In recent months, David Bailey has become one of Donald Trump's closest allies – and someone who is pulling strings to accelerate Bitcoin adoption in the USA. In this episode we find out more about what a Trump administration means for Bitcoin.

Zcash is perhaps the most influential project in the cryptocurrency space, as it produces extremely useful research in the field Zero Knowledge proofs. Electric Coin Company CEO Josh Swihart & Zcash Core dev Kris Nuttycombe explain why Zcash us great.

Polto & Darko are the co-founders of Hodling.ch: a Swiss company which specializes in offering advice on self custody best practices. In this episode, you will get some pro tips about private key management & setting up backups to secure your coins.

Andrey Sabelnikov has a history with the CryptoNote protocol, and even worked under pseudonymous Monero grandfather Nicholas von Saberhagen. Recently, he built Zano with Pavel Nikienkov. It's a protocol for issuing tokens with good privacy. Time Stamps: Introducing Andrey & Pavel (00:00:54) What is Zano? (00:02:46) Hybrid Consensus Mechanism (00:04:50) Challenges of Proof of Stake (00:07:15) Security Aspects of Consensus (00:10:27) Cost of Attacks on Consensus (00:13:13) Nation-State Threats (00:15:09) Open Source Development (00:18:00) User Control and System Integrity (00:20:07) User Interface (21:24) Decentralization in Zano (21:51) Mobile Application Concerns (22:30) Integration with Cake Wallet & Bitcoin.com (23:13) Sideshift & Starkware (24:31) Introduction to Zano (25:59) Zano's Technology Overview (26:40) History with Monero (27:40) Collaboration with Monero Developers (29:51) Background in Bitcoin? (31:44) Nicholas von Saberhagen's Role in Monero & Zano (32:55) Conspiracy Theories Surrounding Satoshi (35:19) Support from Nicholas von Saberhagen (36:02) Addressing Community Drama (38:28) Defending Developers Against Conspiracy Theories (40:24) The Negative Narrative Around Privacy (00:42:10) Infighting in the Privacy Field (00:43:06) Polarization Among Blockchain Projects (00:43:51) Criticism of Proof of Work vs. Proof of Stake (00:44:34) Historical Innovations in Privacy Projects (00:45:51) Community Dynamics in Crypto Projects (00:47:41) Privacy as a Niche Market (00:49:34) Tribalism in Wallet Choices (00:50:16) Misconceptions About Monero's Origins (00:51:13) Support and Community in Early Crypto (00:55:14) Comparing Zano and Monero (00:59:38) Zano Token Issuance and Privacy (01:02:45) Monero's Privacy Advantages (01:03:14) Future of Zano's Privacy (01:04:48) Appreciation of Honesty (01:05:29) Liquidity and Usability (01:06:18) Building Private Stablecoins (01:07:50) Consensus Mechanism Comparison (01:08:39) Debating Consensus Models (01:09:45) Market Influence of Discussion (01:11:51) Privacy of Issued Assets (01:12:30) Zano Wallet Experiment (01:14:51) Batch Transactions Limitations (01:15:36) Technological Limitations Explained (01:19:18) Decentralization and Project Economics (01:20:34) Discussion on Monero Fees (01:23:06) Zano's Emission Strategy (01:23:30) Clarifying Staking Misconceptions (01:24:35) Challenges of Scaling Zano (01:27:28) Transaction Speed and Validation (01:30:25) Future Plans for Fee Market (01:33:59) Discussion on Zano's Fees (01:35:35) Audience Questions on Tax and Premium (01:36:41) Whitelist Functionality in Zano Wallet (01:38:44) Confidential Layer Project (01:40:31) Adoption of Full Chain Membership Proof (01:42:13) Zano's Domain Name Feature (01:44:24) Zano's Core Features (01:44:59) Comparison to Ethereum Name Service (01:45:32) Origins of Namecoin (01:46:20) Skepticism About Bitcoin (01:47:17) Namecoin Functionality (01:49:20) Decentralization Trends (01:50:32) Zano Fee Burn Rate (01:51:08) End Goals of Zano (01:51:44) Privacy Misconceptions (01:52:31) Transparency in Ethereum (01:54:03) Bitcoin Privacy Concerns (01:55:03) Criminal Definitions and Taxation (01:56:30) Living in 2017? (01:58:17) Bitcoin Maximalism vs. Alternative Projects (01:59:21) Current State of Bitcoin Privacy & Fungibility (02:02:00) Future of Zano (02:06:10) Competing with Monero (02:08:10) Industry Influence on Zano (02:09:40) Tokenization and Practical Applications (02:10:18) Competition from Tari (02:12:52) Recognition Despite Size (02:20:06) Legal Risks for Privacy Developers (02:21:06) Community Support and Development (02:18:54)Final Thoughts on Zano (02:23:12) Use Cases for Zano (02:25:15) Market Value of Privacy (02:26:16) Following Zano's Work (02:26:35) Twitter and Engagement Challenges (02:28:05) Sending Bitcoin Takeover Zano Tokens (02:28:47) Mobile Wallet Features (02:29:35) Caution with Impersonators (02:30:07) Closing Remarks (02:31:06)

MWEB (MimbleWimble Extension Block) is a way to add privacy & extra scalability on a parallel blockchain. First proposed by Andrew Poelstra in 2016, it was quickly forgotten in the Bitcoin world. But thanks to David Burkett, it's now live on Litecoin. Time stamps: Introduction to MWEB and David Burkett (00:00:55) Origins of MWEB (00:01:40) Comparing MWEB to Bitcoin's Taproot (00:02:07) Community Trends in Bitcoin (00:02:32) Historical Context of Litecoin's Privacy Features (00:03:23) Challenges in Development (00:04:09) Explanation of Grin and MWEB (00:05:03) Grin's Adoption Issues (00:09:01) Marek Narozniak's Insights (00:10:06) Relevance of MWEB Today (00:10:48) MWEB vs Grin (00:12:13) Technical Challenges of MWEB Implementation (00:14:23) User Experience in MWEB (00:16:28) Types of Privacy in MWEB (00:18:03) Network Level Privacy (00:18:18) Satoshi's Vision on Privacy (00:19:16) Limitations of MWEB (00:20:05) Sender Privacy Considerations (00:21:07) Combining MWEB and Clear Chain Inputs (00:22:04) Understanding MWEB Pegging (22:05) Privacy Considerations in Transactions (23:02) CoinJoin and MWEB Integration (24:45) Liquidity of Privacy Coins (26:46) Future of Swaps Between Coins (29:24) Drivechains (31:57) Risks of Consensus Changes (35:02) Rebranding MWEB as VPM (37:16) Anonymity vs. Liquidity (38:37)

Liam Eagen (Alpen Labs), Robin Linus (Zero Sync, BitVM) & Jonas Nick (Blockstream, Taproot) talk about their groundbreaking research paper about Shielded Client-Side Validation – a new way to bring privacy & scalability to Bitcoin. –––––––––––––––––––––––––– Time stamps: Introduction (00:00:51)
 What is Client-Side Validation? (00:02:09)
 Trade-offs in Client-Side Validation (00:04:20)
 Comparison with Existing Protocols (00:05:18)
 On-chain Throughput and Privacy (00:09:21)
 Connecting Bitcoin and Shielded CSV (00:09:55)
 User Interaction with the Protocol (00:11:07)
 Challenges with the Lightning Network (00:12:22)
 Atomic Swaps and Compatibility (00:14:56)
 Shielded CSV vs Monero & Zcash (00:16:12)
 Discussion on STARKs (00:19:28)
 OP_CAT and Covenants (00:21:46)
 OP_CAT and Functional Encryption (00:24:03)
 Exploration of BitcoinOS (00:25:21)
 Potential of BitVM (00:26:11) Bitcoin as a Currency (00:28:21)
 Funding for CSV Projects (00:30:40)
 Taint Concept in Shielded Transactions (00:31:14)
 Adoption and Privacy Protocols (00:34:08)
 Transaction Fees in Shielded Transactions (00:35:08)
 Throughput and Base Layer Efficiency (00:36:04)
 Node Behavior During Transactions (00:38:12)
 Comparison with MimbleWimble (00:39:41)
 CryptoSteel’s New Device (00:40:29)
 Drivechains (00:41:04)
Discussion about crypto steel backups and a sponsor, Layer Two Labs, promoting drive chains. Concerns Over Soft Forks (00:43:51)
 Rough Consensus Definition (00:45:04)
 Challenges of Soft Fork Implementation (00:46:15)
 Balancing Stability and Innovation (00:47:29)
 Miner Incentives and Fee Structures (00:48:38)
 Future of Post-Quantum Proposals (00:49:44)
 Increasing Block Size for CSV (00:50:00)
 Ideal Block Size Debate (00:53:08)
 Quantum Computing Threat (00:59:02)
 Potential Consequences of Quantum Attacks (01:00:24)
 Post-Quantum Solutions (01:02:23)
 Quantum Computing Timeline (01:02:50)
 Complexity of Quantum Computers (01:03:31)
 Quantum Records and Limitations (01:05:44)
 Chat Question on Shielding Protocol (01:06:12)
 Hodling.ch (01:06:45)
 Self-Custody Security (01:09:15)
 Threat Models in Security (01:09:58)
 Hardware Wallet Cautionary Tale (01:10:33)
 Conference Discussions (01:12:05)
 Shielded CSV Funding and Development Timeline (01:13:58)
 Prototype Development Outlook (01:15:29)
 Concerns Over Adoption (01:17:31)
 Scalability vs. Privacy Debate (01:19:34)
 Tether on Shielded CSV? (01:22:04)
 Revenue Models Discussion (01:22:22)
 Transaction Fees and Profitability (01:23:25)
 Publisher Fees in CSV Protocol (01:24:16)
 Competition and Business Models (01:25:40)
 Soft Fork Proposals for Improvement (01:26:07)
 Script Restoration and Arithmetic Improvements (01:27:30)
 Future of Shielded Client-Side Validation (01:37:23)
 Keeping Up with Developments (01:38:44)
 Self-Promotion and Team Dynamics (01:41:05)
 Proof of Stake? (01:42:51)
 Rare Pepes in Shielded CSV (01:43:56)
 Acknowledgment of Guests (01:46:18)
 Call to Action: Shield Emoji (01:47:57)
 Importance of Learning Bitcoin (01:48:07) Resources for Learning Bitcoin (01:48:31) Commentary on Peter Wuille (01:49:26) Block Size Debate (01:50:02) Optimizing Bitcoin for Global Use (01:51:05)


Just a few days after launching the Citrea testnet, Orkun Kilic joins the Bitcoin Takeover podcast to talk about his team's approach to building zero-knowledge proofs and the ambition to create a BTC-only economy around it. Time stamps: Rollups vs. Sidechains (00:02:02) The Need for Rollups in Bitcoin (00:04:18) Citrea's Unique Approach (00:06:29) Building a Generic Virtual Machine (00:08:08) Citrea as the First ZK Rollup on Bitcoin (00:09:10) Comparison with Other Projects (00:09:56) Use Cases for Average Users (00:12:08) Citrea & Non-Custodial Financial Services (00:14:44) Citrea vs Drivechains (00:16:30) Differences in Trust Assumptions (00:17:05) Drivechain Proposal History (00:18:14) Starkware and Zero Knowledge Proofs (00:19:13) Technical Limitations of Starknet (00:19:35) Building Non-Custodial Solutions (00:20:24) Future of Syria and Decentralization (00:24:05) Progress Since Last Interview (00:26:14) Presentation on Hyper Bitcoinization (00:28:03) Privacy Benefits of Citrea (00:29:37) Potential Changes to Bitcoin (00:30:49)

