CoinDesk Podcast Network BITCOIN SEASON 2: Why Filters Are Playing Into The Fed's Hands w/ Fluffypony
Oct 8, 2025
Riccardo Spagni, known as Fluffypony, is the former lead maintainer of Monero and an expert in privacy and cryptocurrency. He tackles the Bitcoin filter debate, paralleling it to past blocksize wars, and explains why filtering often leads to censorship. Spagni delves into the nuances of node consensus and critiqued WorldCoin's influence. He also discusses the future of Bitcoin privacy, advocating for long-lived channels and the role of stablecoins in AI-driven commerce. Riccardo's insights on the evolving landscape of crypto are both critical and thought-provoking.
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How Trying To Break Bitcoin Built A Career
- Riccardo Spagni described his early years trying to break Bitcoin by Sybil-attacking nodes and learning the protocol's resilience.
- That failure turned him into a longtime contributor and miner who built OpenRigs and later led Monero maintenance.
Miners Don't Value All Nodes Equally
- Miners prioritize low-latency block propagation to other miners, not full public node coverage.
- That incentive makes many public nodes second-class from a consensus perspective.
One Honest Peer Is Enough
- A Bitcoin node only needs one honest peer to learn the correct blockchain and valid transactions.
- That design makes peer-level transaction withholding effectively impossible long-term.