#173 – Nic Carter: Bitcoin Core Values, Layered Scaling, and Blocksize Debates

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Apr 1, 2021

Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures and co-founder of CoinMetrics, dives deep into Bitcoin's philosophical underpinnings. He explores the complexities of Bitcoin mining and the ongoing block size debate, emphasizing decentralized leadership's strengths. The conversation covers the intricacies of scaling Bitcoin, the transformative power of empathetic discourse, and the potential future value of Bitcoin. Carter balances the light-hearted world of meme coins with serious discussions on the legitimate place of Bitcoin in modern finance.

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INSIGHT

Limits of Human Understanding

Human understanding of reality is inherently limited and subjective.
True knowledge is less attainable than economics suggests, making systems unpredictable.

INSIGHT

Dollar System Complexity

The dollar system's complexity makes it difficult to fully understand, even for experts.
Long-term consequences of monetary policy are unknown, leading to uncertainty.

INSIGHT

Dual Nature of Bitcoin

Bitcoin has a dual meaning: a value transfer protocol and a monetary unit.
It embodies specific values like non-discretionary monetary policy.

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Grokking Bitcoin

Kalle Rosenbaum

Grokking Bitcoin is an approachable book that explores Bitcoin's groundbreaking technology, explaining how it works, its uses, and why it is trusted. The book covers topics such as Bitcoin transactions, blockchain, mining, and wallets, making complex concepts accessible through clear explanations and illustrations.

Bitcoin Clarity

The Complete Beginner's Guide to Understanding Bitcoin

Kiara Bickers

Bitcoin Clarity is designed to help readers grasp Bitcoin beyond its price fluctuations. It uses mental models to explain Bitcoin's fundamentals and its properties as a currency, allowing readers to compare it with other cryptocurrencies. The book is accompanied by a training program for those seeking more in-depth knowledge.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency technologies

A Comprehensive Introduction

Arvind Narayanan

This book provides a detailed overview of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, covering topics such as decentralization, mining, security, anonymity, and regulation. It offers both conceptual and practical foundations for understanding and working with these technologies. The book is suitable for students, developers, entrepreneurs, and researchers in computer science.

On the Block Size War

Jonathan Beer

Layered Money

Nick Batia

Inventing Bitcoin

No disponible

Adolfo Contreras

No disponible

The Blocksize War

Jonathan Bierman

The Blocksize War chronicles the intense conflict within the Bitcoin community that began in 2015 over the issue of increasing the block size limit. The book delves into the technical, political, and philosophical aspects of this debate, highlighting key figures such as Mike Hearn and Gavin Andresen who proposed increasing the block size to 8 MB. It explores how this debate split the community, led to the creation of Bitcoin XT and later Bitcoin Cash, and discusses the broader implications for the decentralization and scalability of Bitcoin[1][2][3].

Mastering Bitcoin

Andreas M. Antonopoulos

Mastering Bitcoin provides a detailed introduction to bitcoin and its underlying blockchain technology. The book is designed for various audiences, including non-technical users, investors, business executives, and professional developers. It covers topics such as the technical operation of bitcoin, cryptographic currencies, the decentralized network, transaction lifecycle, security principles, and new developments like Segregated Witness and the Lightning Network. The book uses user stories, analogies, examples, and code snippets to illustrate key technical concepts, making it a valuable resource for anyone interested in decentralized digital money and blockchain technology.

The Three-Body Problem

None

Cixin Liu

Cixin Liu's 'The Three-Body Problem' is a critically acclaimed science fiction novel that blends hard science with compelling storytelling. The story follows a group of scientists who make contact with an alien civilization, leading to unforeseen consequences for humanity. Liu's intricate world-building and exploration of complex scientific and philosophical themes have earned him widespread recognition. The novel is known for its ambitious scope and its exploration of the potential challenges and dangers of encountering extraterrestrial life. It's a thought-provoking work that has captivated readers worldwide.

The bitcoin standard

Saifedean Ammous

The Bitcoin Standard analyzes the historical context to the rise of Bitcoin, the economic properties that have allowed it to grow quickly, and its likely economic, political, and social implications. The book takes the reader on an engaging journey through the history of technologies performing the functions of money, from primitive systems to modern government debt. It explains the operation of Bitcoin as a decentralized, distributed piece of software that converts electricity and processing power into indisputably accurate records, allowing users to perform traditional monetary functions without relying on authorities or physical infrastructure. The book also explores common questions surrounding Bitcoin and its potential as a store of value and a network for final settlement of large payments, challenging government monopolies and offering a vision of money extricated from politics and borders.

Nic Carter is a financial researcher, investor, writer, and podcaster on topics of decentralized finance. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
– The Information: https://theinformation.com/lex to get 75% off first month
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– Blinkist: https://blinkist.com/lex and use code LEX to get 25% off premium

EPISODE LINKS:
Nic’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/nic__carter
Nic’s Website: https://niccarter.info/
Nic’s Blog: https://medium.com/@nic__carter
Nic’s Podcast: https://onthebrink-podcast.com/

PODCAST INFO:
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SUPPORT & CONNECT:
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(13:05) – Can humans fully understand reality?
(15:34) – The dollar system
(21:44) – Bitcoin
(23:19) – Opendime
(27:22) – Core values of Bitcoin
(35:51) – Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
(41:39) – How Bitcoin works
(50:02) – Bitcoin blocksize wars
(1:02:27) – Layered scaling of Bitcoin
(1:07:25) – Lightning network
(1:10:25) – Schnorr/Taproot update to Bitcoin
(1:15:17) – Criticisms of Bitcoin
(1:25:04) – Bitcoin failure modes
(1:33:07) – Bitcoin vs Ethereum
(1:37:03) – Vitalik Buterin
(1:39:56) – Creative destruction
(1:44:51) – Future of Bitcoin
(1:48:38) – Tesla, Elon Musk, and Dogecoin
(1:56:44) – NFTs
(2:04:00) – Bitcoin maximalism
(2:10:37) – On writing
(2:16:37) – Writing a book on Bitcoin
(2:21:07) – Bitcoin resources
(2:23:57) – Book recommendations
(2:25:56) – Advice for young people
(2:29:13) – Meaning of life