Pierre Rochard, who refers to himself as an “OG Bitcoin maximalist,” discovered Bitcoin in 2012 while enrolled at UT Austin. With a passion for Austrian economics and open-source software, he found Bitcoin to be a captivating convergence of the two fields. As a pioneer in the space, he co-founded the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute, which serves as a repository for essential writings and cypherpunk philosophy.
His career has included significant roles at BitPay, Kraken, and, most recently, Riot Platforms (RIOT), focusing on Bitcoin infrastructure and advocacy. At Riot, he effectively addressed environmental concerns surrounding Bitcoin mining, even producing a popular parody video that turned critics’ views on their head and shifted the narrative around mining and its value creation.
Pierre Rochard is set to speak at Consensus 2025, taking place in Toronto from May 14-16. Secure your pass here.
“Many critics view mining as wasteful because they don’t see Bitcoin’s intrinsic value,” Rochard stated. “However, mining is fundamentally about monetary sovereignty — the capacity to control one’s own money.”
Currently, he is venturing into new territory with The Bitcoin Bond Company, aiming to make Bitcoin accessible to fixed-income investors.
Contrary to Michael Saylor’s long-only approach, Rochard envisions creating “bankruptcy-remote, Bitcoin-only structures” with distinct life cycles and risk tranching. The objective is to make Bitcoin more appealing to conventional credit providers.
His ambitious target? To acquire $1 trillion in Bitcoin over the next 21 years, dependent on market conditions.
Rochard asserts that the typical four-year halving model for predicting Bitcoin’s price is losing its effectiveness. “Currently, Bitcoin’s compound annual growth rate is increasingly linked to interest rates,” he noted, indicating a transition towards its status as a global macro asset. “Increased Fed rates tend to draw capital away from Bitcoin — that’s what hinders adoption.”
Despite the noteworthy challenge posed by education, he remains hopeful. “A decade ago, this concept was dismissed. Today, Bitcoin-backed credit products are unavoidable.”
At Consensus 2025, Pierre aims to enhance that educational effort, particularly targeting institutions eager to diversify beyond equities and real estate.
Rochard also recognized the challenges and obstacles associated with Bitcoin adoption. “The primary hurdle is education,” he highlighted. “Most investors have never encountered a fixed-income product solely backed by Bitcoin. They are familiar with real estate or corporate debt — this represents a novel asset class for them.”
In response to concerns regarding low transaction fees or the possibility of empty blocks by 2025, Rochard countered: “People fret about low fees, but that assumes a static system. Should an attack or censorship occur, fees would spike — and miners would ramp up operations. It’s designed to be anti-fragile.”
Ultimately, Rochard communicates a straightforward message: “Bitcoin has moved beyond being a fringe experiment. It’s now a fundamental monetary technology — and it’s time for credit markets to catch up.”
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