6 hours ago
Pierre Rochard, who calls himself a “bitcoin maximalist OG,” archetypal discovered Bitcoin successful 2012 portion studying astatine UT Austin. With interests successful Austrian economics and open-source software, helium was “captivated” by bitcoin arsenic the intersection of both. He became an aboriginal thought leader, co-founding the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute to location foundational writings and cypherpunk philosophy.
Across roles astatine BitPay, Kraken, and astir precocious Riot Platforms (RIOT), his enactment has spanned bitcoin infrastructure and advocacy. At Riot, helium led responses to biology criticisms, including a viral parody video that “put the critics connected the defensive” and reframed the statement astir mining and worth creation.
“Critics deliberation mining is wasteful due to the fact that they don’t judge bitcoin has value,” Rochard said. “But it’s astir monetary sovereignty — the quality to power your ain money.”
Now, with The Bitcoin Bond Company, helium is taking connected the adjacent frontier: unlocking bitcoin for fixed-income investors.
Unlike Michael Saylor’s long-only strategy, Rochard wants to physique “bankruptcy-remote, bitcoin-only structures” with wide life-cycles and risk-tranching. The thought is to marque Bitcoin much palatable to accepted recognition allocators.
His goal? Acquire $1 trillion successful bitcoin implicit the adjacent 21 years — marketplace conditions permitting.
On the terms cycle, Rochard believes the four-year halving exemplary is losing relevance for terms prediction purposes. “Bitcoin’s CAGR is present tied to involvement rates,” helium said, noting its displacement toward becoming a planetary macro asset. “Higher Fed rates propulsion superior retired of Bitcoin — that’s what slows adoption.”
While acquisition remains a large hurdle, he’s optimistic. “Ten years ago, this thought was laughed off. Today, Bitcoin-backed recognition products are inevitable.”
At Consensus 2025, Pierre is focused connected accelerating that education, particularly among institutions looking to diversify beyond existent property and equities.
Rochard was besides clear-eyed astir the risks and hurdles successful bitcoin adoption. “The biggest situation is education,” helium emphasized. “Most investors person ne'er seen a fixed-income merchandise backed purely by bitcoin. They’re utilized to existent property oregon firm indebtedness — this is simply a caller plus people for them.”
When asked astir concerns similar debased transaction fees oregon bare blocks successful 2025, Rochard pushed back. “People interest astir debased fees, but that assumes a static system. If there’s ever an onslaught oregon censorship, fees skyrocket — and miners rotation up. It’s anti-fragile by design.”
Ultimately, Rochard’s transportation is simple: “Bitcoin is nary longer a fringe experiment. It’s a halfway monetary exertion — and it’s clip the recognition markets caught up.”
Disclaimer: Parts of this nonfiction were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial squad to guarantee accuracy and adherence to our standards. For much information, spot CoinDesk’s afloat AI Policy.
English (US) 