COUNTERPARTY & RARE PEPES: The Forgotten History of Bitcoin NFTs (with Dan Anderson)

In this episode of the Hell Money Podcast, we sit down with Dan Anderson (@droplister), a self-described "internet nobody" with deep roots in crypto-native culture. Dan shares his journey from the early days of Bitcoin, Counterparty, and Rare Pepes, and the history of NFT experiments on Bitcoin. We explore: - The origins of Counterparty and its impact on Bitcoin and crypto culture - The history of NFT and token experiments on Bitcoin - Ethereum's ICO and smart contracts on Bitcoin - Rare Pepe Science - Counterparty 2.0Get bonus content by subscribing to @hellmoneypod on X: https://x.com/hellmoneypod/creator-subscriptions/subscribeOr support the podcast by sending a BTC donation: bc1qztncp7lmcxdgude4px2vzh72p2yu2aud0eyzys FOLLOW DAN ANDERSON: https://x.com/droplister10% OFF INSCRIBING VEGAS: https://pretix.eu/inscribing/vegas/redeem?voucher=HELLMONEY10% OFF BITCOIN VEGAS: https://tickets.b.tc/code/inscribing/event/bitcoin-2025ORDINALS PROTOCOL SHIRT: https://shop.inscribing.com/products/ordinals-protocol-shirtFOLLOW HELL MONEY PODCAST:→ HMP: https://x.com/hellmoneypod→ Casey: https://x.com/rodarmor→ Erin: https://x.com/realizingerin→ Podcast Links: ⁠https://hell.money/⁠TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro & Dan's early inscriptions 6:25 Dan's journey to Bitcoin (and why he never went full Ethereum) 12:58 Counterparty (XCP), Rare Pepes, and the emergence of crypto-native culture 16:25 Counterparty's fair launch via Bitcoin burn 20:00 Namecoin & Mastercoin launches, OP_RETURN 24:30 Stamps vs. Ordinal Inscriptions 27:30 Mastercoin, Tether, & Colored Coins 33:00 Ordinals as an improvement on colored coins 36:30 Counterparty founding & design 38:30 Ethereum's ICO and influence from Counterparty 41:00 Smart contracts on Bitcoin vs Ethereum 43:00 What do people want to do with Bitcoin and digital assets? 51:00 Tether, Omni, hard forks, & the risk of economic nodes controlling protocols 57:15 Early Counterparty token experiments 59:30 The success of Ordinals 1:02:00 The value of simplicity in development 1:03:00 Spells of Genesis, Rare Pepe origins 1:05:00 Rare Pepe Scientists, certifications for rare vs. fake pepes 1:08:50 "NFT" was a term invented by lawyers 1:11:00 Pepe as a symbol for the collective unconscious 1:13:00 Migration from Counterparty to Ethereum, the success of NFTs 1:18:00 The timing of Ordinals' success 1:23:40 The future of Counterparty & Counterparty 2.0 1:32:00 Community-driven curation in meme culture 1:35:10 Bitcoin Uncensored foreshadowing the breakup of Hell Money Podcast 1:39:00 Casey's egregious digital footprint 1:40:00 The Dan Files & closing remarks