A visionary? A madman? Maybe both.
In episode 4 of the Blume Podcast, Karthik sits down with George Kikvadze, early BitFury investor and author of “And Then You Win”, to unpack the wild, untold insider story of Bitcoin’s rise, narrated by someone who built mining infrastructure while everyone else chased the coins.
For the first time, we’re streaming the full podcast live! No edits. No filters. Just raw, uncut conversation.
Before crypto Twitter, before Wall Street memos, before billion-dollar valuations—George and his team were meeting in Kyiv saunas, sketching out the future of decentralized finance on fogged glass walls. The world thought they were crazy; they were busy laying the foundation of a new financial order.
This is not a story about speculation. It’s about what George saw before the world did—that Bitcoin wasn’t just “magic internet money”; it was a trust network that was here to stay and it needed infrastructure to sustain it.
As an early believer in BitFury, he chose to own the picks and shovels, not just swing them.
To build chips, cooling systems, and compliance rails so that everyone who wanted to mine coins would come to him.
Across 17 years, he watched fortunes rise and empires fall. Presidents, hackers, VCs, oligarchs, FBI agents—he’s met them all. And through it, he held one belief: trust is the real currency.
His story is about the grit, governance, and the quiet conviction to keep building when the lights go out.
🎧 Tune in to hear George and Karthik revisit Bitcoin’s formative years—and the playbook for those who build against the tide. As a Blume Podcast first, We’re livestreaming the entire conversation. Tune in!
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