My guest today is Max Hillebrand, praxeologist, cypherpunk, and open-source advocate dedicated to building freedom tech that empowers individuals through economic and technological sovereignty. As a contributor to projects like Bitcoin Core, Wasabi Wallet, BTCPay Server, JoinMarket, Lightning Network, Bisq, Angor, White Noise, and Amethyst. In this episode, Max shares his journey from Austrian economics into Bitcoin privacy, recounting how tools like CoinJoins, Wasabi, and the Taproot upgrade push Bitcoin closer to true anonymity. We explore the battle between fiat and freedom, the broken incentives of inflation and war, and why opting into Bitcoin is both a moral imperative and a form of resistance. Max also introduces Nostr as the communications layer for a censorship-resistant future, explains the axioms of human action, argumentation ethics, and resistance, and highlights why he believes we now have the technological weapons to end modern financial slavery in our lifetime.► If you got value, please like, comment, share, follow and support my work. Thank you!-- SPONSORS --→ Get your TREZOR wallet & accessories, with a 5% discount, using my code at checkout (get my discount code from the episode - yep, you’ll have to watch it): https://affil.trezor.io/SHUn → Shield your bitcoin with time-delayed transactions over multisig with BitVault: https://www.bitvault.sv/ – AFFILIATES –→ Get 10% off on Augmented NAC, with the code YCXKQDK2 via this link: https://store.augmentednac.com/?via=efrat (Note, this is not medical advice and you should consult your MD)→ Watch “New Totalitarian Order” conference with Prof. Mattias Desmet & Efrat - code EFRAT for 10% off: https://efenigson.gumroad.com/l/desmet_efrat → Get a second citizenship and a plan B to relocate to another country with Expat Money, leave your details for a follow up: https://expatmoney.com/efrat → Join me in any of these upcoming events: https://www.efrat.blog/p/upcoming-events -- LINKS –Max’s Website: https://towardsliberty.com Max’s Nostr: npub1klkk3vrzme455yh9rl2jshq7rc8dpegj3ndf82c3ks2sk40dxt7qulx3vtEfrat's Twitter: https://twitter.com/efenigsonEfrat's Channels: https://linktr.ee/efenigsonWatch/listen on all platforms: https://linktr.ee/yourethevoiceSupport Efrat's work: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/efenigson   ⁠Support Efrat with Bitcoin: https://geyser.fund/project/efenigson-- CHAPTERS –00:00 – Coming Up01:23 – Intro to Max05:56 – Max Passion for Austrian Economics06:56 – Bitcoin: Bridging Economics with Computer Science11:16 – Building Freedom Tech14:16 – CoinJoin and Bitcoin Privacy18:56 – Legal & Regulatory Challenges for Privacy Tech – Samurai, Tornado, Wasabi Wallet26:36 – Why Is Privacy Important?29:06 – Economics of Wars & The Broken Window Fallacy41:23 – The Value of Cash and Fiat Currency45:38 – Moving to a Bitcoin Standard & Influence on Businesses50:03 – Max’s Take on Bitcoin Treasury Companies52:03 – Nostr & Decentralized Protocols1:00:03 – “White Noise” - Building Nostr Private Encrypted Messaging1:04:48 – Austrian Economics Axioms: Human Action, Argumentation, Resistance1:13:10 – Max’s Book Recommendations & Reasons to Stay Hopeful