The "What is Money?" Show

From the pandemic response to central banking, media narratives, and Bitcoin adoption, we examine a simple heuristic: if the product is free, you are the product. This isn’t conspiracy thinking — it’s incentive analysis. When you stop listening to what people say and instead examine how they’re incentivized, the world looks very different. We explore how Bitcoin restructures incentives away from coercion and toward cooperation, why violence becomes less profitable in a Bitcoin world, and how self-custody changes the calculus of power.

Robin Seyr joins the show to explore the hidden power structures behind modern finance and why the global monetary system appears to be fracturing in real time. They examine the historical roots of central banking, the concentration of financial influence, and the patterns that repeat whenever debt-based systems reach their limits. The conversation also turns to Bitcoin as an alternative monetary architecture — not merely as an investment, but as a parallel system built outside centralized control. This is not speculation or sensationalism — it’s an examination of incentives, power concentration, and why monetary transitions tend to accelerate faster than institutions can adapt. Robin Seyr is a Bitcoin educator and commentator focused on macroeconomics, monetary history, and sovereign self-custody.

Johnann Urb joins the show to explore why external success often fails to produce internal fulfillment — and how unresolved emotional patterns quietly shape modern relationships. They examine why achievement, status, and financial wins do not automatically translate into intimacy, polarity, or lasting partnership. They discuss masculine leadership, emotional sovereignty, nervous system regulation, and how unprocessed trauma shows up inside marriage and long-term commitment. From attachment patterns and identity work to power dynamics and spiritual partnership, this episode explores the difference between control and grounded leadership — and why inner stability matters more than outer dominance. This is not relationship advice or self-help optimism — it’s a sober examination of how personal development, emotional maturity, and responsibility determine the quality of connection in modern life. Johnann Urb is a coach and facilitator focused on masculine embodiment, relational leadership, and nervous system integration.

In this conversation, psychotherapist Fiachra Figs explores how money, trauma, attachment, and the nervous system are deeply intertwined. Modern society isn’t just economically unstable — it’s psychologically destabilizing. And most people feel it in their bodies long before they can articulate it intellectually. We examine how fiat money functions like an unreliable parent, why survival mode has become the default state for millions, and how corrupted financial signals distort not just markets, but relationships, creativity, and identity itself. From attachment theory and nervous system regulation to Bitcoin as psychological bedrock, this episode connects inner healing with systemic reform. This is a conversation about moving from survival to sovereignty — personally, relationally, and civilizationally.

In this conversation, economist Bob Murphy joins the show to unpack what the 2008 financial crisis actually revealed about modern economics, central banking, and the structure of the global financial system. Rather than treating the crisis as an accident or policy failure, they examine whether instability is a built-in feature of the system itself. They explore how interest rate manipulation distorts markets, why debt-driven growth creates systemic fragility, and how economic models divorced from reality produce repeated boom-bust cycles. From Austrian economics and business cycle theory to moral hazard, inflation, and monetary illusion, this episode challenges the foundations of mainstream economic thinking. This is not partisan critique or hindsight analysis — it’s a structural examination of why modern finance repeatedly fails, who bears the cost, and whether an honest monetary system is even possible under current incentives. Bob Murphy is an economist, author, and senior fellow at the Mises Institute, known for his work on Austrian economics, money, and business cycle theory.