Bitcoin Takeover Podcast

Max Hillebrand makes his 8th appearance on the Bitcoin Takeover Podcast in order to talk about his latest project: White Noise, a private messaging application for Nostr. We also talk about Core v30 vs Knots, Bitcoin layer 2s & other bull market topics. Time stamps: 00:01:07 - Max Hillebrand's Background 00:02:47 - Post-Wasabi Wallet Era and Privacy Challenges 00:04:28 - Nostr Protocol Overview 00:05:58 - Early Nostr Experiences and Key Loss 00:08:51 - Nostr Client Progress and Edge Cases 00:09:58 - Nostr's Relation to Bitcoin 00:13:53 - Hardware Wallets for Nostr Keys 00:18:06 - Nostr Key Backups and Security 00:21:53 - Nostr Search and Web of Trust 00:24:21 - Ads: Bitcoin.com News and NoOnes.com 00:26:12 - White Noise Protocol Introduction 00:27:52 - NIP 44 and Gift Wraps for Encryption 00:30:20 - Signal Protocol and MLS Evolution 00:32:16 - MLS Protocol Details 00:33:23 - Nostr Privacy Limitations 00:35:17 - Trusted Relays and Metadata 00:37:25 - Nostr as Data Delivery Layer 00:38:41 - Self-Authentication in MLS 00:40:02 - Group Creation and Key Packages 00:42:38 - MLS vs. Major League Soccer Joke 00:42:53 - Diffie-Hellman and Scaling to Millions 00:44:24 - MLS Key Tree Structure 00:46:59 - Scalability Benefits of MLS 01:18:00 - Marmot and Nostr Tools 01:25:30 - The Zcash Pump Dance 03:09:25 - Angor Protocol for Recurring Payments 03:14:02 - Bitcoin Script and Smart Contracts 03:15:32 - Great Script Restoration Proposal 03:21:03 - Builder Spirit in Bitcoin vs. Ethereum 03:25:19 - Bills of Exchange and Peer-to-Peer Credit 03:33:09 - Historical Finance and Farming 03:38:35 - Starting Bitcoin Meetups 03:41:43 - Localizing Bitcoin Content 03:44:17 - Recommended Podcasts 03:47:48 - Podcast Benefits and Guest Interactions 03:54:39 - Audience Quality and Impact 03:55:36 - White Noise Future and Building Freedom Tech 03:58:51 - AI Coding and Proof of Concepts 04:00:38 - Nym Mixnet Integration 04:01:54 - Closing Remarks and Future Sessions

Back in 2013, former WWE Intercontinental Champion Val Venis bought 24 bitcoins for $80 each. Today, he is a big advocate for freedom, privacy, and the right to benefit from the product of your own labor without extortion. In this episode, we talk about libertarianism, his love for private internet money, and his WWE stories. Time stamps: 00:00:00 - Intro: Val Venis Entrance & Attitude Era Reflections 00:01:51 - Hello Biological Ladies: Modern PC Culture & Twitter Feuds 00:02:46 - Wrestling Eras: From Attitude to Ruthless Aggression & PG Shift 00:03:30 - Political Outspokenness: Why No Hall of Fame Yet? 00:04:35 - Importance of Politics: Social & Financial Impacts on Society 00:05:13 - Val Venis Character: Porn Star Gimmick Ahead of Its Time 00:05:36 - Right to Censor Storyline: Mocking the PTC & Censorship Trends 00:09:51 - Libertarian Roots: Pro-Free Speech Evolution in Wrestling 00:10:03 - Early Political Views: From Socialist Leanings