ABOUT THIS EPISODE
🔗 GUEST LINKS:
Max Hillebrand — Sound Money Solutions: https://soundmoneysolutions.io/
Max on Nostr: https://njump.me/npub1klkk3vrzme455yh9rl2jshq7rc8dpegj3ndf82c3ks2sk40dxt7qulx3vt
Personal site / archive: https://towardsliberty.com/
Mention HashrateUp when you reach out to Sound Money Solutions.
🛠 Sponsored by:
Luxor, Mining software, firmware & hashrate tools
https://luxor.tech/
Altair Technology, ASIC hardware, replacement parts & mining infrastructure
Code: HASHRATEUP
https://altairtech.io/aff/125/
You spend all your time and money maximizing mining profits, but what happens to those coins on the backend?
In this episode, I sit down with Max Hillebrand, co-founder of Sound Money Solutions, to talk about Bitcoin self-custody and how to actually keep the coins you mine safe. The timing couldn't be sharper, with the recent Cold Card entropy and brute-forcing issues making the rounds, but the deeper point is bigger than any single wallet.
We get into why most people never upgrade past their first setup, why no hardware wallet from 2017 is still secure, how holistic security ties your physical and digital life together, threat modeling, single-sig vs. multisig, inheritance planning, and why running your own full node is the real privacy minimum.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro & the Cold Card self-custody issue
2:09 The most common self-custody mistake
3:49 Why we stick with what we know (Ledger, Binance)
6:39 What Sound Money Solutions actually offers
9:42 Self-sovereignty & why custody feels daunting
13:12 Sponsor: Luxor
13:41 Holistic security: your physical life protects your Bitcoin
14:46 Threat modeling: what are you protecting, and from whom?
15:27 GrapheneOS, VPNs & password managers
17:10 Full nodes, hardware wallets & the Cold Card Q
18:12 Inheritance: making your setup work without you
21:35 The North Korean hacks, SIM swaps & Telegram attacks
23:13 Security vs. convenience: striking the balance
25:16 Why your family is a target too
27:53 Sponsor: Altair
28:26 Max's background & what qualifies him
32:05 First steps: the lowest-hanging fruit to fix
34:32 The minimal basic setup (single-sig + passphrase)
35:12 Is custody always bad? Max's nuanced take
40:09 How to get comfortable sending Bitcoin
41:47 Testing your backups before funding a wallet
44:19 Rapid fire: mistakes, wallets, multisig & privacy
47:32 Wrap-up & where to find Max
📊 HashrateUp Hardware Deals: https://t.me/hashrateup
📩 Free 5-Day Bitcoin Mining Course: https://hashrateup.com/newsletter-sign-up/
#Bitcoin #SelfCustody #BitcoinSecurity #ColdCard #HardwareWallet #BitcoinPrivacy #Multisig #GrapheneOS #Cypherpunk #HashrateUp