Prof. Richard Werner is best known for proposing quantitative easing while working at the Bank of Japan in the 1990s, and then predicting the 2008 financial crisis. Today, he is a fan of Bitcoin and small community banks. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Time stamps: Introducing Prof. Richard Werner (00:00:51) Richard Werner's View on Bitcoin (00:02:01) Problems with Central Banks (00:02:45) Empirical Studies on Money Creation (00:03:01) Decentralization and Local Banking (00:04:16) Concerns About CBDCs (00:05:23) Ideological Conflicts (00:06:38) Importance of Empirical Data (00:07:30) Critique of Theoretical Economics (00:09:51) Scientific Method in Economics (00:11:07) Concerns About CBDCs and Privacy (00:13:50) Opposition to CBDCs (00:14:35) Privacy Claims of CBDCs (00:16:10) Misunderstanding of CBDCs (00:17:16) Arguments Against CBDCs (00:18:29) Transparency in Central Banking (00:19:42) RFK's Blockchain Proposal (00:20:31) Personal Experience with Cash Transactions (00:21:43) Cash Transactions and Personal Choice (00:21:56) The Human Right to Cash (00:22:53) The Importance of Demand for Cash (00:24:06) Accountability of Central Banks (00:25:08) Support for Local Banks (00:26:18) Recent Banking Crises (00:28:40) Analysis of Silicon Valley Bank's Collapse (00:29:49) Federal Reserve's Role in Banking (00:40:46) The Federal Reserve's Inaction (00:43:11) Impact on Farmers in the 1930s (00:44:21) Centralization of Agriculture (00:45:34) Critique of Central Planning (00:46:53) Solutions for Small Local Banks (00:47:09) Lessons from German Community Banks (00:48:50)

Decred is one of the oldest & most respectable altcoin projects around, which today has base layer privacy by default, a very stable Lightning Network implementation & an excellent DEX. Jake Yokom-Piatt & Phoenix Green explain how it all works. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Time stamps: Introducing Jake & Phoenix (00:00:11)
 Jake's Background (00:01:23)
 Creation of Decred (00:02:48)
 Challenges Faced in Bitcoin Development (00:04:41)
 Initial Steps Towards Decred (00:06:11)
 Governance Issues in Bitcoin (00:07:20)
 Phoenix's Introduction (00:09:01)
 Overview of Bison Wallet (00:10:03)
 Phoenix's Journey with Decred (00:10:52)
 Atomic Swaps and Bison Wallet (00:11:55)
 Bison Wallet Development Costs (00:12:57)
 Philosophy Behind Bison Wallet (00:17:48)
 Corruption in Traditional Exchanges (00:18:18)
 Bison Wallet Features Explained (00:20:58)
 Differences Between Bitcoin and Decred (00:21:52)
 Consensus Algorithm and Its Issues (00:23:05)
 Governance Problems in Bitcoin (00:24:02)
 Funding Challenges in Bitcoin (00:24:54)
 Importance of Privacy (00:25:48)
 Decred's Unique Approach (00:26:46)
 Market Perception of Decred (00:28:01)
 Challenges with Proof of Work (00:28:33)
 Market Manipulation by Miners (00:29:49)
 Malicious vs. Benevolent Cartels (00:33:22)
 Historical Mining Equipment Issues (00:36:21)
 Consensus Upgrade for Control (00:38:58)
 On-chain Analysis of Market Behavior (00:40:16)
 The Decred Project's Flexibility (43:02)
 Challenges of Mining Rewards (43:54)
 Evolution of Mining Dynamics (44:53)
 Geographical Arbitrage in Mining (45:35)
 Fairness in Mining (46:07)
 Participation in Mining (47:11)
 Inflation and Interest in Decred (48:31)
 The Role of ASICs in Mining (49:53) Nation-State Threats to Cryptocurrency (50:37) Manipulation of Bitcoin Prices (53:05) ETFs and Institutional Control (54:20)
 Proof of Stake vs. Proof of Work (56:19)
 Compromise of Bitcoin's Integrity (59:49)
 Sovereign Money and Personal Responsibility (01:02:03)
 Security in Digital Assets (01:02:30)
 Optimistic Views on Bitcoin's Future (01:04:26)
 Starkware and zk Rollups (01:05:16) LayerTwo Labs and Drivechains (01:05:16)
 Decred's Lightning Network Implementation (01:06:25)
 Bison Relay and Privacy (01:07:24)
 Challenges with Bitcoin's Lightning Network (01:10:08) SPV and Lightning Network Integration (01:12:49) Microtransactions as Anti-Denial of Service (01:16:09) Decred's Unique Use of Lightning (01:18:24) Recommendations for Bitcoin's Lightning Network (01:20:34) Bloom Filters and Their Issues (01:23:43) Frustration and Adaptation (01:24:01) Consensus Changes and SPV Clients (01:25:37) Challenges of Vendor Preferences (01:26:27) Moving Beyond Fiat (01:28:07) Blocksize Debate Reflections (01:29:00) Observations on Data Centers (01:30:00)
 Evolution of Opinions on Block size (01:32:00) The Need for Efficient Blockchains (01:36:30) Trade-offs in Scaling (01:39:17) Governance Challenges in Bitcoin (01:40:54) Disclosure in Governance Coins (01:42:14) Discussion on Coin Holdings and Privacy (01:43:31) Challenges with Provocateurs in Crypto Projects (01:45:20) Introduction to Bison Wallet Demo (01:46:56) Overview of Hodling.ch (01:48:16) Bison Wallet Interface Walkthrough (01:49:25) Functionality of Bison Wallet (01:52:54) Coin Shuffle Plus Plus Explanation (01:56:06) Creating a Bitcoin Wallet in Bison (01:59:24) Network Level Privacy in Bison Wallet (02:02:27) Conclusion and Farewell to Phoenix (02:03:36) Wallet Functionality and Filters (02:05:35) Monero's Atomic Swap Challenges (02:06:32) Zcash Wallet Limitations (02:08:40) Tether and Ethereum Wallets (02:09:55) Bison Wallet Features (02:11:03) Ethereum Account Generation (02:12:22) Backing Up Wallets (02:13:58) Concerns with Hardware Wallets (02:15:36) Experience with Decred and Bitcoin (02:16:06) Decred's Longevity and Community (02:19:47) Principles Behind Decred's Development (02:20:14) Legacy of Open Source Contributions (02:23:49) Consensus Algorithms and Innovation (02:25:48) Frustrations with Recognition (02:27:03) Community Dynamics in Cryptocurrencies (02:27:59) Zcash's Default Privacy Issues (02:29:07) Challenges of High-Level Teams (02:30:08) Privacy vs. Stealth Inflation (02:33:21) Coin Shuffle Plus Plus Explained (02:35:01) Cost to Attack Analysis (02:36:37) Mixing Techniques in Decred (02:38:39) Wasabi Wallet and Decentralization (02:40:10) Bitcoin's Privacy Future (02:43:14) Implications of Recent Arrests (02:45:02) Bitcoin's Future (02:46:49) Decred's Longevity (02:49:22) Challenges in Bitcoin Governance (02:50:43) Voting in Bitcoin (02:52:11) Satoshi's Vision (02:56:16) Learning About Decred (02:58:39)

Kruw runs the most successful Wasabi wallet 2.0 coordinator and is the kind of privacy advocate who actually builds. In this episode, he talks about continuing Wasabi, the shortcomings of Samourai & how blockchain analysis works. Time stamps: Introduction (00:00:39)
 Recap of Wasabi Wallet Discussions (00:01:33)
 Samourai Wallet's Decentralization Announcement (00:02:28)
 Challenges Faced by Privacy Projects (00:03:56)
 Shift in Bitcoin Culture (00:04:40)
 Impact of Regulatory Pressures (00:05:32)
 Wasabi's Resilience (00:06:40)
 Exploring Bitcoin's Privacy Features (00:07:53)
 Demonstrating CoinJoin Transactions (00:08:36)
 Differences Between CoinJoin and Monero (00:10:24)
 Challenges with Bitcoin Transaction Privacy (00:11:23)
 Concerns Over High Transaction Fees (00:13:11)
 Wasabi's New Features for Privacy (00:17:40)
 User-Friendly Features in Wasabi 2.0 (00:20:14) Transaction Speedup Options (00:21:18)
 Critique of UTXO Management in Wasabi 2.0 (00:23:05)
 Wasabi Wallet User Control (00:23:38)
 Switching Coordinators Feature (00:24:03)
 Decentralized Coordinator Community (00:24:50)
 User Preferences in Coordinator Selection (00:26:18)
 Coordinator Fees Discussion (00:30:56)
 Drivechains and Mining Concerns (00:31:04)
 Market Dynamics of Coordinator Fees (00:34:25)
 Collecting Dust from Transactions (00:37:43)
 Trezor's Coinjoin (00:38:09)
 Wasabi Wallet's Development Funding (00:41:14)
 Samourai Wallet's Blockchain Analysis Tool (00:42:36)
 Address Reuse and Privacy Challenges (00:46:49)
 Mistakes in Privacy Usage (00:49:40)
 Discrediting Wasabi Wallet (00:50:21)
 Cash Fusion (00:51:42)
 Reputation and Arrests (00:53:23)
 Bitcoin Privacy Camps (00:54:33)
 Join Market's Unique Position (00:55:56)
 Legal Risks in Bitcoin Coordination (00:56:21)
 The Fight for Bitcoin's Future (01:00:01)
 Personal Ethics and Legal Protections (01:01:42)
 Concerns Over Martyrdom (01:03:14)
 Physical Tokens and Authenticity (01:04:12)
 Critique of Samourai Wallet (01:05:10)
 Transparency Issues in Samurai Wallet (01:08:09)
 Closed Source vs. Open Source Debate (01:09:55)
 Default Privacy Features in Samurai Wallet (01:11:26)
 Ricochet Transactions and Fees (01:13:13)
 Government Awareness of Transactions (01:14:41)
 Implications of Fee Collection (01:15:01)
 Personal Standards and Hypocrisy (01:15:53)
 New Pepe Avatar Presentation (01:16:21)
 Nostr vs. Twitter (01:18:21)
 Support for CTV & Covenants (01:20:11) Governance and Community Dynamics (01:22:38)
 Concerns about ETF Privacy (01:22:53)
 Complexity of Consensus Changes (01:24:08)
 Community Understanding of Proposals (01:28:20)
 Censorship Resistance in Bitcoin (01:31:01)
 Market Dynamics and Filters (01:32:46)
 Historical Context of Data on Bitcoin (01:34:08)
 Criticism of Jimmy Song (01:35:31)
 Litecoin's Role in Segwit Activation (01:36:30)
 Bitcoin's Cultural Stagnation (01:37:47)
 Ranking Privacy Coins (01:39:45)
 Liquidity vs. Privacy (01:40:26)
 Technological Advancements in Privacy (01:41:39)
 User Resistance to New Technology (01:42:54)
 10101 Shutdown (01:43:09)
 Drivechains and Altcoins (01:44:16)
 Monero Liquidity Concerns (01:45:58)
 Future of Bitcoin vs. Altcoins (01:46:29)
 Cultural Conflicts in Bitcoin Development (01:47:20)
 Blockstream's Influence (01:48:26)
 Whale Bots in Bitcoin (01:51:49)
 Michael Saylor's Influence (01:52:52)
 Bitcoin's Future and Development (01:55:07)
 Censorship Resistance vs. Privacy (01:59:08)
 Satoshi's Coins and Community Reaction (02:00:05)
 Blockchain Analysis Case (02:01:08) Challenges of Privacy Services (02:04:15) Tracking Methods in Blockchain (02:05:20) Understanding Transaction Outputs (02:06:39) Heuristics for Blockchain Analysis (02:09:03) Personal Experience with Blockchain Analysis (02:10:06) Samurai Wallet's Controversies (02:10:58) Victims vs. Heroes in Privacy Projects (02:13:37) Bitcoin Soft Forks for Privacy (02:16:46) Statechains and Privacy (02:18:18) Interactive Transactions Challenges (02:20:08) Monero and Chainalysis (02:22:25) Network Level Privacy Issues (02:23:01) Future of Privacy Tools (02:24:01) Zano's Hybrid Consensus Model (02:24:49) Tail Emission Interest (02:25:13) Consensus Mechanisms Explained (02:26:11) Future of Bitcoin on Layer 2 (02:27:05) Lightning Network, Finally (02:28:28) Privacy Concerns in Lightning (02:29:39) Confidentiality vs. Privacy (02:29:24) Splicing and Lightning Efficiency (02:30:12) Public vs. Unannounced Lightning Channels (02:32:40) Custodial Systems and Privacy (02:34:12) Investment in Privacy Technologies (02:35:31) Nym Security Token Overview (02:36:57) Challenges of Decentralization (02:40:03) Tor and Bitcoin Privacy (02:41:22) Running a Tor Relay (02:42:10) Discussion on Transaction Value (02:48:55) Counterarguments on Spam Incentives (02:49:34) Block Size Debate (02:51:20) Challenges of Block Size Increases (02:52:41) Ethereum vs. Bitcoin Cash (02:57:48) Dynamic Block Size Mechanisms (02:58:57) Running Full Nodes on Mobile (03:00:10) Wrap Up and Future Prospects (03:03:49)