to Awakening 00:11:32 - Tax Trauma at 17: First Encounter with Government Overreach 00:15:13 - Taxation as Immoral: Due Process Failures & Slanted Courts 00:18:45 - Wikipedia Misrepresentation: Beyond Cannabis Advocacy 00:20:02 - Cannabis as Rebellion: Fighting Malum Prohibitum Laws 00:24:24 - Privacy Coins & Freedom: Using Cannabis to Push Liberty 00:30:05 - Slanted Courts & Tyranny: Presumptions Over Facts in Taxation 00:33:30 - Discovering Bitcoin: From Federal Reserve Critique to White Paper 00:35:12 - Money as Bankers' Tool: Inflation as Value Theft via Fiat 00:38:00 - Bitcoin's Appeal: Decentralized, Fixed Supply & Cryptography 00:41:47 - Pizza Purchase Milestone: Bootstrapping Bitcoin to Fiat 00:43:57 - First Bitcoin Buy: 24 BTC in 2013 at ~$80 Each 00:47:48 - Bitcoin as Speculation vs. Fiat Alternative 00:49:38 - Wrestling & Bitcoin Parallels: Value Creation & Sovereignty 01:20:00 - Monero & Privacy: Evading Surveillance in Transactions 01:45:00 - Roger Ver Case: Libertarian Views on Tax Evasion & Justice 02:10:00 - Wrestling Highlights: Val Venis in Video Games & Stats 02:48:00 - Mount Rushmore: Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold, The Rock 03:00:00 - Chris Benoit's Legacy: Wrestling Prowess Despite Tragedy 03:15:00 - Shawn Michaels Character Shift: From Annoying to Faithful 03:30:00 - Undertaker's Success: Vince's Protection & Longevity 03:45:00 - Triple H: Business Savvy Over In-Ring Dominance 04:00:00 - Hall of Fame Hopes: Focus on Liberty Over Induction 04:10:00 - One Last Match: vs. Cody Rhodes for Cancel Culture Feud 04:18:07 - Induction Choice: Vince McMahon or Vince Russo 04:20:19 - Bridging Communities: Bitcoin in Wrestling & Fan Demands 04:25:40 - Storyline Ideas: Libertarian Manager & Bitcoin Matches 04:30:20 - Closing: Social Media, Zcash Wallet Setup & Privacy Push

Shai Wyborski is one of the three co-authors of the GHOSTDAG paper, and a man who takes pride in his independent thinking and divergent approach to research. As a PhD in quantum cryptography, he's got lots of knowledge to share. But by virtue of his involvement in Bitcoin and Kaspa, he's got stories to tell too. What does the future of Proof of Work look like? Let's find out! Time stamps: 00:01:09 - Welcoming Shai Wyborski 00:01:28 - Dig into GhostDAG; most interesting PoW scaling tech. 00:04:44 - Shai's BTC opinions over time 00:05:21 - How Shai spent BTC on "creativity fuel" (undisclosed). 00:06:31 - Disenchantment: Steam drops BTC (congestion/volatility); SegWit "tyranny" births BCH. 00:10:47 - Rejects SoV; BTC as "decentralized vault" for eternal data archiving. 00:15:44 - BTC probs: Low TPS; LN fails. 00:16:15 - Kaspa suite: Beyond TPS/confirmations. 00:16:59 - Tradeoff: High throughput → no audit; pruning for 10-30yr trust. 00:18:40 - GhostDAG multi-ledger: Parallel processing, flexible tx order. 00:19:45 - Miners: Partial info cuts selfish mining/MEV. 00:20:42 - Enables auctions/oracles (Elliot Mabe block-voting). 