# Bitcoin Pioneer: I Was Paid 100 Bitcoin An Hour When It Was $10 | Ep. 443 with Charlie Shrem and Courtney Shrem "Prince of Bitcoin"

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/founder-s-story-648906/bitcoin-pioneer-i-was-paid-100-bitcoin-an-hour-when-it-was-10-ep-443-with-charlie-shrem-and-courtney-shrem-prince-of-bitcoin
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/founder-s-story-648906/bitcoin-pioneer-i-was-paid-100-bitcoin-an-hour-when-it-was-10-ep-443-with-charlie-shrem-and-courtney-shrem-prince-of-bitcoin.md
Podcast: [Founder's Story](https://stenobird.com/podcast/founder-s-story-648906)
Published: 2026-09-14T14:39:07+00:00
Episode link: https://bleav.com/shows/founders-story/
Audio file: https://clrtpod.com/m/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/1184/afp-969439-injected.calisto.simplecastaudio.com/a7765f3f-02e4-4ded-bca1-01a20b7f82a5/episodes/b832460a-b9f8-48b3-8861-2b303621f650/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=a7765f3f-02e4-4ded-bca1-01a20b7f82a5&awEpisodeId=b832460a-b9f8-48b3-8861-2b303621f650&feed=NVPdHs07
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/founder-s-story-648906/episodes/bitcoin-pioneer-i-was-paid-100-bitcoin-an-hour-when-it-was-10-ep-443-with-charlie-shrem-and-courtney-shrem-prince-of-bitcoin
Duration seconds: 3263

## Resource

Daniel Robbins and Kate Hancock sit down with Charlie Shrem and Courtney Shrem for a raw conversation about Bitcoin’s earliest days, love, chaos, prison, resilience, and reinvention. Charlie reflects on becoming one of Bitcoin’s first major pioneers, helping build the early Bitcoin economy, becoming a founding figure in the Bitcoin Foundation, and then watching everything collapse when he was arrested at JFK. Courtney shares what it was like to meet Charlie during that wild chapter, make the first Bitcoin transaction accepted in a New York City nightclub, stand by him through prison, and rebuild a life together. The episode also explores early Bitcoin culture, Satoshi, Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum, quantum threats, marriage, trust, loyalty, and what it really means to choose the life you have over the life you lost.

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## Transcript

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