Charlie Shrem, best known for being the co-founder & CEO of BitInstant, is still an optimistic bitcoiner. In this episode, he comments on the block size wars, shares his thoughts on ongoing development & promotes his upcoming book about his journey. Time stamps: Introducing Charlie Shrem (00:00:23) How This Interview Happened (00:01:51) The Block Size Wars (00:02:41) 2014 Marked the End of an Era (00:05:16) Bitcoin Community Dynamics and Changes (00:06:55) Technical and Political Challenges (00:08:04) The Rise & Rise of Bitcoin Documentary (00:10:43) Stablecoins vs. Bitcoin (00:12:39) Philosophical Reflections on Money (00:15:29) Charlie Shrem’s Pepe (00:17:02) Personal Reflections on Prison Life (18:18)
 Rebirth After Prison (21:45)
 The State of Bitcoin (23:17)
 Cultural Shift in Bitcoin Community (27:09)
 Privacy Concerns in Bitcoin (30:03)
 The Future of Bitcoin (32:09)
 Scaling Challenges (35:05) Bitcoin's Value and System (00:36:33)
 Bitcoin's Success and Adoption (00:37:55)
 Bitcoin's Transactional Volume (00:39:04)
 Encouraging Bitcoin Usage (00:40:03)
 The Role of Stablecoins (00:41:26)
 Bitcoin Cash (00:42:32)
 Samuel's Poem on Bitcoin (00:43:34)
 Bitcoin Cash's Origins (00:46:08)
 Amaury’s New Project (00:47:27)
 The Importance of Leaderless Systems (00:48:17)
 Interesting Projects Beyond Bitcoin (00:50:12)
 Elon Musk and Bitcoin (00:52:14)
 Working on a Bitcoin Book (00:53:54)
 Charlie Shrem’s Poem (00:56:00)
 PoW Summit in Frankfurt (00:57:40)
 Closing Remarks (00:57:54)


Ben Arc is the creator of LNBits, as well as one of the founding fathers of the Nostr social media protocol. In this episode, he reflects on the state of development in Bitcoin and why he is still bullish on the Lightning Network! Time stamps: Introducing Ben (00:00:23) LNBits Contributors and Collaborators (00:01:41) Scaling Challenges of Lightning Network (00:05:01) Bidirectional Payment Channels (00:06:06) Need for Development in Lightning Network (00:07:22) Skepticism Towards Trusted Third Parties (00:09:32) Importance of Swapping Services (00:12:20) Innovating Lightning (00:17:40) ZK Rollups and Future of Bitcoin (00:18:15)
Covenants and Computer Science (00:19:49)
ZK Proofs and Mobile Wallets (00:20:21)
Drivechains (00:20:51)
Litecoin's Influence on Bitcoin (00:22:10) Centralized Mining Concerns (00:23:06)
Community Contributions and Tribalism (00:24:13)
Self-Custody Consulting (00:25:04)
Cashu and Its Implications (00:26:08) Game Theory and Custodial Solutions (00:27:08)
Mints and Trust Issues (00:29:58)
Ecash and Its Future (00:33:37)
Regulatory Environment for Cryptocurrencies (00:34:12)
Alternative Cryptocurrencies (00:35:02)
Bitcoin's Payment Technology (00:36:50)
Pursuing the Right Focus (00:38:58)
Getting Started with LNBits and Nostr (00:39:23)
Disclaimer on Personal Views (00:39:37)
Exploring LNBits (00:40:03) Ben's Current Projects (00:41:18)
Acknowledging Team Contributions (00:41:47)
Future Aspirations for Lightning Payments (00:42:00)
Thematic Nostr Clients (00:43:00)
Closing Remarks (00:43:47)
Mutual Appreciation (00:44:18)
Acknowledging Hard Work (00:45:09)


Mike Carson is the CEO of Impervious (and Friendster): a Bitcoin-native ZK proof-native protocol which allows for scalable domain registrations on the Bitcoin blockchain. In this episode, he explains how & why he decided to disrupt ICANN. Time stamps: Introduction to the Podcast (00:00:41) Importance of Digital Identity (00:02:44) Overview of Spaces (00:05:25) Development of Spaces (00:06:38) Historical Context of Domain Names (00:08:38) Challenges with Namecoin (00:10:02) Censorship and Domain Ownership (00:12:49) Technical Limitations of Ethereum (00:13:52) Value of Impervious Spaces (00:17:27) Functionality of Spaces (00:18:33) Auction Mechanism Explained (00:19:58) Sponsor Introduction (00:21:05) Vlad introduces the episode's sponsors, Sideshift & Starkware Concatenation Opcode Discussion (00:22:26) Domain Access Query (00:23:29) Decentralized Naming System Details (00:23:43) Integration with Existing Systems (00:25:25) Data Storage Capabilities (00:25:58) Browser Integration Possibilities (00:27:02) Redirecting vs. Building (00:28:28) Squatting Prevention Measures (00:29:33) Human-Readable Payment Addresses (00:30:35) General Purpose Naming Integration (00:32:50) Open Source Development (00:33:22) Sidechains and Domain Names (00:33:55) Scaling Bitcoin Discussion (00:35:00) Self-Custody Consultancy (00:36:08) Digital Identity Importance (00:37:09) Potential of Naming Protocols (00:38:03) Marketplace Potential for Spaces (00:40:00) Value of Domain Names (00:40:27) User Interface Development (00:41:07) Selling Subspaces (00:42:13) Concerns About Domain Services (00:42:50) Past Domain Protocols (00:43:26) Importance of Decentralized Naming (00:44:07) Challenges of Competing with Established Services (00:48:24) Community Support for Decentralized Projects (00:49:36) Bitcoin Address Integration (00:50:59) Zero Knowledge Proofs for Scalability (00:54:14) Security and Decentralization of Block Space (00:56:08) Community Adoption of Spaces Protocol (00:57:19) Expected Launch Date for Spaces Protocol (00:58:16) Overview of Other Projects (00:59:42) Building for Handshake (00:59:46) Focus on Spaces (01:01:04) Following Spaces Updates (01:01:09) Personal Branding and Friendster (01:02:55) Domain Name Industry Insights (01:03:06) Bringing Back Friendster (01:04:49) Friendster's Historical Context (01:06:00) Nostalgia for MySpace and Hi5 (01:07:15) Onboarding Users to Bitcoin (01:08:04) Final Thoughts and Encouragement (01:09:41)

Murch is a Bitcoin Core contributor, best known for his engineering work at Chaincode Labs & his prolific answers on Bitcoin's Stack Exchange page. In this episode, he breaks myths about ordinals, OP_CAT, Drivechains, 0conf, ossification & more! Introduction of Murch (00:00:41) Discussion on Bitcoin Myths (00:01:41) Ordinal Inscriptions Debate (00:02:07) Concerns Over Ordinals and Fungibility (00:06:12) Censorship and Data Insertion (00:08:42) Bitcoin Core's Development Process (00:10:18) Public Nature of Bitcoin Core Discussions (00:11:31) Community Perception of Developers (00:12:49) Radicalization in Bitcoin Perspectives (00:16:35) Diverse Interests in Bitcoin (00:18:28) Censorship Resistance and Decentralization (00:20:21) Falsification and Software Maintenance (00:22:27) Evolving Software Ecosystem (00:24:29) Lightning Network and Transaction Confirmation (00:26:08) Community Engagement and Feedback (00:27:49) Default Behavior Changes in Bitcoin Core (00:28:54) Scaling Bitcoin: Layer 2 Solutions (00:31:29) Protocol Development Momentum (00:33:11) Concerns About Opcode Activation (00:35:57) Covenants and Transaction Introspection (00:39:00) Discussion on Community Perception (00:43:56) Arguments for Covenants (00:45:01) Politics of Bitcoin Development (00:48:55) Challenges of Soft Fork Activations (00:52:46) Secondary Effects of Taproot (00:53:57) Potential of Taproot (00:56:12) Complexity of Bitcoin Upgrades (01:00:17) Future Block Size Considerations (01:02:35) Discussion on Block Size Politics (01:05:57) Digital Cash vs. Store of Value (01:06:51) Scaling Solutions Debate (01:08:03) Lightning Network Advantages (01:09:33) Introduction to HODLing.ch (01:11:06) MimbleWimble Extension Block Experiment (01:11:49) Post-Taproot Era Prospects (01:13:12) Privacy vs. Scripting Trade-offs (01:14:12) Bitcoin’s Supply and Privacy Concerns (01:15:41) Future of Privacy Protocols (01:17:01) Trade-offs in Privacy Solutions (01:21:58) The Role of Mining for Privacy (01:26:39) Concerns Over Mining Centralization (01:27:16) Mining Pool Adoption Challenges (01:28:00) Consensus Vigilance (01:29:24) The Role of Miners in Protocol Development (01:30:38) Historical Context of Miners and Validators (01:34:48) Economic Majority Concept (01:35:27) Drive Chain and Network Security (01:40:40) Zero Confirmation Transactions (01:42:07) Historical Overview of Bitcoin's Double Spending Solution (01:43:00) Future of Small Payments on Bitcoin (01:47:36) Lightning Network as a Solution (01:48:51) Full RBF and Unconfirmed Transactions (01:50:14) User Experience with RBF (01:53:16) Trade-offs in Bitcoin Development (01:57:26) Concerns Over Block Subsidy (01:58:50) Transaction Fees vs. Block Subsidy (02:01:14) Research Needs for Bitcoin Incentives (02:04:18) Tail Emission Debate (02:06:57) Long-term Outlook for Bitcoin Demand (02:09:35) Value Preservation vs. Network Security (02:10:02) Discussion on Bitcoin Use Cases (02:12:47) Role of Bitcoin Stack Exchange (02:13:48) Encouragement to Contribute (02:15:51) Bitcoin Tech Group Newsletter (02:17:05) Listening to the Uptick Newsletter (02:19:03) Appreciation for the Conversation (02:20:00) Challenges in Decentralized Systems (02:20:47) Recommended Bitcoin Literature (02:21:49) Closing Thoughts on Bitcoin (02:22:56)