00:21:40 - Debunks PoW myths: BTC artifacts (congestion for fees). 00:22:15 - Kaspa: Paradigm shift proof; lessons from protocols. 00:23:24 - Flaw: Fast emission + fair launch = whale buyout. 00:23:49 - Fair ≠ community; coercion w/o social contract. 00:25:10 - Whales fund → control; monetary world nature. 00:27:46 - Balance: Incentives, explicit contracts. 00:30:31 - Mining phases: CPU/GPU/ASIC stages; ultra-ASIC decen lock. 00:32:22 - ASIC-friendly: Cheap/low-power scale. 00:32:47 - Emission: Heavy early; ASICs 80-90% pre-retail. 00:34:29 - Full supply lifetime; tail short?00:35:28 - BTC emission extend 2-4x for social good. 00:37:27 - Kaspa whales: 3 hold 6% ($100M), foundation collusion. 00:38:27 - Kaspa emission: 60% in 1.5yrs emulates BTC adjusted for fast adoption. 00:41:16 - Guitar jam & sponsors.SideShift.ai: KYC-free swaps. NoOnes.com: P2P global south, "lions" mission. Bitcoin.com News: global views. LayerTwo Labs: Drivechains, ETH/Zcash sides. 00:46:49 - Kaspa drivechain?; WBTC custody risks. 00:48:33 - Citrea: ZK-rollup BTC DeFi. 00:49:27 - Alts: Quai grant, Kadena parallels. 00:50:47 - Parallel sec dilution. 00:52:03 - Quai: Selfish mining fixes, Monero 28% vuln. 00:53:01 - Monero RandomX ASIC-hostility. 00:54:02 - PoW specialized non-wasteful. 01:00:00 - Myths: Scalable, non-congested, decentralization. 01:15:00 - Casino stifles ingenuity; hype vs depth (IOTA rush). 01:30:00 - Funding: Retail quick vs VC long (Mobileye 20yr $80B). 01:45:00 - Game theory: Mechanism design incentives. 02:00:00 - Kaspa risks: Whale control, docs issues. 07:00:00 - Music: Beatles Sgt. Pepper post-Pet Sounds. 07:15:00 - McCartney bass; prog Floyd/Crimson.07:30:00 - Pet Sounds "God Only Knows" acapella. 07:43:02 - Pop→exp; Helter Skelter metal. 07:45:36 - Metal thrash/extreme; stoner Pantheon I. 07:47:41 - HS Pantera/prog/funk.07:49:51 - Concerts: Aristocrats, AC/DC; Dylan regret. 07:52:39 - Misses: Jethro Tull/Motörhead; Bon Jovi meh. 07:55:16 - Grunge: Nirvana In Utero, Soundgarden. 07:58:11 - Smashing Pumpkins trilogy; Corgan drama. 08:00:00 - Timeless tees; Doors sloppy; Zep Moby Dick. 08:02:40 - Zappa Inca Roads/Stink-Foot. 08:07:19 - AI scans/drones; govt bans. 08:12:08 - Radical: Vault, SoV, ultra-ASIC. 08:14:02 - PoW scalable/non-wasteful.08:15:00 - Fair vs community; casino timing punish. 08:17:40 - Narratives over fundamentals; retail vs VC. 08:21:07 - Record 8h21m+; ramble praise. 08:21:50 - Q&A: Kaspa 10yr alive, adapt. 08:22:24 - Beatles Kaspa? Pruning no. 08:23:44 - Game theory mechanism design. 08:26:09 - Work: Consulting, patents, Tectonic quantum.08:29:23 - Quai edu grant, freelance. 08:31:17 - KAS +3% pump; past dumps. 08:31:58 - Quai minor pump; negative effects. 08:33:34 - First interview 0.15→0.5¢; 13 KAS dons. 08:34:21 - Jam: Theme rock, lag. 08:38:07 8h39m record! Sponsors recap. 08:40:00 - Next interview with Val Venis on Monero/WWF; banter.

