The monetary revolution conveyed through Bitcoin continues to flourish with new technological solutions such as “podcasting 2.0”. 

Indeed, Bitcoin is no longer just a decentralized peer-to-peer digital currency network. Today, 13 years after its inception, the Bitcoin ecosystem has evolved tremendously and one of the most prominent advancements is the Lightning Network. 

The Lightning Network, in short, is an instant bitcoin transaction protocol, built on top of the Bitcoin network. Thanks to Lightning, users can now transact bitcoins at lightning speed with negligible fees and make micro-payments, all without compromising security.

This technology is now spreading in other forms, such as podcasting 2.0, as we will see in this article.

“Value 4 Value”

Basically, podcasting 2.0 boils down to a way of consuming content (like a podcast, in this case) and sending funds directly to the creator/artist via the Lightning Network. As a result, these creators are rewarded directly by their audience rather than by an intermediary and the terms of a contract between them.

So now you can send an amount of bitcoins per minute while listening to one of your favorite podcast episodes, using a bitcoin wallet. Hence the term “Value 4 Value” ; create value and directly receive it in return.

Relevant refresher : a bitcoin is divisible into 100,000,000 satoshis (also called sats). The smallest bitcoin unit is therefore 0.00000001 BTC, or simply 1 sat.

This article thus aims to detail the steps to get started in podcasting 2.0, both as a consumer and as a creator. We are going to see what are the main tools currently available to do this.

Breez: solution of choice

The mobile application Breez is the solution that I recommend to everyone getting started in content consumption. Breez is a non-custodial Bitcoin & Lightning wallet (you remain in full control of your funds) supporting podcasting 2.0. It is user-friendly, secure, renowned and offers several interesting features, especially for merchants.

That being said, we'll focus on the sats streaming part. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Go to breez.technology, follow the link to the app store (iOS) / play store (Android), and download the application.

2. Open the app, tap "Let's Breez!" and accept the beta alert message (indeed, it is not recommended to use Breez as a bitcoin storage solution).

3. Press “Receive” to receive sats to your wallet. You can use both the Bitcoin and Lightning networks. An initial setup fee of 2,000 sats applies on the first transaction!

4. Once your sats have been received, you can start streaming them by listening to podcasts; tap the wallet icon in the top left corner, then tap "Podcasts".

5. From the bottom menu displayed, tap “Discover” to search for your favorite podcast. Tap the podcast to open the descriptive page and the episodes attached to it.

6. Select an episode and press the "Play" icon.
   

That's it, you can now use the "Boost" function to send a predetermined amount of sats at any point while listening. Also, you can choose an amount of sats per minute that you want to stream directly to the creator of the content you consume. 

Note that these amounts are fully customizable, you just have to tap on them to adjust them to your preferences.

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to create your wallet backup as soon as you can! Access the drop-down menu, then "Preferences", then “Security & Backup”. Follow the steps by enabling “Encrypt Cloud Backup”. Write down the 12 words that will be provided to you (randomly generated) and store them in a safe place. This way, you will be able to recover your funds in the event that you lose access to the Breez app on your device.

Activate Mode 2.0 for your Podcast

Creators will certainly be curious to learn the instructions for being able to share their content on podcasting 2.0 platforms. Once your podcast is available on a platform like Breez, for example, then you can effectively start generating income in sats!

It is also important to know that you need a Lightning node to be able to receive these sats. We won't go into the details of installing and running these nodes in this article, we'll just skim the outline.

Otherwise, there are hosting services, such as Voltage, allowing you to rent a Lightning node and thus avoiding doing this work.

Without further ado, here are the few steps to follow in order to take your podcast to the next level:

1. Find a platform where you can submit your podcast, such as Anchor. Set up your account and be sure to use an email address that you control.

2. Go to podcastindex.org and use the search bar to find your podcast.

3. Once on your podcast page, tap the lightning bolt icon. You will be redirected to podcasterwallet.com, an affiliate site of Podcast Index. Register with the email address you connected to your podcast in step one.

4. Once registered, press “Add” and copy the URL link of your podcast page from Podcast Index to insert it here.

5. You will then need to enter the "pubkey" of your Lightning node to finalize the connection with your podcast.

Voilà, your podcast will now be available on the appropriate Value 4 Value platforms! 

La Sauce Bitcoin

The official Bull Bitcoin french podcast La Sauce Bitcoin is now available on podcasting 2.0 platforms, such as Breez and Fountain. Sats streamed to our podcast are routed directly to the Bull Bitcoin Lightning node.

You may have already noticed that we are constantly looking for progress and evolution. We enjoy working with the latest technologies available from the Bitcoin ecosystem. We recently implemented the Lightning Network to our noncustodial exchange. So we figured that sharing our content in Value 4 Value was a natural continuation for us!

La Sauce Bitcoin remains available on YouTube as well as the most popular traditional podcasting platforms, such as Anchor, Spotify, Google podcasts, and Apple podcasts.

Listen to episode #11 of Bitcoin Sauce where we discuss it all in detail here. (The episode is in french)

https://youtu.be/JpnZbw8xjWI

If you haven't experimented on the Lightning Network yet, head over to BullBitcoin.com!

Canadian users can use Bull Bitcoin to acquire sats and to send them directly and instantaneously to their preferred Lightning wallet, such as Breez!