Inside Nigeria’s legal education gap on blockchain
Despite learning institutions such as Baze University, Covenant University, and the University of Lagos offering fintech- and blockchain-focused programs, “no Nigerian university has yet integrated blockchain into law education,” Olayimika Oyebanji, a blockchain lawyer and DeFi researcher, told The Crypto Radio.
He wrote a paper in August 2025 calling for mandatory blockchain modules in Nigerian law schools under the 2025 ISA framework, saying his “efforts focus on raising awareness.” He said his appeals to Nigerian legal bodies to integrate distributed ledger studies into law education went unanswered.
The paper called for integrating blockchain education into Nigerian legal training, citing the rapid growth of crypto and web3 and the new legal and regulatory challenges they create. The research also stressed the need for clear, adaptive crypto laws in Nigeria and recommended adding smart contracts, cryptocurrencies, and digital assets to core legal education.
Despite the absence of provisions to integrate blockchain into the Nigerian legal curriculum, “The closest step made was the 2023 National Blockchain Policy, which outlined a roadmap for blockchain adoption across sectors,” said Oyebanji.
He also pointed to comments from President Bola Tinubu urging Nigeria’s judiciar to embrace crypto literacy in the fight against financial crime, signaling continued momentum despite institutional challenges.
Barriers slowing blockchain adoption in legal education

Ihenyen said confusion between blockchain, and crypto scams has “hindered its integration into legal education.”
“There is also a lack of skilled educators across institutions, making it critical to have teachers who understand the technology,” he added. “There must be targeted capacity-building initiatives for lecturers and educators to teach this increasingly vital area of knowledge.”
Oyebanji agreed, stating: “If courts lack a basic understanding of distributed ledger technology, they cannot properly deliver justice." 
“I don’t understand why Nigeria hasn’t prioritized blockchain as an emerging technology or developed a curriculum for it,” he added.
Ihenyen said adoption efforts should be led by industry bodies to influence policy, drive advocacy, and bridge the gap between the private and public sectors.
“The government must step up by investing in training and education for legal practitioners interested in digital assets,” Oyebanji said. “Funding can play a major role.”
AI concerns and the case for blockchain in legal training
As discussions around legal education expand, comparisons with artificial intelligence have entered the debate – particularly around professional standards and the risks posed by AI hallucinations.
“No one really knows who will control AI agents ethically,” said Ihenyen. "Blockchain-based smart contracts could help set built-in ethical boundaries, which may be more effective than relying only on codes of conduct as AI becomes more autonomous."
He stressed the importance of “pushing blockchain and AI developers to build safety and privacy by design, so innovation doesn’t move forward without accountability.”
Oyebanji pointed to the upcoming law on data privacy and AI governance that may address issues like AI hallucinations, and the glaring lack of an equivalent for blockchain, which "offers a more level, cost-effective field with lower barriers to entry.”
How other countries teach blockchain law
Calls to integrate blockchain into legal education are not limited to Nigeria. Across Africa, legal practitioners and researchers are increasingly advocating for reform.
In parts of Africa, blockchain is increasingly being incorporated into legal education alongside AI and technology. In 2025, the University of Cape Town partnered with the University of Zurich on a blockchain summer program linking law, economics, and technology. The University of Johannesburg also offers a short course covering blockchain and legal applications.
Similarly, the University of Ghana School of Law offers an L.L.M. in IT Law that covers blockchain, cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, CBDCs, and related regulatory, mining and environmental issues.
Globally, many law schools already offer dedicated blockchain and law courses, initiatives, and student societies. In the United States, Standard Law School’s Blockchain Education Initiative provides glossaries, bootcamps, and seminars for legal professionals.
In the United Kingdom, integration is also expanding, with law and technology modules increasingly embedded in curricula. These often appear as undergraduate electives or dedicated master's programs at institutions including King’s College London, Oxford University, and Queen’s University Belfast.