Edan Yago is the co-author of BitcoinOS: the first Zero Knowledge proof system to get verified on Bitcoin's main net. BitcoinOS is a significant breakthrough, as it endows Bitcoin with extended financial features without the need for a soft fork. Time stamps: Introducing Edan Yago... again in season 15! (00:00:45) BitcoinOS, The Shared Computation & Smart Contract System for Bitcoin (00:02:36) Introduction of BitSnark (00:05:55) Emulation of Conditional Payments Without a Covenant Soft Fork (00:06:13) BitSnark vs. BitVM (00:06:51) Taproot's Untapped Role (00:09:37) Scalability of Bitcoin (00:13:14) Understanding zk Proofs & Rollups (00:15:39) Defining Zero Knowledge Proofs (00:17:35) Potential of zk in Bitcoin OS (00:20:13) Bitcoin's Unique UTXOs with ZK Proofs (00:20:41) Future of Bitcoin Transactions (00:21:45) Scalability and Bitcoin Transactions (00:22:58) Concerns About Miners' Incentives (00:23:15) Value of Bitcoin Block Space (00:25:29) DeFi and Bitcoin Settlement Time (00:26:48) Rollups vs. Sidechains (00:29:04) Permissionless Innovations (00:31:30) Trust Assumptions in Bitcoin OS (00:35:22) Optimistic Verification Explained (00:36:34) Economic Shift in Bitcoin Mining (00:39:09) Importing Smart Contracts (00:40:42) Fragmentation and Consolidation (00:41:08) Bitcoin's Monetary Network Effect (00:44:46) Native Privacy in Bitcoin (00:45:45) Creating Private Addresses (00:47:10) Counterparty and Historical Context (00:48:37) Transaction Costs in Bitcoin OS (00:49:45) Interoperability with Existing Projects (00:51:07) Value of Existing Systems (00:53:55) Covenants and Soft Forks (00:55:10) Trade-offs of Soft Forks (00:57:37) Concerns about Unintended Consequences (00:59:25) Cultural Hardening of Bitcoin (01:00:12) Testing Zcash Transactions (01:01:04) User-Friendly Software Implementation (01:01:19) Excitement for Sovereign and Rollups (01:04:01) Philosophical Debate on Bitcoin Code Changes (01:05:28) Decentralization as a Tool (01:06:56) Role of the Lightning Network (01:08:14) Custodial Solutions vs. Self-Custody (01:11:44) Cold Storage Capabilities in BitcoinOS (01:15:12) Running a BitcoinOS Node (01:15:47) Token Necessity for Bitcoin OS (01:16:14) Encouraging Node Operation with Tokens (01:18:02) Bitcoin's Resurgence (01:19:47) Long-term Commitment (01:20:47) Living Off Bitcoin (01:21:09) Follow Yago and Projects (01:21:32) Conclusion (01:22:29)

Paul Puey is the CEO & co-founder of Edge Wallet: a light mobile wallet which is optimized for privacy features. In this episode, we talk about the philosophy behind Edge, how one should analyze privacy features & the various layers of Bitcoin privacy. Time stamps: Introducing Paul Puey (00:00:47) Overview of Edge Wallet Features (00:02:08) Decentralized Exchange Integration (00:04:00) Challenges of Privacy in the U.S. (00:04:58) Privacy and User Security (00:06:05) Political Climate and Crypto (00:08:05) Expectations from Politicians (00:10:01) Open Source Status of Edge Wallet (00:12:33) Importance of Transparency (00:14:31) User Privacy and App Permissions (00:15:56) Edge Wallet's Architecture (00:18:51) Public Key Data Handling (00:19:19) Transition to BlockBook Servers (00:19:58) Privacy Enhancements in Edge Wallet (00:20:59) Understanding Xpub and Privacy Trade-offs (00:21:59) Monero's View Key Explained (00:23:12) Running a Private Monero Node (00:25:17) Future of View Tags in Monero (00:26:19) Sideshift ad (00:28:04) Comparing Electrum and Full Nodes (00:28:26) Blockchain Data Management (00:30:24) Querying Blockchain Efficiently (00:32:25) Challenges of Running a Full Node (00:34:38) The Usability of Multi-Chain Apps (00:35:33) Comparing Banking Systems to Crypto (00:36:38) Sponsorship Message from StarkWare (00:37:20) Excitement for L2 Developments (00:38:09) The Future of Sidechains vs. zk Rollups (00:38:25) Improvements in Sidechain Technology (00:38:50) The Potential of Sidechains for Multiple Cryptos (00:40:03) Challenges for Bitcoin's Functionality (00:41:17) Market Demand for Bitcoin Innovations (00:41:45) Debate on Sidechains and Miners' Political Power (00:42:22) Regulatory Discussions on Miners' Compensation (00:43:16) The Viability of Small-Scale Mining (00:44:44) The Reality of Mining Profitability (00:45:53) Ideological Mining vs. Profit-Driven Mining (00:48:19) The Concept of Tail Emission in Bitcoin (00:49:41) Challenges of Implementing Tail Emission (00:50:21) Funding L2 Validators through Transaction Fees (00:51:46) The Future of Bitcoin's Layer 1 and Layer 2 (00:52:53) Discussion on Layer 1 and Layer 2 (00:54:30) Multisig and Threshold Signatures (00:55:05) Long-term Viability of Layer 1 (00:56:52) Future of Bitcoin (00:57:52) Ethereum as Layer 2 for Bitcoin (00:58:30) Challenges of Lightning Network (00:59:24) Hybrid Proof Systems (01:00:59) Transition to Privacy Discussion (01:03:05) Market Trends Affecting Privacy Coins (01:03:35) Privacy Coins and Transactional Use (01:07:00) Integration of New Privacy Coins (01:08:01) Lengthy Response on Listing Coins (01:10:01) Clarifying Privacy Expectations (01:11:00) Privacy Layers Overview (01:12:21) Coinjoin and Sender Privacy (01:12:21) Stealth Addresses Explained (01:13:28) Confidential Transactions (01:14:35) Challenges of Privacy Coins (01:15:45) IP Address Privacy (01:18:59) Bitcoin's Privacy Potential (01:19:06) Zcash and Scalability (01:20:17) Litecoin's MimbleWimble Extension Block (01:21:07) User Experience and Protocol Complexity (01:22:38) Soft Fork vs. Sidechain (01:25:30) Lightning Network's Privacy Claims (01:28:22) Anonymity Set in Lightning (01:29:43) Understanding Centralized Entities and Anonymization (01:30:39) Challenges of Multiple Hops in Lightning (01:31:51) Integration of Lightning Network into Edge Wallet (01:32:37) Self-Custody Focus of Edge Wallet (01:34:22) Bringing Self-Custody to the Masses (01:34:49) Importance of Privacy Tools (01:36:13) Controversial Opinions on Bitcoin (01:37:09) Skepticism Towards Bitcoin's Future (01:40:47) Market for Non-Bitcoin Functions (01:43:16) Hardware Wallet Integration in Edge Wallet (01:44:33) Onboarding Users Without Seed Phrases (01:46:29) User Experience and Security in Edge Wallet (01:47:03)

Justin Bons is one of the most popular Bitcoin critics on Twitter. As a fan of new technologies, he believes that sharding and other scaling techniques will save the trilemma and bring uncompromising decentralization. Is it really so? Time stamps: Introduction (00:00:44) Justin's Shift from Supporter to Critic (00:01:32) Outperformance of Bitcoin (00:02:46) Gradual Realization of Bitcoin's Limitations (00:04:07) The Importance of Decision-Making in Bitcoin's Future (00:05:10) Bitcoin's Popularity vs. Its Fundamental Value (00:06:27) The Original Vision of Bitcoin (00:07:21) Comparison of Bitcoin and Ethereum (00:08:28) Clarifying Transaction Metrics (00:09:17) Ethereum's Capacity and Bitcoin's Limitations (00:10:37) The Evolution of Blockchain Technology (00:12:41) Decentralization Concerns with High Throughput Blockchains (00:15:01) The Ideal Blockchain Situation (00:16:06) Exploring Modern Sharded Systems (00:16:34) Node Requirements for Bitcoin and Other Blockchains (00:17:26) Sharding and Validator Security (00:18:06) Horizontal Scaling in Sharding (00:19:09) Debunking Bitcoin's Technology (00:20:23) Ethereum's Design Limitations (00:20:32) Centralization in Validator Nodes (00:21:11) Validator versus Full Node (00:21:50) Pool Dependency in Bitcoin Mining (00:22:06) Proving Validator Identity (00:23:06) On-Chain Analysis for Decentralization (00:26:27) Ethereum's Centralization Debate (00:28:13) Impact of Ethereum Foundation on Development (00:29:24) Client Diversity in Ethereum (00:30:40) Resistance to Ethereum's Transition to PoS (00:32:13) Theoretical Perspectives on Decentralization (00:32:52) Competing Client Development Teams (00:33:17) Decentralization as Continuous Battle (00:34:41) Decentralization Definition (00:34:46) Comparison of Validators (00:35:50) Unique Validators in Ethereum (00:37:14) Power Distribution in Ethereum (00:38:10) Decentralization Measurement (00:39:05) Power Dynamics in Blockchain (00:39:55) Hostile Government Scenario (00:40:42) Economic Security and State Attacks (00:41:26) Cost to Attack Analysis (00:45:41) Hypothetical Attack Costs (00:46:58) Bitcoin's Security Budget (00:49:18) Proof of Stake Attack Costs (00:51:50) Private Key Security Discussion (00:52:09) Economic Security of Proof Systems (00:52:36) Decentralization Metrics (00:53:06) State Actor Vulnerability (00:53:35) Mining Farms vs. Validators (00:55:05) Centralization in Governance (00:57:04) Innovation in Bitcoin Development (00:58:17) Flaws in Off-Chain Governance (01:03:06) Scaling Challenges (01:01:40) Market Dynamics and Network Usage (01:08:16) Ethereum vs. Solana Capacity (01:09:16) Solana's Usage Claims (01:10:05) Decentralized Exchanges Dream (01:11:08) Transaction Fee Debate (01:12:00) Governance and Decision Making (01:18:16) Bitcoin's Current Capacity Issues (01:23:01) Market Routing Around Bitcoin (01:25:09) Discussion on Blockchain Mechanisms (01:26:07) Chain Identity and Tickers (01:26:18) Proof of Work and User Distribution (01:27:04) Market Cap vs. Proof of Work (01:27:27) Bitcoin's Dominance Decline (01:27:56) Bitcoin's Usage on Social Media (01:28:14) Limitations of Bitcoin's Transactions (01:28:41) Layer Two Solutions and Adoption (01:29:02) Philosophy vs. Engineering Arguments (01:30:08) Sustainability of Bitcoin's Security (01:31:06) Comparing User Bases of Different Blockchains (01:32:04) Conceding Market Position (01:33:29) Utility of Bitcoin (01:34:05) Effects of Fee Spikes (01:34:26) Concerns Over Bitcoin's Security Budget (01:36:50) Hash Rate vs. Security (01:37:30) Measuring Bitcoin Security (01:39:25) Discussion on Mining Security (01:41:51) Mining Dynamics Explained (01:42:46) Proof of Work vs. Proof of Stake (01:44:09) Trustless Staking and Smart Contracts (01:45:40) Ethereum's Data Availability Concerns (01:46:04) Critique of Layer Two Solutions (01:47:03) Solana's Reliability Issues (01:48:30) Bitcoin's Shutdown History (01:49:03) Centralization in Blockchain (01:50:12) Trustless vs. Trust-minimized Systems (01:51:18) Technology Comparison: Bitcoin vs. Others (01:52:53) Decentralization in Governance (01:56:46) Governance and Centralization (01:57:48) Transaction Capacity Debate (01:58:54) Utility of Other Chains (02:00:26) Decentralized Exchanges (02:01:22) Debate Tactics (02:02:58) Sustained Use Cases (02:05:01) Reality of Blockchain Usage (02:09:05) Skepticism in Metrics (02:12:45) On-chain Metrics and User Engagement (02:13:50) Bitcoin's Dominance and Future Predictions (02:14:44) User Experience in Cryptocurrency (02:19:31) Impact of Institutional Adoption (02:25:29) Technological Innovations in Blockchain (02:28:41) Consensus Mechanisms and Shards (02:29:56) Human Politics in Blockchain (02:30:06) Decentralization and Majority Rules (02:30:50) Scaling and Blockchain Security (02:31:20) Investing in Blockchain Projects (02:32:06) Bitcoin's Future and Market Position (02:34:02) Technological Evolution and Adoption (02:36:58) Liquidity versus Technology (02:37:17) Bitcoin's First Mover Advantage (02:41:00) Utility and Speculation in Crypto (02:43:33) Speculation on Bitcoin's Future (02:44:48) Demographic Challenges in Bitcoin (02:45:23) Market Solutions for Scaling (02:46:43) Comparing Ethereum and Bitcoin Approaches (02:47:32) Developer Trust in Bitcoin (02:48:21) Double Standards in Blockchain Evaluation (02:49:10) Historical Fairness of Cryptocurrency Launches (02:50:30) Unique Aspects of Bitcoin's Founding (02:52:36) Ethereum's ICO and Fair Distribution (02:54:15) Scalability of Multiple Chains (02:56:08) Reality of Blockchain User Activity (02:56:51) Bitcoin's Technological Evolution (02:59:26) Technological Breakthroughs Debate (03:00:02) Archaic Technology Argument (03:00:48) Security and Economic Activity (03:01:19) Investor Comfort Levels (03:02:44) Competition in the Market (03:03:56) Faith in Bitcoin (03:05:02) Historical Critiques of Bitcoin (03:05:45) Bitcoin's Market Dominance (03:06:14) Comparative Technology Failures (03:07:12) Security Questions (03:12:35) On-Chain Governance Debate (03:15:30) Discussion on Tornado Cash and Cryptography (03:16:52) Bitcoin's Capacity Debate (03:17:02) Layer Two Critique (03:18:59) Extension Blocks Proposal (03:19:39) Governance Through Hard Forks (03:20:42) Decentralization and Soft Forks (03:23:19) Reality of Centralization (03:24:42) Break Announcement (03:25:31) Security of Bitcoin Network (03:30:31) Blocksize Debate Reflection (03:31:47) Personal Experiences in Crypto (03:32:27) Discussion on BIP 101 Support (03:33:08) Transaction Fees and Security (03:34:04) Peter Todd's Perspective (03:35:08) Current Fee Status (03:36:16) Litecoin's Market Position (03:38:00) Scaling Bitcoin (03:39:04) Decentralization and Community (03:40:05) Defining Bitcoin's Failure (03:41:33) Bitcoin's Value Proposition (03:43:22) Comparing Bitcoin and Other Chains (03:44:24) Future of Bitcoin's Market Position (03:47:12) Security and Market Cap Relationship (03:48:37) Bitcoin's Niche and Future Viability (03:49:39) Bitcoin's Authority and Centralization (03:50:34) Economic Security in Altcoins (03:51:03) Resilience of Bitcoin Developers (03:51:24) Political Attacks on Blockchains (03:52:04) Community and Technology Disconnect (03:56:29) Scalability and Mass Adoption (03:57:12) Optimizing Bitcoin's Codebase (03:59:13) Bitcoin's Security and Future (04:03:15) The Evolution of Decentralization and Use Cases (04:06:49) Subjectivity of Value and Technology (04:08:05) Bitcoin's Identity Crisis (04:09:04) Community Dynamics in Bitcoin (04:10:19) Cycles in Bitcoin Adoption (04:11:20) The Role of Crisis in Bitcoin's Evolution (04:12:22) Transaction Fees and Usability Concerns (04:13:00) Scaling Solutions and Lightning Network (04:14:03) User Experience Testing with Wallets (04:14:33) Lightning Network Transaction Experiment (04:19:00) Inter-Wallet Transactions (04:21:00) UX Maximalism in Wallet Design (04:23:46) Bitcoin Node Experience (04:23:53) Trust Trade-offs in Watchtower (04:24:25) Evaluating Layer 2 Solutions (04:24:48) Capital Inefficiency of Lightning (04:26:03) Scaling Bitcoin vs. Layer 2 (04:27:05) User Experience with Phoenix Wallet (04:27:36) Hypothetical Scaling Discussion (04:28:06) Cypherpunk Ideology (04:28:34) Value of Diverse Perspectives (04:29:32) Importance of Content Creation (04:30:10) Reality of Bitcoin Governance (04:32:28) Acknowledging Centralization Issues (04:33:11) Following Justin Bonds (04:33:58) Long-term Commitment to Bitcoin (04:35:15) Excitement for Future Developments (04:36:09) Magic Word for Listeners (04:37:09)

