S16 E23: James O'Beirne on Bitcoin Development (CTV, CFSF & Big Blocks)

May 1, 2025

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James O'Beirne is a Bitcoin developer who's not afraid to support unpopular improvement proposals: recently, he spoke about increasing the block size on the stage of OP_NEXT. He also works on CTV & CSFS, and tends to favor technical data over clout. Time stamps: 00:00:52 - Introducing James O'Beirne 00:02:00 - James O'Beirne's Current Bitcoin Core Contributions (CTV/CSFS) 00:02:55 - Shared Motivations and Concerns About Bitcoin Scaling & Financialization 00:05:24 - Discussing New Opcodes (CTV, CSFS, CAT) and MEV Risk 00:06:45 - OP_CAT: Existing Implementations, Unknown Unknowns, and Layer 2 Scaling Needs 00:08:26 - Ordinals Controversy, Permissionless Transactions, and Miner Security Budget 00:11:11 - Security Budget Concerns and Potential Miner Manipulation Risks 00:13:48 - Fee Smoothing (CTV) and Doubts About MEV's Relevance to Bitcoin 00:15:13 - Exploring Citrea, ZK Rollups, and Trustless DeFi on Bitcoin 00:19:08 - Bitcoin's Disintermediation Goal vs. Custodial Layer 2 Solutions 00:20:50 - Starkware Airdrop, GitHub Censorship Claims, and Ordinals Filtering Debate 00:25:03 - Analyzing Luke Dash Jr., Ocean Pool, and Blockstream's Influence 00:29:57 - Blockstream's History, Funding, and Impact on Bitcoin Scaling Debate 00:33:37 - Evaluating SegWit/Taproot Complexity vs. Current Soft Fork Hurdles 00:37:23 - Discussing BIP 300 Drivechains: Concept, Implementation, and Potential 00:40:40 - Re-evaluating the Case for Bigger Bitcoin Blocks 00:44:20 - Block Size Increase Mechanisms (Soft Forks) and Future Demand Scenarios 00:48:05 - Privacy Solutions: MimbleWimble, ZK-SNARKs, and Learning from Other Chains 00:53:19 - Ignoring Real-World Usage: The Danger of Bitcoin Maximalist Echo Chambers 00:57:45 - Sponsor Message: Sideshift.ai 00:59:11 - Block Size War Fallout and the Risk of Institutional Capture 01:01:51 - Bitcoin's Future: Potential Capture vs. Seeding Future Alternatives 01:03:34 - Necessary Hard Forks vs. Closing Window for Desirable Soft Forks 01:07:35 - The Evolution of Covenant Proposals: From CTV to OP_Vault and Back 01:18:03 - Comparing Activation Prospects: CTV/CSFS vs. OP_CAT 01:20:40 - Sponsor Messages: Bitcoin.com News, NoOnes.com, Hodling.ch 01:24:27 - CTV Explained: Functionality, Use Cases (Vaults, L2s, DLCs), and Simplicity 01:27:47 - Layer 2 Unilateral Exit Problem and CTV's Congestion Control Solution 01:33:21 - CTV's Benefits for Lightning, Programmability, and Miner Revenue 01:37:30 - Will CTV/CSFS Bring Users Back? Bitcoin vs. Solana/Ethereum Niches 01:41:19 - The Security Budget Problem, On-Chain Culture, and Tail Emission Debate 01:45:40 - High Fees Fallacy, Ivory Tower Mentality, and Being Bought Off 01:49:37 - Self-Custody Challenges, Developer Frustration, and the Politics of Bitcoin Core 01:54:18 - Bitcoin as Religion/Politics, Core Developer Motivations, and Tail Emission Revisited 01:58:40 - BIP 42, Tail Emission as Inflation, and the 21 Million Cap Dilemma 02:02:21 - Analyzing the Roger Ver Case and Political Persecution in Crypto 02:10:31 - Deconstructing the "Never Sell Bitcoin" Meme and Collateralized Loans 02:13:32 - James O'Beirne's 10-Year Bitcoin Prediction (Post-CTV/CSFS) 02:17:34 - Reception to James's Big Blocks Talk at OP_Next 02:19:06 - Learning from Bitcoin Cash: Big Blocks and Covenant Implementations 02:22:33 - James O'Beirne's Current Work and Where to Follow Him 02:23:38 - Closing Remarks and Sponsor Plugs