In our first live Monero Monthly, Max and Seth are joined by Riccardo “fluffypony” Spagni for a candid tour through Monero’s origin story and culture. Riccardo dives into the chaotic Bytecoin days, how a secret fork birthed Monero after a contentious merge-mining push, and why missing comments, odd code obfuscations, and a deliberately crippled miner set off everyone’s spidey senses.<br /><br />Riccardo shares the serendipitous formation of the Monero Research Lab—hiring Sarang and Surae via a Reddit post—and a hilarious Utah road-trip mishap that bonded early contributors. They also explore how Monero’s antifragile culture emerged from a strict no-price-talk ethos, pseudonymous contribution, and a relentless focus on usable privacy that’s helped real people in difficult situations.<br /><br />They close with reflections on delistings, decentralised access, level-headed responses to network “attacks,” and how Tari aims to provide privacy-first smart contracts without compromising Monero’s design. Listener Q&amp;A covers delistings pushing P2P adoption, cultural decisions that made Monero durable, handling selfish-mining FUD, practical privacy in tightening EU regs, and what Tari brings to the table. <br /><br /><strong>Context posts</strong><br /><ol><li><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/3f2fpd/the_strange_birth_history_of_monero_part_i_wtf_is/" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/3f2fpd/the_strange_birth_history_of_monero_part_i_wtf_is/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/5h15rh/the_strange_birth_history_of_monero_part_ii/" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/5h15rh/the_strange_birth_history_of_monero_part_ii/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/5hhpzq/the_strange_birth_history_of_monero_part_iii/" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/5hhpzq/the_strange_birth_history_of_monero_part_iii/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/5hvwu8/the_strange_birth_history_of_monero_part_iv/" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/5hvwu8/the_strange_birth_history_of_monero_part_iv/</a></li></ol><br /><p><strong>HELP GET SAMOURAI A PARDON</strong><ul><li>SIGN THE PETITION ----&gt; <a href="https://www.change.org/p/stand-up-for-freedom-pardon-the-innocent-coders-jailed-for-building-privacy-tools" target="_blank">https://www.change.org/p/stand-up-for-freedom-pardon-the-innocent-coders-jailed-for-building-privacy-tools</a>&nbsp;</li><li>DONATE TO THE FAMILIES ----&gt; <a href="https://www.givesendgo.com/billandkeonne" target="_blank">https://www.givesendgo.com/billandkeonne</a></li><li>SUPPORT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ---&gt; <a href="https://billandkeonne.org/" target="_blank">https://billandkeonne.org/</a></li></ul></p><br /><p><strong>VALUE FOR VALUE</strong><br /><br />Thanks for listening you Ungovernable Misfits, we appreciate your continued support and hope you enjoy the shows.<br /><br />You can support this episode using your time, talent or treasure.<br /><br /><strong>TIME</strong>:<br /><br />- create fountain clips for the show<br />- create a meetup<br />- help boost the signal on social media<br /><br /><strong>TALENT</strong>:<br /><br />- create ungovernable misfit inspired art, animation or music<br />- design or implement some software that can make the podcast better<br />- use whatever talents you have to make a contribution to the show!<br /><br /><strong>TREASURE</strong>:<br /><br />- BOOST IT OR STREAM SATS on the Podcasting 2.0 apps @ <a href="https://podcastapps.com" target="_blank">https://podcastapps.com</a><br />- DONATE via Monero @ <a href="https://xmrchat.com/ugmf" target="_blank">https://xmrchat.com/ugmf</a><br />- BUY SOME STICKERS @ <a href="https://www.ungovernablemisfits.com/shop/" target="_blank">https://www.ungovernablemisfits.com/shop/</a></p><br /><p><strong>CAKE WALLET</strong><br /><br /><a href="https://cakewallet.com" target="_blank"><strong>https://cakewallet.com</strong></a><br /><br />Cake Wallet is an open-source, non-custodial wallet available on Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux.<br /><br /><strong>Features</strong>:<br />- Built-in Exchange: Swap easily between Bitcoin and Monero.<br />- User-Friendly: Simple interface for all users.<br /><br /><strong>Monero Users:</strong><br />- Batch Transactions: Send multiple payments at once.<br />- Faster Syncing: Optimized syncing via specified restore heights<br />- Proxy Support: Enhance privacy with proxy node options.<br /><br /><strong>Bitcoin Users:</strong><br />- Coin Control: Manage your transactions effectively.<br />- Silent Payments: Static bitcoin addresses<br />- Batch Transactions: Streamline your payment process.<br /><br /><strong>Thank you Cake Wallet for sponsoring the show!</strong></p><br /><p><strong>FOUNDATION<br /><br /></strong><a href="https://foundation.xyz/ungovernable" target="_blank"><strong>https://foundation.xyz/ungovernable</strong></a><br /><br />Foundation builds Bitcoin-centric tools that empower you to reclaim your digital sovereignty.<br /><br />As a sovereign computing company, Foundation is the antithesis of today’s tech conglomerates. Returning to cypherpunk principles, they build open source technology that “can’t be evil”.<br /><br />Thank you Foundation Devices for sponsoring the show!<br /><br /><strong>Use code: Ungovernable for $10 off of your purchase</strong></p><br /><p>(00:00:01) <a href="https://ungovernablemisfits.com" target="_blank" >INTRO</a></p><p>(00:04:35) First Impressions of Bytecoin</p><p>(00:08:49) <a href="https://moneroresearch.info/" target="_blank" >The Birth of Monero Research Lab</a></p><p>(00:12:54) The Trip to Utah</p><p>(00:18:21) Forking BitMonero </p><p>(00:24:18) Mining in the Early Days</p><p>(00:32:07) State of the Project</p><p>(00:39:44) Are Delistings a Net Positive?</p><p>(00:43:30) Design Decisions and Cultural Norms</p><p>(00:49:08) WIll You Contribute as a Dev in the Future?</p><p>(00:49:39) Handling Network Attacks</p><p>(00:53:14) EU Dystopia Arbitrage</p><p>(00:58:15) Why the Monero Pump?</p><p>(01:01:06) <a href="https://tari.com" target="_blank" >The Goals of Tari</a></p><p>(01:04:08) <a href="https://www.ungovernablemisfits.com/freesamourai-cap/" target="_blank" >FreeSamourai Cap Winner</a></p><p>(01:04:53) OUTRO</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />