Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 3rd August Company: ShapeShift / Independent Role: CEO, Founder / Developer, Consultant, Bitcoin Activist

Erik Vorhees was a very early bitcoiner, drawn to it because of its alignment with his Libertarian beliefs. Erik created one of the first widely used applications on Bitcoin, Satoshi Dice. A ‘provably fair’ betting game that at one time made up around 50% of all bitcoin transactions.

In 2014, in the wake of the Mt.Gox collapse, Erik built ShapeShift, a trading platform that allowed the user to trade bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies without KYC or counterparty risk, which again aligned with both Erik’s and Bitcoin’s Libertarian ethos.

However, in 2018 regulation pushed ShapeShift to KYC every customer and comply with various surveillance and reporting requirements. Erik decided the best way to push back against this would be to dismantle the legal company and move instead to a protocol, forming a Decentralised Autonomous Organization (DAO). 

In this interview, I talk to Shapeshift Founder & CEO Erik Voorhees and Developer & Consultant Udi Wertheimer. We discuss the increasing regulatory pressure, decentralising a company and whether tokens have merit.