Stephan Livera Podcast

Walt Smith of cyber.fund discusses Miner Extractable Value (MEV) on Bitcoin, exploring centralization concerns, 10-minute block time impact, and mining pool transparency. The conversation covers MEV potential, Bitcoin's expressivity, and fake L2 solutions. Touching on MEV's influence on miner centralization, the discussion provides insights on Bitcoin's utility and potential developments in the ecosystem.

Bitcoin privacy and usability advocates Josibake and Ruben Somsen delve into Silent Payments - a new method for improving privacy in Bitcoin transactions. They discuss the concept of static addresses, contrast with BIP47, light client support, stopping address re-use, and base layer privacy. The conversation also covers the development, testing, and user experience of Silent Payments, highlighting its benefits for enhancing privacy and usability in Bitcoin transactions.

Skot, creator of Bitaxe, discusses the current state of open source in bitcoin mining, Bitaxe overview, setting up a miner, mining pools, and decentralization. They explore challenges in Bitcoin mining decentralization, security devices, and the ideological appeal of decentralized mining projects.

Bitcoin expert Rusty Russell discusses a new idea for a Bitcoin soft fork aimed at increasing functionality and efficiency. Topics include Bitcoin Script background, GSR overview, GSR benefits, varops, contrast with APO or LNHANCE, and the potential impact on shitcoins and spam.

Dan Gould from the PayJoin Dev Kit talks about enhancing Bitcoin privacy through PayJoin adoption, wallet consolidation, and fee savings. They explore the benefits, downsides, and changes of PayJoin, as well as its integration into different bitcoin wallets for improved privacy and efficiency.

Adam Sullivan, CEO of Core Scientific, discusses Core Scientific's journey through bankruptcy, the role of capital structure in mining, centralization of mining pools, fee dynamics, and the 2025 outlook on mining. Topics include debt financing, managing risks, Bitcoin hardware security, mining landscape evolution, offshore tax planning, and government regulations in Bitcoin network.

Rapha Zagury, CIO of Swan and Head of Swan Mining discusses Bitcoin Mining, Capital Structure, and insights on speaking to TradFi professionals. Topics include Brazil's flooding, community resilience, mining operations, hardware wallets for security, pool selection strategies, navigating mining volatility, and unlocking capital for mining success.

Brandon Black (aka reardencode), Bitcoin developer, discusses recent covenant proposals and the shift in Bitcoin developer thought post Bitcoin++ conference. Topics include covenant proposals, Great Script Restoration, potential side effects, and the importance of good engineering in Bitcoin development.

Miljan, co-founder of Primal and advocate for Nostr, discusses why Bitcoiners shouldn't overlook Nostr, the network effects for creators and devs, dealing with spam and sybil, and the killer feature of openness. The conversation dives into the bullish outlook on Nostr, user experience, and the benefits of a decentralized network for content creators.

Peruvian Bull, a macro writer, explores Japan's economic challenges, government debt, JPY carry trade, and impact on the US financial system. They discuss the impossible trinity, Bank of Japan's struggles, and potential scenarios for the world's reserve currency system. The conversation also covers Bitcoin hardware security, offline key creation, mempool enterprise benefits, reassessing investment strategies, financial repression, asset diversification, and Bitcoin's potential as a global reserve asset.