Peter Todd is known for being brutally honest: so when it comes to topics such as covenant soft forks, monetary inflation, Bitcoin scaling & privacy, he won't hold back from being critical while expressing his love for the Lightning network. Time stamps: Introducing Peter Todd (00:00:41) Full RBF Discussion (00:01:56) Free Relay Attack Insights (00:04:05) Economic Incentives for Miners (00:05:00) Tail Emission Proposal (00:06:43) Critique of Fixed Supply Beliefs (00:08:43) Litecoin, Dogecoin & Tail Emission (00:11:30) Covenants in Bitcoin (00:13:21) Covenants and Lightning Network (00:14:21) Transaction Cycling Attack in Lightning (00:16:02) State of the Lightning Network (00:17:11) Discussions on ZK Rollups (00:18:55) Concerns Over Changing Incentives (00:19:26) Objections to ZK Rollups (00:20:21) Drivechains and Politics (00:22:05) Risks of Miner Politics (00:23:56) Hashrate Decentralization Debate (00:24:01) Prediction Markets and Decentralization (00:26:25) Covenants and Drivechains (00:27:08) Covenants vs. CTV (00:28:33) Cashu and Lightning Network (00:29:50) BitVM and Sidechains (00:31:46) Excitement About Lightning (00:33:02) Critique of Fee-Free Transactions (00:34:20) Peter Todd & John Dillon (00:36:13) Open Timestamps in 2023 Guatemala Presidential Elections (00:37:41) Voting Fraud Evidence (00:39:51) Timestamping the Internet Archive (00:42:33) Non-Scammy Cryptocurrencies (00:45:30) Mimble Wimble Extension Block (00:47:57) The Future of Bitcoin (00:49:05) Peter's Current Projects and Funding (00:51:02)

What's next for Wasabi Wallet after ZK Snacks shut down the biggest CoinJoin coordinator? Lucas Ontivero & Turbolay, the two developers who still maintain the code, are positive that the project will grow even bigger than before! So when is 3.0 coming? Time stamps: Introduction (00:00:42) Maintaining Wasabi (00:02:25) Decentralization and New Features (00:07:10) Community Takeover and Comparison with Samurai Wallet (00:10:55) Adapting to New Paradigm (00:15:25) Why Choose Wasabi? (00:20:57) The anonymity and privacy features of Wasabi (00:21:56) Government running a Wasabi coordinator? (00:23:27) Underrated features of Wasabi (00:24:38) Automatic coin selector and advanced coin selection workflow (00:27:37) Concerns and criticisms about Wasabi (00:29:38) Address reuse and privacy risks in Wasabi (00:32:30) Integrating Wasabi with external services (00:39:15) The daemon integration (00:42:43) Decentralization of Coinjoins (00:44:24) Liquidity and coordinator updates (00:47:49) Coordinator connection and discovery (00:50:42) Coordinator fees and user protections (00:56:10) Motivation for working on Wasabi (01:02:46) Lucas Ontivero's Challenges (01:04:29) Project Commitment (01:06:49) Community Support (01:09:52) Privacy in Bitcoin (01:13:30) Future Solutions (01:15:59) Regulatory Concerns (01:17:32) Maintaining Wasabi (01:21:32) Hardware Wallet Compatibility (01:25:35) Community Support and Future Plans (01:26:40) Technical Control and Graphical Interface (01:27:23) Acknowledgments and Sponsorship (01:28:39) Following the Contributors (01:30:10) Importance of Wasabi for Bitcoin Privacy (01:31:17)

Bitcoin Uncensored co-host Chris DeRose makes his fourth appearance on the Bitcoin Takeover podcast! This time around, he dislikes the English language, hates materialism, and wouldn't even accept a free Supra! Three former BU guests join the reunion. Time Stamps: The reunion of Bitcoin Uncensored (00:00:27) Influential moments and early guests (00:01:43) Introduction and background of Chris DeRose (00:02:33) Discussion about Perry Ann Boring (00:03:19) Reflection on blockchain and decentralization (00:08:19) Nostalgia for the early days of Bitcoin (00:13:23) Controversies and impact of interviews (00:15:11) Reflection on podcast quality and fun (00:19:34) Cultural shifts (00:21:48) Cancel Culture (00:23:08) American Banker Conference 2015 (00:23:43) Confidence in Bitcoin (00:25:26) Experts vs elites (00:29:32) Use of Language (00:31:23) Why Chris studies Hebrew now (00:38:41) The French Revolution (00:42:17) Bitcoin miners (00:48:04) Learning from History (00:51:47) On Truth (01:00:29) Rare Pepe and Cryptocurrency Collections (01:04:35) Interest in Bitcoin History (01:05:28) Reactions to Assets Built on Bitcoin (01:05:59) Formation of Cults and Coalitions (01:06:38) Bitcoin's Future and Politics (01:10:36) Decentralization and Future Projections (01:16:04) Language, Politics, and Bitcoin (01:22:17) Bitcoin's Trajectory and Sociopolitical Influence (01:24:22) The simulacrum of crypto (01:25:28) Prediction of US politics (01:27:40) Reflections on political figures (01:28:38) Discussion on Bitcoin's success (01:36:05) Reassessing the future of crypto (01:43:31) Satoshi's Roundtable (01:47:13) Responding to Outrage (01:47:58) Audience Questions (01:49:08) Reflections on OneCoin and Hex (01:51:57) Observations on Richard Heart (01:52:23) Martin Skrelli and Trump Coin (02:00:07) Florida's Future and Climate Concerns (02:05:52) The insurance and mortgage challenge (02:07:28) Birthday wishes to Jay Berg (02:08:47) Miami's changing culture (02:09:29) Book recommendations (02:13:28) Debate and empathy (02:19:33) Bitcoin maximalism and affinity scams (02:26:13) Ethereum as a scam (02:28:34) The cop psychopathic bitcoin (02:29:37) Financial perspective and indexing (02:30:38) Podcast invitations and reputation (02:31:22) Persistence in podcasting (02:32:43) Darknet markets and cryptocurrency use (02:33:39) Responsibility for promoting scams (02:34:50) Life after Bitcoin and changing perspectives (02:40:02) Supra cycle and rejecting materialism (02:44:09) Future of hygienic models for Bitcoin (02:50:45) The privilege of having access to better education (02:51:49) Bitcoin development and governance model (02:54:36) Morality of number go up (02:56:49) Influence and agenda of Blockstream (02:59:49) Facing online harassment and bad faith environment (03:06:09) Impact of Bitcoin Uncensored (03:11:54) The couch conversation (03:14:41) Private conversations (03:15:30) Disappointment and disillusionment (03:16:28) Simulacrum and performative behavior (03:18:21) Challenges of communication (03:22:19) Political systems and skepticism (03:27:45) Monarchy vs. democracy (03:30:13) Character assassination in democracy (03:33:02) Fracturing of the States (03:35:31) The mafias in the US (03:36:24) Travel visa challenges (03:37:01) Systemic corruption and rules (03:39:00)

