Mr. M Podcast | Maurizio Pedrazzoli Grazioli Adam Back: Don’t Worry About Bitcoin!
Nov 14, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Adam Back, a cryptographer and prominent Bitcoin developer, shares his insights on recent Bitcoin spam issues. He emphasizes the necessity of consensus for protocol changes and the importance of sound technical solutions. Adam warns against hasty modifications that could jeopardize user funds. He explains Bitcoin's inherent defenses against spam, touches on the challenges of decentralized filtering, and addresses the cyclical nature of spam waves. A thought-provoking dive into the complexities of Bitcoin governance and security!
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Decentralization Makes Censorship Hard
- Bitcoin's network resists censorship by design because it's decentralized and permissionless.
- Even if many nodes filter traffic, transactions still flow through other peers and miners.
Economic Limits Curb Spam
- Bitcoin's limited block size, proof-of-work cost, and dynamic fees naturally limit spam.
- High fee markets make sustained spam uneconomic because real transactions are compact and cheaper per value transferred.
No Central Place To Filter Spam
- Filtering spam on Bitcoin is harder than email because there's no central server or client layer to enforce policies.
- The less restrictive policy tends to win in peer-to-peer networks because traffic routes through nodes with permissive views.