Bitcoin Magazine Podcast · Nov 9, 2026 · 1h 53m · 103m saved
With Shone Anstey, CEO and Chairman of LQWD Technologies · Pippa Malmgren, Founder and CEO of Geopolitica Institute
The internet was valued at $200 billion in the 1990s and about $20 trillion by 2010, and Shone Anstey thinks Bitcoin is at the same early point now. Shone, CEO and chairman of LQWD Technologies, told Grace Remington and Sean Hagan on the Bitcoin Magazine Podcast that AI agents paying each other will need a network far bigger than anyone is planning for. Most builders of agent payments are betting on stablecoins. Shone runs Lightning Network nodes and says agents will choose Bitcoin.
"We think that a million transactions a second is enough. And it isn't. It's going to be a billion transactions plus." — Shone Anstey
Shone's company operates 17 Lightning nodes in 17 countries and holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet because the network requires it. The second guest, Pippa Malmgren, founder and CEO of the Geopolitica Institute and a former economic adviser to President George W. Bush, read the midterms and argued that AI-driven advances in math and physics are changing which countries win.
The full episode is covered here so you can skip it. 113 minutes of audio, 10 minutes of reading.
Here are the 16 insights that matter.
Key Takeaways
Shone Anstey expects machine payments to need a billion transactions a second, not a million
Bitcoin is where the internet was when it was valued at $200 billion, in Shone's view
AI agents will pick Bitcoin over stablecoins because nobody can freeze it
An agent that owns a Lightning wallet can prove who it is with a micropayment
35 nations are telling citizens to prepare for power outages of 3 to 14 days
Pippa Malmgren is betting small countries adapt faster than big ones to AI abundance
Scott Bessent is betting on stablecoins, not Bitcoin, to outgrow US debt, in Pippa's reading
South Korea and Sweden automate the most and create jobs fastest, Pippa says
1. Nvidia's Scandal Opens
Grace Remington and Sean Hagan, who host Bitcoin Magazine's Monday BMTV livestream, opened on headlines. Coinbase had won a national trust bank charter from the OCC. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had admitted an affair with a woman US officials believe China's Ministry of State Security used to gather intelligence on him, and Nvidia shares fell roughly 6% to 8% that morning.
Sean Hagan saw an attack on Jensen Huang's character, not a real key-person risk for Nvidia
Sean pointed to the depth of Nvidia's veteran staff as the reason the company does not depend on one man. He then turned the conversation to how AI will actually be used in the economy, and where Bitcoin fits.
