S16 E39: Karl Kreder (Dr. K) on Scaling Proof of Work, Bitcoin & Quai

Aug 18, 2025

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Karl Kreder, better known as Dr. K, is best known in the space for researching the use of merged-mined subnets to scale Proof of Work in 2018 – a concept which led to the launch of the Quai Network, which introduced the Proof of Entropy Minima (PoEM) consensus for high transaction throughput within a decentralized environment. Today, we talk about his views on Bitcoin, why Proof of Work is still relevant in a world that's converging towards the more convenient Proof of Stake, and how the Quai Network works. Time stamps: 00:00 Intro & Welcome 00:03:00 Discussion Length Challenge 00:04:00 Dr. K's Bitcoin Background 00:06:00 Wallet Security & Lattice1 00:08:00 Scaling PoW Networks 00:11:00 PoW vs PoS Debate 00:13:00 Fair Launch & Distribution Issues 00:15:00 Quai Launch & Hash Rate 00:17:00 GPU Mining & ProgPow 00:20:00 ASIC Manufacturers 00:23:00 NiceHash & AI Integration 00:26:00 Quai Network Inspiration 00:29:00 Electronic Cash Necessity 00:32:00 Quai Scale to Replace Visa 00:34:00 Decentralization & No Roadmap 00:38:00 LayerTwo Labs Ad & DriveChains 00:40:00 Hierarchy for Validation 00:42:00 Payment Platforms Limits 00:44:00 Scale Beyond Current L1s 00:46:00 Monetary History & Gold 00:50:00 Self-Custody Challenges 00:52:00 Kaspa Differences & DAG 00:54:00 Bitcoin Love & Improvements 00:56:00 BSV Technical Limits 00:58:00 Consensus as Limit 01:00:00 Wolfram Physics Project 01:02:00 Scale Analogy & Consensus 01:04:00 Quai Node Hardware 01:06:00 Systemically Important Nodes 01:08:00 Bitcoin Privacy Issues 01:11:00 CoinJoin & Deniability 01:13:00 Good vs Bad Nodes 01:15:00 Economic Surplus Incentives 01:16:00 Bitcoin.com News Ad 01:19:00 Government as Enemy 01:21:00 Digital Paths & Freedom 01:23:00 Bitcoin as Linux & Tribalism 01:25:00 Legit Coins Assessment 01:26:00 EVM Compatibility Reasons 01:34:00 Why Choose EVM 01:35:00 Programming Languages 01:37:00 Simplicity Language 01:38:00 EVM as Standard 01:40:00 Bitcoin Changes Proposal 01:42:00 Quai Mainnet Visualization 01:45:00 Sharding Coordination 01:46:00 PoEM Consensus Mechanism 01:49:00 Chain Work & Withholding 01:52:00 Work Shares Explained 01:54:00 Miner Shard Choice & Balance 01:57:00 Privacy in Sharding 01:59:00 Settlement Time Trade-Off 02:00:00 Ethereum Usage Stats 02:03:00 Qi Token & Energy Dollar 02:12:00 Quai Deflationary Supply 02:16:00 Qi Privacy Properties 02:24:00 Node Incentives & Markets 02:27:00 Kipper Tipping App 02:31:00 Blip Pay Wallet Demo 02:40:00 EVM Big Deal 02:43:00 Quai Launch Reception 02:47:00 Industry Reviews 02:49:00 PoW Sampling Theory 03:02:00 Kipper Demo 03:07:00 Multiplatform Kipper 03:12:00 Qi Denominations & Pruning 03:14:00 Messaging via Qi 03:15:00 PWAs Advantages 03:19:00 Neo PoW Explained 03:21:00 Data Provider Agnostic 03:23:00 Transaction Propagation 03:26:00 Global TPS Demand 03:28:00 Interchange Integration 03:31:00 Direct Crypto POS 03:33:00 Node Requirements in Sharding 03:35:00 Kaspa Attention Reasons 03:38:00 ASIC Future in Quai 03:41:00 Trilemma & Tetralemma 03:43:00 Hierarchy Trade-Offs 03:47:00 Security Notes 03:50:00 Resource Markets 03:52:00 Quantum Resistance 03:57:00 Work Shares Uses 04:00:00 Decentralized Pools (Dools) 04:02:00 Quai Simplicity 04:07:00 Tree Chains Comparison 04:09:00 Homogeneous Security 04:10:00 Vitalik Story 04:18:00 Qi Details 04:24:00 Dool Mechanics 04:27:00 Work Shares Info 04:29:00 2000 Viewers Milestone 04:29:00 Magic Word 04:31:00 Monero Reorgs & Qubic 04:34:00 Transaction Censorship 04:37:00 Red Balloon Problem 04:38:00 Selfish Mining 04:42:00 Liquidity Arc 04:44:00 Culture Challenge 04:46:00 Regional Trends 04:48:00 State Bloat vs Consensus 04:51:00 Storage Scaling 04:54:00 Propagation Time 04:56:00 400ms Lower Bound 04:58:00 Interplanetary Transactions 05:00:00 Reference Resolution 05:05:00 Propagation & Consensus 05:07:00 Independent Samples 05:08:00 Price Pump 05:10:00 Ideology & Tech 05:11:00 Bitcoin Scaling Limits 05:12:00 Gold as PoW 05:14:00 Self-Custody 05:17:00 Yield & MSTR 05:20:00 Pandemic Inflation 05:22:00 Dollar Future 05:24:00 Bitcoin Heterodoxy 05:25:00 Maximalism 05:29:00 Cult Dynamics 05:30:00 Mises & Rothbard 05:32:00 Roger Ver 05:36:00 Saylor Infiltration 05:37:00 Memes & Philosophies 05:38:00 Leader Emergence 05:39:00 CIA Speculation 05:40:00 Who is Satoshi? 05:41:00 Code Quality 05:42:00 Burning Keys 05:43:00 Martti Malmi Insights 05:44:00 Satoshi Is Not NSA 05:45:00 21m Is Arbitrary 05:46:00 Early Changes 05:47:00 Block Size Temp 05:48:00 Economics Assumptions 05:49:00 Satoshi Scaling 05:52:00 Tech Optimism 05:53:00 Industry Honesty 05:56:00 Sharding Complexity 05:57:00 PoW Scalability 05:58:00 Consensus Efficiency 05:59:00 Sharding Compat 06:00:00 Memes as Rhetoric 06:02:00 Hoskinson Cult 06:03:00 Fake Engagement 06:04:00 Steam Adoption 06:07:00 Overstock & Patrick Byrne 06:10:00 Design Philosophy 06:11:00 Frustrated Devs 06:12:00 Talent Exodus 06:14:00 Follow Dr. K 06:15:00 Message to Yonatan 06:16:00 Quai vs Kaspa 06:17:00 Closing Remarks