Dave Hudson: Insights from the Data Mine and Other Adventures Around the Block

Bitcoin mining and the intricate game theory that surround it is a topic that we’ve visited many times. Difficult to grasp in its complexity, it is these dynamics that determine the security of Bitcoin in the short and in the longer term. This time we were joined by none other than Dave Hudson. He is the author of the leading mining blog hashingit.com, VP of Software at PeerNova and had a long career in chip manufacturing including at Qualcomm.

We talked about dynamics in the mining market, security issues with Bitcoin’s design and his data-informed views on the blocksize debate.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How he became interested in mining and what metrics he finds most interesting
• How miners would be affected by a blocksize increase
• The flaws in Satoshi’s design of the reward scheme
• Why transaction fees will not make up for the block reward decrease in 2016 and why that will lessen the security of Bitcoin
• The long-term role of Bitcoin as a settlement network
• The problem with accepting 0-conf transactions
• The future of mining and why 21 Inc’s plans seem nonsensical

Episode links:

• Dave's Personal Blog
• Waiting for blocks
• The Myth of the Megabyte Bitcoin Block
• The Future of Transactions Fees
• Bitcoin SF Devs Seminar: A deep dive into understanding Bitcoin mining hashrates
• Dave's company PeerNova

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/090