Sergio Demian Lerner is the architect of Rootstock, Bitcoin's first sidechain. Recently, he became interested in BitVM as an instrument to create trust-minimized sidechains. So he optimized the design & created BitVMX! Introduction Sergio... again! (00:00:31) Evolution of BitVM (00:02:18) Improvements in BitVM X (00:13:26) Trust-minimized Computing (00:17:11) The politics of Bitcoin software (00:18:34) Decentralization and financial inclusion (00:20:06) Miners' role in supporting sidechains (00:20:55) Sidechain vs. Layer Two (00:22:09) Comparison between Rootstock and Liquid (00:24:44) Technical aspects of BitVM X (00:28:11) Integration of Ethereum innovations into Bitcoin (00:30:44) Contributing to the Bitcoin ecosystem (00:34:03) Bitcoin Culture and Price Dynamics (00:34:05) Innovation and Staying Ahead (00:36:10) Failure and Disruption (00:37:21) Competition and Lightning Network (00:39:36) Bitcoin Layers and Ecosystem (00:43:18) Rootstock Wallets and Multichain Integration (00:44:28) Side Chains and Bitcoin Miners (00:45:41) Blind Merge Mining and Fast Side Chains (00:48:10) The development of lightweight sidechains (00:49:42) Implementing Drivechains with BitVMX (00:50:50) Proposed blockchain structure and limitations (00:51:31) Comparing development approaches (00:53:18) Encouraging BitVMX community contributions (00:54:31) Addressing conspiracy theories about Rootstock (01:00:12) Skepticism about identity projects on blockchain (01:03:07) Live demo plans and promoting Rootstock (01:04:30) NFTs on Rootstock (01:05:43) Parallel Transaction Processing Engine (01:07:10) Prediction for Bitcoin Soft Forks (01:08:08) Debate on Bitcoin Upgrades (01:09:56) Challenges of Bitcoin Improvement (01:12:24) Conclusion (01:13:20)

What are the Bitcoin projects that suck? In this episode, Super Testnet & Shinobi point out to lots of suboptimal features in CoinJoins, Lightning Network, Nostr, BitVM, and Bitcoin development itself. It's fun, it's educational & it's brutally honest! Time stamps: Introducing Shinobi & Super Testnet (00:00:00) Recording at Paralelni Polis (00:01:06) Why Taproot Sucks (00:01:49) Lightning Network (00:05:06) Wasabi Wallet (00:08:19) Nostr Social Media (00:16:15) Cryptographic Key Management (00:17:09) Cryptography Misconceptions (00:18:19) Nostr's Lack of Key Management (00:21:01) Proposed Solutions for Key Management (00:21:47) Criticism of SeedSigner (00:24:21) Alternative ESP32 Hardware Wallets (00:28:23) LNBits and Iterative Improvements (00:28:50) Drivechain Debate (00:30:04) Random Ordering for Sidechains to Prevent MEV (00:34:42) The timestamp's title (time it starts) Drivechains and Miners (00:34:45) Drivechains and Memes (00:38:12) Core Lightning and Plugin Issues (00:39:02) Bitcoin Rollups & The Unilateral Exit Issue (00:42:04) RGB vs ZK Rollups (00:44:25) Samourai Wallet Criticisms (00:52:25) BitVM and Expensiveness (00:57:42) JoinMarket Limitations and Criticism (01:01:59) Non-Bitcoin Projects Dumping Data on the Blockchain (01:05:05) Block Digest Reboot? (01:07:33) Bitcoin Advocacy and Criticism (01:09:09)

F/Dev, also known as 1440000bytes or simply "Floppy", is an open source developer best known for his work on Joinstr: a CoinJoin implementation for Electrum wallet. In this episode, he talks about Bitcoin privacy & his new job at LayerTwo Labs. Time stamps: Mr. Floppy's Work on CoinJoin (00:01:31) Discusses the implementation of CoinJoin feature in Electrum wallet and the challenges faced. Differences in CoinJoin Protocols (00:04:02) User Reception and Usage of CoinJoin (00:06:35) Challenges and Social Dynamics in Bitcoin Community (00:11:45) State of Lightning Network (00:22:06) Mr. Floppy's Employment at LayerTwo Labs (00:18:22) LayerTwo Labs and Lightning Network Critique (00:21:23) Client Protections (00:29:26) Custodial Wallet Risks (00:30:41) Custodial Wallet Misconceptions (00:32:07) CoinJoin and Scaling (00:33:42) Privacy and Custody (00:35:13) Zero Knowledge Proofs (00:37:44) Soft Forks and Bitcoin Upgrades (00:41:44) Bitcoin Culture and Development (00:44:26) Bitcoin Upgrades and Soft Forks (00:54:29) Soft Fork Preferences (00:57:57) Quantum Resistance and Covenants (01:00:09) Custodial Wallets and Adoption (01:02:20) Bitcoin Privacy Tools (01:04:57) Confidentiality and Fungibility (01:08:04) Running a Full Node (01:15:08) Node Politicization (01:18:21) Bitcoin's Evolution and Narrative (01:21:42) Custodial and Non-Custodial Solutions (01:24:01) Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Community (01:26:02) Bitcoin Community Dynamics (01:28:50) Freedom of Expression (01:33:57) Litecoin and HODL Culture (01:34:18) Centralization in Bitcoin Development (01:40:58) Scaling with Drivechains (01:43:51) Influencers and Opinions (01:47:51) Future Work and Contact Information (01:49:28)

Rijndael is the CTO of Taproot Wizards – a group of bitcoiners who want to make Bitcoin magical. In this interview, he talks about why OP_CAT matters and what kind of features we should expect to see in Bitcoin once a covenant soft fork gets activated. Taproot Wizards and Bitcoin Magic (00:01:53) Memes as Tools for Bitcoin Advancement (00:03:20) Discussion on Taproot Wizards' Intentions (00:03:47) Rijndael's Background and Work (00:06:38) Discussion on BitKey Hardware Wallet (00:09:12) Statechains and Drivechains (00:20:06) Layer Two Labs and Paul Sztorc’s Message (00:26:03) Taproot Wizards Funding Accusations (00:28:16) Cryptography and Scaling (00:31:53) Stark Proofs and Scalability (00:33:06) Layer Two Solutions (00:36:33) Bitcoin's Evolution (00:38:51) Lightning Network (00:42:21) Is Stacks a Layer Two? (00:47:39) Future of Liquid and Lightning (00:49:41) Lightning Network and Liquid (00:50:35) Ordinals and Flywheel Effect (00:52:13) Non-Custodial Lending and Trading (00:53:17) Covenant Proposals and Bitcoin Upgrades (00:57:54) CAT Opcode and Bitcoin Development (00:59:32) OP_CAT Activation and Community Perception (01:03:25) Ocean Mining and Network Control (01:09:25) Bitcoin Purifier and Transaction Rejection (01:12:55) Bitcoin Development and Narrative Control (01:15:36) Casey and Runes (01:16:19) Simplicity and Protocol Design (01:17:19) User-Friendly Implementation of Runes (01:20:11) Use Cases and Challenges of Ordinals (01:22:34) Great Script Restoration and Controversy (01:24:26) Ordinal Inscriptions and Scarcity (01:27:21) Future Projects and Layer Twos (01:30:25) Taproot Wizards' Presence and Conference Participation (01:36:55) Addressing Critics of Taproot and SegWit (01:38:04) Data Embedding in Bitcoin Transactions (01:38:42) The Cat Chain vs. Dog Chain (01:41:10) Setting Up a Live Stream (01:43:00) Following Taproot Wizards on Twitter (01:44:25) I International Travel and Visa Issues (01:45:07) “Reagan Dial” (01:46:20) Final Remarks and Invitation to Follow Taproot Wizards (01:46:48)

Pete Rizzo is a veteran Bitcoin journalist who still remembers the time when Bitcoin & crypto were the same undivided community. In this episode, he talks about why Bitcoin history matters & how he approaches journalism. Time stamps: Bitcoin's Historical Significance (00:00:48) Bitcoin's Emergence and Pete Rizzo's Journey (00:02:09) Challenges in Understanding Bitcoin's History (00:03:40) Bitcoin's Ever-Changing Nature (00:05:24) The Importance of Contextualizing Bitcoin's History (00:08:12) The Battle Over Bitcoin's History (00:13:47) Acknowledging Contributions and Controversies (00:18:04) The fork wars (00:21:16) Eric Voorhees' perspective (00:23:19) Preserving and accessing primary materials (00:24:14) Bitcoin maximalism and libertarianism (00:26:58) Roger Ver's book on Bitcoin Cash (00:34:36) The imposition of ideologies on Bitcoin (00:41:52) Inconsistencies in Bitcoin ideology (00:42:31) Actions and intentions of Bitfinex and Tether (00:42:57) Perception of anti-crypto sentiment (00:45:38) Berlin Wall analogy and Bitcoin culture (00:46:28) Consensus and alignment within Bitcoin culture (00:50:27) Emergence of new monoculture in Bitcoin (00:59:45) Complexities of Bitcoin sociology (01:00:45) Luke Dashjr and individualist perspectives in Bitcoin (01:02:02) Luke's Defense (01:02:49) Radicalization and Forking (01:03:49) Bitcoin's Future (01:04:37) Mining and Ideology (01:05:22) Bitcoin Maximalism (01:05:56) Scaling and Culture (01:06:44) Bitcoin Users and Ideology (01:07:47) Culture and Goodness (01:08:44) Influence of Bitcoin Uncensored (01:15:19) Bitcoin Maximalism Thesis (01:19:05) Future of Bitcoin Maximalism (01:21:01) The Bitcoin Takeover Podcast (01:22:41) Casey Rodarmor and the Ordinals Protocol (01:23:29) Bitcoin Art and Ordinals Protocol (01:24:26) Layered Structure of Toxicity in Crypto (01:27:16) Early Bitcoin Maximalists and Influential Figures (01:31:22) Bitcoin as Technology vs. Ethereum as Culture (01:32:13) Influence of Amir Taaki and Mircea Popescu (01:38:06) Legacy of Mircea and Anti-Development Culture (01:42:09) Acknowledging Mircea Popescu's Contributions (01:43:31) Bitcoin and Economics (01:44:22) Eric Voskuil and Crypto Economics (01:45:29) Decentralization and Alternate Implementations (01:46:20) Bitcoin's Role in the Crypto Market (01:48:02) Tribalism and Political Impact (01:50:30) Negative Political Action and Bitcoin (01:51:37) Closing Remarks and Appreciation (01:53:16)

Crypsi is the representative of an art collective which expresses its anti-establishment ideas through physical paintings & collages, as well as digitally tokenized ideas. In this episode, he explains why memes are art & why memecoins matter. Time stamps: Bitcoin Art Collective's Origin (00:01:39) Evolution of Crypto Art (00:03:19) Role of Art in Bitcoin Revolution (00:12:21) Intersection of Memes and Art (00:13:28) Importance of Privacy in Bitcoin Art (00:18:15) Debate on Bitcoin Art and NFTs (00:25:37) Bitcoin's Evolution (00:27:06) Art and Bitcoin (00:28:07) Challenges in Bitcoin Art (00:29:23) Crypto Art Movement (00:30:21) Art in Crypto Community (00:35:22) NFTs and Bitcoin (00:38:38) Bitcoin Adoption and Challenges (00:42:10) Crypto Art Tokens (00:44:07) Bitcoin Maximalism and Multi-Chain (00:51:39) The multichain future (00:52:28) The meme coin collective (00:53:10) Exploring alternative chains (00:55:37) The role of crypto art in promoting ideas (00:59:14) Educating about Bitcoin's original ideals (01:00:01) Cypherpunk ideology and Bitcoin's mission (01:04:54) Promotion of Bitcoin-related products (01:09:27) Embracing sovereignty and freedom (01:15:39) The history of securing Bitcoin (01:16:32) Balancing security and accessibility (01:17:35) The evolving landscape of crypto art (01:19:17) The rise of meme coins and NFTs (01:20:18) Challenges with the younger generation (01:25:22) The distribution of crypto tokens (01:28:17) Promoting Bitcoin art and history (01:31:18) Parting thoughts (01:32:25)

