Vid: Overstock's Patrick Byrne on Bitcoin, Net Neutrality, and Mixed Martial Arts

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Original post is from April 9, 2015 and text is below:

Patrick Byrne heads up Overstock.com, one of the world's largest online retailers, with over $1.3 billion in sales annually. An ardent proponent of Bitcoin and related blockchain technologies and a strong opponent of Net Neutrality and Internet sales taxes, Byrne is also a skydiver, a black belt in tae kwon do, and a protege of Warren Buffet. 

Born in 1962, Byrne is an outspoken proponent of school choice and serves as chairman of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. A libertarian who traces his interest in free markets to stumbling across old Newsweek columns by Milton Friedman while living in Thailand, Byrne earned a Ph.D. from Stanford with a dissertation on Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia.

Reason's Nick Gillespie sat down with Byrne at the2015 Liberty Forum in New Hampshire to discuss libertarian philosophy, net neutrality, bitcoin, his relationship with Warren Buffett, and learning mixed martial arts from the Gracie family, widely credited with bringing the form to the United States.

About 80 minutes. 

Produced by Alexis Garcia.

Cameras by Meredith Bragg and Jim Epstein. Edited by Alexis Garcia.

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Contents

  • Philosophy on school choice and meeting Milton Friedman (0:34)
  • Why it's important to fight the Internet sales tax (4:40)
  • Byrne's opinion on net neutrality laws (10:57)
  • Philosophical influences (22:40)
  • Byrne talks about love for sky diving, martial arts, and Buddhism (32:10)
  • Relationship with Warren Buffett (46:35)
  • Plans for block chain technology (54:30)
  • What makes Byrne optimistic and what innovations does he see in the future? (1:05:00)
  • Byrne's advice for millennials (1:08:00)