The Speakeasy

Isabel and James are joined by Dan Held, one of the most influential figures in Bitcoin.

Isabel and James are joined by the world renowned historian, Professor Niall Ferguson. Professor Ferguson is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is the author of countless bestselling books including his most recent book, Doom. Professor Ferguson regularly writes on cryptocurrency for Bloomberg.

Isabel and James are joined by Rana Mitter - a British historian who teaches about the history and politics of modern China at the University of Oxford's St. Cross College. Mitter specialises in the emergence of nationalism in modern China and has written nine books about China. He formerly directed Oxford's China Center. 

Isabel and James are joined by legendary Bitcoin investor Saifedean Ammous.  He is also the author of The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking, the best-selling groundbreaking study of the economics of bitcoin.

Isabel and James are joined by author and journalist, Layah Heilpern. As an advocate of Bitcoin, Layah published her book Undressing Bitcoin: A Revealing Guide To The World's Most Revolutionary Asset last year. She is also the host of The Layah Heilpern Show on YouTube where she interviews a range of household cryptocurrency names.

Isabel and James are joined by the Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, who as Health Secretary led the UK's response to the covid pandemic until his resignation in June 2021. One of the highest profile politicians in the UK, Hancock was an economist at the Bank of England and was an adviser and chief of staff to George Osborne, who would go on to become Chancellor. As a backbencher, he has become a champion of cryptocurrency. 

Isabel and James are joined by Jim Rickards, who is editor of the financial newsletter, Strategic Intelligence, and negotiated the bailout for Long Term Capital Management, which was the major casualty of Russia's last default in 1998. Jim was involved in the Pentagon's first ever financial war games and is the New York Times bestselling author of The New Great Depression and The Death of Money.

Journalist Isabel Oakeshott and communications expert James Melville are joined by Mitch Feierstein - author of Planet Ponzi, a deep-dive into the financial system and government's role  - and Alan D. Miller - nighttime economy entrepreneur and co-founder of the Together Declaration campaign.