EP1 - Bitcoin before Maximalism: The experiments we forgot.

EP1 - Bitcoin before Maximalism: The experiments we forgot.

Published: February 4, 2026

Duration: 14:25

Before Ethereum. Before smart contracts. Before the hype around NFTs and ICOs — Bitcoin was already experimenting.

In this episode of Beyond Digital Gold we rewind to 2012–2014, when developers were pushing Bitcoin’s limits with:

• Colored Coins were early real-world assets

• Mastercoin, the first ICO in crypto history

• Counterparty and Rare Pepes, the first NFTs

• Lightning Network, Bitcoin’s first native Layer 2

Featuring JR Willett, Matt Luongo, Yoni Assia, Adam Krellenstein and Elizabeth Stark, and co-hosted with Nathan from StarkWare, this episode asks a fundamental question:

👉 If Bitcoin has alre...