Marek Narozniak is a Polish physicist who works on a MimbleWimble implementation that can get added to Bitcoin via extension blocks to become a privacy layer. He also specializes in quantum computing, and busts some FUD about their threat. Time stamps: Introduction to Mimblewimble and Grin (00:00:40) The Privacy Model of Mimblewimble (00:02:07) What is Mimblewimble and Grin? (00:03:47) Scalability and Growth of Grin (00:05:18) Marek's Interest in Grin and Quantum Computing (00:07:16) Challenges and Funding of Grin Development (00:13:36) CoinJoin on Bitcoin (00:15:41) CoinJoin and Privacy in Mimblewimble (00:16:49) The Relevance of Mimblewimble and Grin to Bitcoin (00:22:18) Bitcoin Philosophy (00:24:15) Scalability and Design of Grin (00:25:37) Compatibility with Bitcoin (00:27:31) Quantum Computing and Bitcoin (00:38:31) Quantum Resistance in Blockchain Networks (00:45:02) Node Software and Wallet Connectivity (00:46:27) Running a Node and Raspberry Pi (00:47:49) Quantum Computing and Qubits (00:50:02) Quantum Computers and Bitcoin (00:52:07) Bitcoin and Cryptography (00:52:42) Bitcoin and Investment (00:56:01) Bitcoin Adoption and Use Cases (00:57:31) Polish Bitcoin Association and Government Perception (01:02:46) Government Digital Signature and Privacy (01:04:32) Privacy and Bitcoin (01:05:44)

Back in 2014, Eli Ben-Sasson co-authored the Zerocash paper, which proposed a ZK SNARK system that creates anonymous Bitcoin payments. Around the same time, he also spoke about the compression benefits of zero-knowledge proofs – a full Bitcoin node can be synced within seconds just by verifying against a valid proof. More recently, he became interested in STARKs and built a company around this cryptographic breakthrough. If SNARKs require a trusted setup, then STARKs are a major leap towards trust minimization. If Bitcoin activates the OP_CAT soft fork, then this ZK rollup scheme also becomes possible to enable great privacy and low-sized transactions. Time stamps: Introduction to the Podcast (00:00:35)
 What is a Zero-Knowledge Proof? (00:02:03)
 Vision for Bitcoin Node Synchronization (00:04:09)
 Current State of Zero-Knowledge Proofs (00:05:44)
 Challenges in Implementing Zero-Knowledge Proofs (00:06:38)
 Importance of OP_CAT Opcode (00:09:19)
 Comparison of OP_CAT and OP_CTV (00:12:04)
 Differences Between SNARKs and STARKs (00:13:13)
 Popularity of SNARKs and STARKs (00:17:47)
 Ellie's Journey to Starkware (00:19:52)
 The Future of Zcash (00:23:50)
 The Importance of Zcash Ceremony (00:24:17)
 User Experience Challenges with Zcash (00:24:38)
 Impact of Zcash on Zero-Knowledge Proofs (00:26:13)
 Scaling Solutions: Sidechains vs. Rollups (00:27:03)
 Stark Technology as a Gold Standard (00:27:20)
 Quantum Computing Threats to Bitcoin (00:29:19)
 Proactive Measures Against Quantum Threats (00:31:55)
 Benefits of Starks Beyond Quantum Security (00:32:25)
 Resurgence of the Block Size Debate (00:33:34)
 Future of Bitcoin with Starks (00:34:15)
 Cultural Shift in Bitcoin Development (00:35:12)
 Data Availability in Blockchains (00:37:02)
 Scalability Solutions and State Differences (00:40:34)
 Founding Starkware: Joy and Challenges (00:42:33)
 Drivechain and Stark Integration (00:46:02)
 Efficient Operations for STARKs (00:47:02)
 Bitcoin's Conservative Approach (00:48:22)
 Integration with Bitcoin (00:49:55)
 User Experience with STARKs (00:51:00)
 Understanding Starkware and Starknet (00:53:43)
 Starknet's Features and Capabilities (00:54:49)
 Opportunities for Bitcoin Enthusiasts (00:56:11)
 Potential Collaboration with Elizabeth Stark (00:58:56)
 The Future of STARKs (01:01:20)
 Following Starknet and Starkware (01:04:29)


OpenDelta is a synthetic dollar (stablecoin) that's built on top of Bitcoin's newly-launched Runes protocol. In this episode, co-founders Nick Schteringart & Konstantin Wünscher discuss about how and why they built this.

MWEB was activated on Litecoin's main net in 2022, providing a useful mix of privacy and scalability. It's a fascinating soft fork that's 100% compatible with Bitcoin. In this episode, Charlie Lee explains how MWEB works & why it matters. Time stamps: Introduction to the Episode (00:00:35)
 Bet with Roger Ver (00:01:19)
 Lightning Network Adoption (00:02:49)
 Expectations for Lightning Network (00:04:10)
 Lightning as a Privacy Solution (00:05:11)
 Second Layer Solutions Discussion (00:06:23)
 Block Size and Decentralization (00:08:16)
 Trade-offs in Scaling Solutions (00:10:06)
 Introduction to MWEB (00:11:51)
 Technical Specifications of MWEB (00:14:45)
 Financial Privacy as a Human Right (00:16:46)
 Controversy Surrounding Samurai Wallet (00:18:18)
 Mixing and Privacy in MWEB (00:19:52)
 Confidential Transactions in MWEB (00:20:34)
 Confidential Transactions Explained (00:21:32)
 Mimblewimble's Cut-Through Feature (00:22:55)
 CoinJoin and Privacy (00:24:07)
 Pegging Out from MWEB (00:25:09)
 Exchanges and Privacy Tools (00:28:33) Grin++ Integration with MWEB (00:30:42)
 Fungibility and MWEB (00:32:58)
 Ordinal Theory and MWEB (00:35:14) CoinJoin Implementation Challenges (00:36:40)
 MWEB's Similarities to Grin (00:38:20)
 MWEB's Compatibility with Bitcoin (00:39:38)
 Litecoin's Divergence from Bitcoin (00:40:43)
 Litecoin's Role in Bitcoin Scaling (00:42:05)
 Activation of SegWit and its Impact (00:42:16)
 Public Support for Litecoin (00:43:35)
 Sidechains & Trade-offs (00:44:56) Interest in Drivechains (00:47:47)
 Litecoin's Longevity and Usability (00:49:56)
 Physical Bitcoin Collectibles (00:51:50)
 Self-Custody Solutions (00:55:52)
 Concerns Over Complexity in Custody (00:54:04)
 Future Plans for MWEB (00:58:28) Risks in Privacy Implementations (01:00:00) Future of Litecoin Beyond MWEB (01:01:57)
 Inflation Bug Disclosure (01:03:23)
 Developer Collaboration (01:04:17)
 Open Source Benefits (01:06:08)
 Craig Wright Controversy (01:06:58)
 ETFs and Demand (01:09:25)
 Ethereum's ETF Challenges (01:10:32)
 Staking and ETFs (01:11:20)
 Satoshi Identity Debate (01:12:27)
 Magical Crypto Friends Comeback? (01:13:12)
 Innovation Beyond Bitcoin (01:14:32)
 Multi-Chain Future (01:18:20)

David Bailey is the owner of Bitcoin Magazine. Ideologically, he is a Bitcoin maximalist who wants everything to happen on Bitcoin and get traded for BTC. During this episode, we also mint a special ordinal... which you can buy for 3.125 BTC! Time stamps: Bitcoin Maximalism (00:04:03) Inscribing Ordinal 70326676 on Bitcoin (00:11:57) Criticism and Autonomy in Transactions (00:22:06) RGB Protocol and Color Coins (00:25:42) Bitcoin maximalism and control (00:26:02) OP_CAT and use cases (00:28:12) CTV vs. OP_CAT (00:29:35) Bitcoin fees and self-sovereignty (00:35:32) Scaling and vision alignment (00:42:39) Favorite L2 proposals and Lightning Network (00:47:55) Bitcoin Development and Layer Twos (00:51:41) BitVM and Rootstock (00:52:35) BitVM's Impact and Developer Interest (00:54:21) Layer Two Labs and Bitcoin Unity (00:57:25) Controversy and Character Assassination (01:00:38) Tether and Bitfinex (01:07:36) Liquid and Sidechain Adoption (01:12:36) Permissionless Transactions and Trust Minimization (01:15:20) Maximalist Support for Software They Didn’t Test (01:16:48)
 The Cult of Satoshi (01:21:29)
 Use Cases for Bitcoin (01:22:49)
 The Evolution of Bitcoin Conferences (01:23:57)
 Building a Global Bitcoin Community (01:25:13)
 Importance of Diverse Ideas (01:26:23)
 Hyperbitcoinization Mission (01:27:41)
 Political Dimensions of Conferences (01:28:19)
 Navigating Speaker Boycotts (01:29:24)
 Community Engagement and Perspectives (01:30:10) Maintaining Values in Bitcoin (01:31:12)
 Nature of Bitcoin's Value (01:36:20) Block Size Debate (01:38:22)
 Future of Bitcoin Scaling (01:39:58)
 Understanding Perspectives (01:41:20)
 Shared Cancel Culture Experience (01:42:12) Advocating for Ross Ulbricht (01:43:08)
 Closing Remarks (01:44:06)

Aaron Day has been a bitcoiner since 2012 – and in the aftermath of the scaling wars, he decided to support the big block camp due to ideological reasons. Today, Aaron is concerned that adoption might not catch up with the rise of CBDCs. Time stamps: Aaron Day’s Work (00:00:54) Defining Central Bank Digital Currency (00:02:04) Comparison of CBDC with Existing Banking System (00:03:51) Historical and International Perspectives on Monetary Control (00:08:32) Globalization and CBDCs (00:11:21) Potential for Competition and Surveillance (00:12:31) Dystopian Aspects of CBDC Pilots (00:17:07) Freedom vs. Tyranny in Digital Space (00:19:25) Bitcoin's Role in CBDC Environment (00:22:09) The shift from digital cash to digital gold (00:23:34) The impact of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) (00:24:43) Concerns about Bitcoin's decentralization and scalability (00:25:49) The history and motivations behind Bitcoin development (00:26:54) Challenges in mainstream adoption and perception of Bitcoin (00:27:02) The role of Bitcoin in a changing financial landscape (00:28:03) The narrative shift and its impact on public awareness (00:29:17) Reflection on the impact of the narrative shift in Bitcoin and its implications on public awareness and understanding of cryptocurrency. The potential threat to peer-to-peer commerce (00:30:13) The evolving landscape of cryptocurrency and its implications (00:31:20) The impact of blockchain analysis and privacy concerns (00:32:38) The potential for controlled demolition of the fiat system (00:45:55) The need for mass adoption of peer-to-peer digital currency (00:48:07) Bitcoin's decline in comparison to traditional financial systems (00:49:07) Challenges and limitations of onboarding Bitcoin as cash (00:51:31) The urgency to stop digital tyranny (00:53:25) Comparison of gold, silver, and crypto as mediums of exchange (00:55:10) Considerations for resilient cryptocurrency options (00:57:25) Warning against Bitcoin ETFs and the potential for confiscation (01:02:29) Promotion of self-custody and privacy solutions (01:05:57) Concerns about privacy and blockchain analysis in Bitcoin (01:08:01) The need to stop fiat to prevent CBDC dominance (01:09:46) The government's halt with respect to fiat currency (01:11:13) Awakening and new audience of people (01:12:27) Religious concerns and distrust of CBDCs (01:13:22) Developing parallel economies (01:14:19) Bitcoin Cash as a potential CBDC (01:15:53) Global pursuit of CBDCs (01:17:01) Scalability and decentralization (01:23:33) Privacy and running a node (01:28:00) Challenges with Bitcoin as an alternative to CBDCs (01:30:13) Value proposition of Bitcoin (01:33:11) Bitcoin's Censorship Resistance (01:34:38) Bitcoin's History and Chain Analysis (01:35:44) Legal Liability and Bitcoin Devs (01:36:41) Censorship Resistance and Transaction Validations (01:41:03) Impact of CBDCs on Bitcoin's Usefulness (01:42:25) Bitcoin's Potential and Sidechains (01:45:40) Blockchain Applications and Censorship Resistance (01:48:56) Threat of CBDCs and Digital Tyranny (01:51:33) Short-Term Solution and Self-Custody (01:53:04) Bitcoin's Scalability and CBDC Competition (01:55:36) Advocacy and Resources (01:58:12)

Ray Youssef is the CEO of NoOnes, a P2P marketplace which enables people from the Global South to exchange bitcoin for gift cards or local currencies. As he describes it, NoOnes is the platform where "everyone eats" – meaning that all parties make advantageous trades that help them feed themselves and their families. Consequently, Ray is an advocate of free market money who agrees with Roger Ver on some points. In this episode, he explains what those points are and why he believes Bitcoin was truly hijacked.

