The Random Show

The guest

Kevin Rose — Tech entrepreneur, founder of Digg, and venture capitalist at True Ventures who co-hosts the recurring 'Random Show' with Tim Ferriss. Here he brings a crypto-investor's perspective on Bitcoin and shares personal habits from a hard pandemic year.

The gist

Recorded January 8, 2021, this Random Show episode opens with an extended discussion of Bitcoin crossing $40,000, comparing the 2017 boom-and-bust to the current run-up, the role of institutional adoption, dollar-cost-averaging strategy, and risks like the Tether stablecoin controversy. The conversation broadens into portfolio philosophy, three-year investment horizons, and thematic bets on e-commerce and audio (Amazon, Shopify, Spotify, Square, PayPal). The hosts then pivot to 2021 resolutions, energy management over time management, deliberate reading rules, and deep dives into nature awareness and lucid dreaming. Kevin shares candidly about pandemic drinking, depression, couples therapy, and non-violent communication, while both close with a long list of documentary, book, and product recommendations.

Big reveals

Tim admits he is not a hardcore crypto guy and held his Bitcoin mostly out of 'ignorance and laziness,' having entered crypto right before the 2017 crash as a hedge against his pending IPOs like Uber.
00:02:02
Kevin flags the Tether stablecoin investigations, explaining allegations that Tether may be issuing coins and buying Bitcoin without sufficient USD reserves, which could trigger a market 'show' and stall ETF approvals.
00:24:55
Kevin says he allocates up to 5% of his overall portfolio to crypto as super-high-risk money, and Tim endorses dollar-cost-averaging a fixed amount over six months.
00:27:32
Tim reveals his key 2020 lesson: a three-year time horizon is his comfortable zone for publicly traded equities because he can't predict three-to-six months and five-plus years is too uncertain.
00:36:58
Tim declares he is tired of thinking about finance and plans to do effectively zero investing in 2021, prioritizing energy management over time management.
00:56:41
Tim recounts using lucid dreaming in his final high school wrestling season to 'train' with gold medalist John Smith in his dreams, which carried over to real practices.
01:22:49
Kevin candidly shares that COVID caused him to drink more, feel depressed, and that walking and sauna became his two highest-impact coping practices, along with couples therapy.
01:25:55
Tim chooses 'mischievous' / 'coyote energy' as his word for the year, wanting to post Rorschach-test content and resist becoming a caricature shaped by social-media feedback.
01:46:48

Things worth remembering

Tim notes that if he had sold his crypto after getting in heavily right before the 2017 crash, he would have taken a massive loss.
00:03:35
Kevin says he bought early Bitcoin around $10-12 per coin and used to run his own mining rigs before pools existed.
00:07:44
Kevin describes his old cold-storage method: buying a dedicated Apple laptop, loading wallets, powering it down, and locking it in a safe.
00:11:53
Kevin explains that Plaid powers financial dashboards by securing credentials and issuing tokens so apps like Personal Capital never see your login info.
00:55:39
Tim says the average age of death for males in his family is about 85, which frames how he calculates how many great books he has left to read.
01:02:28
Tim shares a wildlife biologist's tip to start nature identification with trees, since learning 8-12 local trees lets you identify about 90% of what you see.
01:13:25
Lucid dreaming, defined as realizing you're dreaming while dreaming, can be verified in sleep labs via pre-agreed eye movements detected during REM.
01:18:40
Kevin's drinking framework: no more than two drinks and never two nights in a row, plus asking 'who is getting nourished right now?'
01:40:33
Kevin recommends Hinoki wood oil, tied to Japanese forest bathing, which he adds to his sauna; it comes from one of Japan's seven sacred trees.
01:44:41
Maui Nui Venison is wild-harvested from invasive axis deer in Hawaii, hunted at night with infrared and head shots to minimize animal stress and ecological damage.
02:02:28

Recommended in this episode

Books, products and media the guest or host genuinely endorsed here — with the buy link.

Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

RecommendedProduct

Tesla vehicles

Tesla

“i have two teslas they're fantastic vehicles they're they're my favorite i i have a truck on order i can't wait to get that thing” — Kevin Rose 00:31:41

The Random Show — Bitcoin Pros and Cons, 2021 Resolutions, Fave Books, Lucid Dreaming, and More

The gist

Big reveals

Things worth remembering

Recommended in this episode

Tesla vehicles

Simplifi (simplifimoney.com)

Personal Capital

Wealthfront

Spotify

Of Wolves and Men

Onlypult

The Tail End (essay by Tim Urban)

Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming

Nonviolent Communication (audio course)

Wyld CBN Sleep Gummies

Hinoki Oil (Hinoki Lab)

My Octopus Teacher

The Last Dance

Crip Camp

Hamilton's Pharmacopeia

Dosed

Soul

The Mandalorian

Maui Nui Venison (jerky, bars, leg medallions, bone broth)

Magic Spoon cereal

Blue Bottle Coffee

Hu Chocolate

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