Charlie Lee is the creator of Litecoin and the current managing director of the Litecoin Foundation. Some may also remember him as Engineering Director at Coinbase. But very notably, Charlie Lee is one of the earliest believers in the power of the Lightning Network and an investor in Lightning Labs. I've decided to invite Charlie on the Bitcoin Takeover podcast for the third time in order to ask him a simple yet puzzling question: how come Litecoin is still successful and thrives in a world where the Lightning Network exists and offers instant transactions on Bitcoin? Furthermore, I tried to figure out what it is that makes Litecoin successful 13 years on and how it can support Bitcoin with scaling.

Polish bitcoiner & libertarian Tomek Kolodziejczuk is co-organizing the 2nd annual Bitcoin Film Fest. In 2024, the event happens at the same time as the European Halving Party. In this episode, we talk about Bitcoin-related art, the current state of cinema, and why the halving (or halvening?) is such a major event.

Amaury Séchet is the developer who forked Bitcoin to create Bitcoin Cash in August 2017. A year later, he became one of the first people to find out about the inflation bug in Bitcoin – yet he chose to not exploit it and collaborate with the Bitcoin Core devs instead. Deadalnix was also one of the first large blockers to figure out that Craig Wright is not Satoshi. On the other hand, he appears to be a fan of dev taxes. Why did he not destroy Bitcoin? Why do large blockers keep on creating forks? How was Craig Wright exposed among the big blocker circles? In this episode, we learn more about this lesser known part of Bitcoin history.

Adam Soltys is a Canadian bitcoiner, best known for his work on Raretoshi – a marketplace for Liquid network NFTs. Cole is a marketer who likes the Lightning network. Together, they built Coinos: a custodial & newbie-friendly Lightning wallet.

As of 2024, Roger Ver has been in Bitcoin for 7 years and in Bitcoin Cash for 7 years. This episode is a reflection on his journey and an attempt to bring back one of the greatest Bitcoin advocates and entrepreneurs.

Thanks to the efforts of CommerceBlock CEO Nicholas Gregory and CTO Tom Trevethan, Statechains are now a reality on the MercuryLayer. Originally designed by Ruben Somsen, Statechains serve the purpose of transferring ownership of bitcoins in a private, scalable, and affordable environment. However, the original Statechain design requires the ANYPREVOUT soft fork – something Bitcoin didn't get. But thanks to the efforts of Nicholas Gregory and Thomas Trevethan, MercuryLayer works around the limitations to make Statechains happen without the need for a soft fork.

Bryan Bishop is a computer programmer who currently moderates the Bitcoin-dev mailing list and considers a position as BIP editor. In this episode, he talks about his work in Bitcoin, his Webcash experiment, and why he is an advocate of biokaching.

As the CEO of Synonym, John Carvalho has experimented with many Bitcoin layers & protocols – including OmniBolt, Lightning & sidechains. In this episode, he explains what lessons he's learned and why he believes in more conservative ways to scale Bitcoin.

Eric Voskuil is the maintainer of Libbitcoin & the author of Cryptoeconomics. In this episode, he offers details about the Libbitcoin incident that took place in the summer of 2023 and also criticizes some aspects of the cult of Michael Saylor.

Fiatjaf is the creator of Nostr, a decentralized social media protocol which enables everyone around the world to communicate without censorship. Surprisingly, he doesn't agree with some existing Nostr software, no longer likes Lightning & promotes BIP300. Nostr Bitcoin and Lightning (00:00:47) Fiatjaf's creation Nostr, association with Bitcoin, and differing opinions on its development and use. Creation of Nostr (00:01:55) Decentralization and BlueSky (00:07:31) Comparison between Nostr and BlueSky, and the importance of decentralization. Peter Todd's Criticism (00:09:33) Fiatjaf's response to Peter Todd's criticism and the misunderstanding of Nostr's decentralization. Nostr's Popularity and Lightning Criticism (00:15:31) The influence of Jack Dorsey on Nostr's growth and the controversial opinion on Lightning's limitations. The Future of Bitcoin and Lightning (00:20:43) Fiatjaf's skepticism about Lightning as the future of Bitcoin, deferring to Antoine Riard as a reliable source for insights. Challenges of running nodes (00:23:21) The challenges and limitations of running Lightning nodes for normal users and the evolution of the uncle Jim model. Issues with small transactions (00:26:11) The impracticality of sending very small transactions in the Lightning network due to fees and protocol limitations. Difficulties of being a custodian (00:29:21) The challenges and limitations of being a custodian in the Lightning network. Complexities of Lightning protocol (00:34:18) Exploration of the complex features and potential bugs in the Lightning protocol, as well as the challenges of routing and receiving payments. Struggles of managing a routing node (00:36:40) Personal experiences and challenges faced while managing a routing node in the Lightning network. Drivechains for scaling Bitcoin (00:39:29) Discussion on the potential of Drivechains as a solution for scaling Bitcoin, including technical and consensus considerations. Criticism of Drivechains (00:42:12) Concerns regarding Drivechains, including the potential increase in human politics and voting processes. BIP301 and voting concerns (00:43:24) Discussion on the automatic voting process and concerns about adding politics and complexity to the Bitcoin network. Focusing on Future Bitcoiners (00:47:04) BitVM and Roll-Ups (00:53:14) Discussion about the BitVM project and roll-up systems, including skepticism and concerns about its overhyped nature. State of Soft Forks (00:59:22) Conversation about the absence of soft forks and the emergence of workarounds in the Bitcoin space. Liquid and Decentralization (01:02:48) The nature of Liquid as a blockchain and the concerns about its decentralization and reliance on geopolitics for security. The vilification of miners (01:04:31)The narrative shift in Bitcoin, from miners activating changes to users activating with full nodes. Miners' role in soft fork activation (01:05:46) Criticism of Drivechains (01:06:22) Two-way pegs and price (01:08:17) Concerns about the value of pegged BTC on sidechains and potential market fluctuations. Arguments against miner theft from sidechains (01:09:30) Debunking the idea of miners stealing from successful sidechains and its impact on Bitcoin's value. Mining centralization and Drivechains (01:11:52) Miner-extracted value (MEV) and its relevance (01:15:18) Exploration of miner-extracted value (MEV) and its applicability in the Bitcoin context. Accidental hard fork and network cooperation (01:17:13) LayerTwo Labs and Drivechain adoption (01:18:26) Can LayerTwo Labs activate Drivechains & push adoption? Challenges of running Bitcoin nodes (01:21:02) On the difficulty of running Bitcoin nodes and UTXO set management.

Bastien and Baudoin are the creators and main promoters of Satochip: an affordable self-custody solution which makes use of the smart card technology to provide hardware wallet features. In this episode, they explain how Satochip works & why it's unique.

Alexei Zamyatin is an academic cryptographer who works on the Build on Bitcoin projects. His approach to scaling Bitcoin with second layers involves some unconventional methods, which he describes in this interview. Zero Knowledge Proofs and Rollups (00:01:21) Discussion of the development of layer two solutions, including zero knowledge proofs and rollups. Defining BitVM Rollups (00:01:58) Explanation of the debate surrounding the definition of zk rollups and the introduction of the new category of BitVM rollups. Citrea's Approach (00:04:41) Analysis of Citrea's zk optimized BitVM rollup and its approach to sidechains and rollups. Zero Knowledge Proofs and Rollups Explained (00:05:26) Explanation of the concepts of zero knowledge proofs and rollups in the context of layer two solutions. Comparison of Rollups and Sidechains (00:12:41) Comparison of sidechains and zk rollups, discussing their differences and promises. The Vision of Build on Bitcoin (00:18:48) Discussion of the problems to be solved in the development of layer two solutions and the vision of the Build on Bitcoin project. EVM: The easiest way to build decentralized applications (00:22:54) Alexei Zamyatin advocates for the ease of building decentralized applications using EVM, while pointing out to the challenges of building infrastructure from scratch. Liquidity and Stablecoins on Rollups (00:23:53) The challenges of bringing stablecoins onto rollups and the dependency on centralized parties for stablecoin provision. Bootstrapping BOB as an ETH Rollup (00:25:47) Alexei xplains the decision to bootstrap BOB as an ETH rollup, inheriting Ethereum security and bridging assets. Pragmatic approach to Bitcoin and Ethereum (00:30:06) Alexei Zamyatin discusses the pragmatic approach to Bitcoin and Ethereum, acknowledging the need to cater to user preferences and solve real-world problems. Building centralized layer on Bitcoin and counterparty models (00:37:03) The trade-offs of building centralized layers on Bitcoin and the limitations of counterparty and other models. Satochip and IVPN ads (00:42:15) Rapid fire presentation of Satochip and IVPN ads. Drivechains proposal and its drawbacks (00:43:20) The Drivechains proposal, its potential usefulness, and the technical details and drawbacks associated with it. Drivechains (00:44:19) Discussion on the activation of drivechains and the need to prove demand for their implementation. Mining and MEV (00:46:29) Exploration of miner extractable value (MEV) and its potential impact on Bitcoin's consensus and mining incentives. Covenants for Bitcoin (00:49:17) The need for covenants in Bitcoin to facilitate the development of sidechains, layer twos, and rollups. Activation Proposals (00:51:06) Debate over the activation of opcode proposals, such as OP_CTV and OP_CAT, and their implications for Bitcoin's development. Following Build on Bitcoin (00:52:47) How to keep up with the Build on Bitcoin project and relevant resources for learning about Bitcoin rollups.

ZK rollups are certainly promising, as they can bring scalability and privacy to Bitcoin. In this episode, Orkun Kilic talks about Citrea: the first protocol to enable ZK rollups on Bitcoin. He explains the advantages, the tradeoffs & why you should use.

Andrew Poelstra is a mathematician who heads the research department at Blockstream. Over the years, he experimented with many Bitcoin OP codes – some of which are also enabled on Liquid. In this episode, he explains why he likes and prefers OP_CAT.

Paul Sztorc returns with a twist: he's talking about sidechains, rollups, BitVM, Lightning, and ever other scaling solution... but can't say the words "Drivechain" or "BIP 300". If he breaks the rule, he must send a Lightning transaction and drink vodka.