Abdel is a Starkware engineer who, over the last 7 years, went from building EIP 1559 on Ethereum to becoming a Bitcoin maximalist who wants ZK STARKs to happen. In this episode, we talk about his journey & some of Bitcoin's cultural issues. Time stamps: 00:00:59 - Sponsors: Sideshift, Citrea, Bitcoin.com News, LayerTwo Labs, NoOnes.com 00:01:38 - Abdel's unique journey: From Ethereum core dev at ConsenSys to Bitcoin maximalism 00:02:17 - Early Bitcoin curiosity (2011-2012) vs Ethereum's "world computer" appeal 00:03:51 - Fintech background: Working for banks before fighting them 00:04:31 - Always a Bitcoin + Ethereum maxi: Building unstoppable systems 00:06:07 - North Star vs "Nostr": Unstoppable vs compromised systems 00:06:23 - Fintech to DeFi? Payments focus, not advanced trading 00:07:29 - First Ethereum contributions: Smart contracts 00:09:09 - Deep dive: Championing EIP-1559 (fee burn, ultrasound money) 00:11:03 - EIP-1559's governance risks: Changing monetary policy on the fly 00:11:16 - Ethereum's slippery slopes: DAO hard fork to fee burns 00:12:12 - Ethereum as anti-Bitcoin experiment: From colored coins to rollups 00:13:48 - Ethereum Classic hopes; market follows narratives, not fixed supply 00:14:28 - EIP-1559 process: 2+ years of debate vs Bitcoin's immutability 00:15:59 - Boiling frog with Vitalik: Accumulating compromises (trusted setups) 00:18:28 - Ethereum precedents: Premine, PoS migration, rushed upgrades 00:19:14 - Social layer strength: Protects core principles vs nation-states 00:19:41 - Non-tech users in governance: Better than dev-only control 00:22:32 - Educating the social layer: Privacy warnings in Bitcoin tools 00:24:26 - Risks: Bitcoin (tech obsolescence) vs Ethereum (social dilution) 00:26:49 - Bitcoin meetups: Ideology & tech vs Ethereum's builder focus 00:28:00 - Shocking anti-Bitcoin sentiment from Ethereum side 00:29:52 - PoW beauty: External entropy, fair distribution (not Ponzi) 00:31:44 - PoW vs PoS: Tolerating Ethereum's PoS for decentralization 00:34:20 - Bitcoin's privacy crisis: Needs scale + affordability 00:36:43 - Sponsor: Layer2 Labs (Drivechains for sidechains like Zcash fork) 00:38:02 - Sponsor: Citrea (ZK rollup on Bitcoin via BitVM2) 00:40:09 - Citrea drama: Unfair criticism amid filter wars 00:42:40 - Citrea vs Alpen: First-to-market wins (garbled circuits delay) 00:46:01 - Video game analogy: Duke Nukem Forever vs pragmatic launches 00:47:25 - Lesson from Ethereum: Optimistic rollups dominate despite ZK superiority 00:48:56 - Dev events vs mainstream: Bridging tech narratives to plebs 01:10:00 - Fragmentation in Bitcoin community, why plebs dismiss innovation 02:30:00 - Off-topic: Immigration in Europe (Romania/France parallels, economic pressures) 02:38:16 - Bitcoin as catalyst: Inflation from crises drives adoption 02:39:46 - Decentralization as development sign: Small-scale consensus 02:42:11 - New chains start centralized; trust incentives lacking in L2s 02:44:41 - Starkware as bridge to Bitcoin: Pre-existing interest 02:45:57 - Elevator pitch: STARK proofs for Bitcoin (open-source, battle-tested) 02:48:21 - Endgame: Verify STARKs on Bitcoin for programmability + privacy 02:49:52 - Meme magic: One STARK proof is smaller in size than a photo, costs less than a Big Mac, can be verified in a blink 02:52:29 - STARKs vs SNARKs: No trusted setup, quantum-secure, hash-based 02:54:31 - Experiments: Cashu with STARKs (private programmable e-cash) 02:58:37 - Nostr DVMS: Verifiable AI/services in permissionless marketplace 03:01:16 - Cashu origin story: Bar chat with Calle to Jack Dorsey endorsement 03:03:16 - Cashu honesty: Not scaling, but privacy bridge vs custodians 03:06:25 - Nihilism in Bitcoin: Mental gymnastics vs Ethereum's build-first ethos 03:07:48 - Permission culture: Asking nodes for ZK proofs/Lightning channels 03:08:27 - Event split: Dev confs (BTC++) vs narrative fests (BTC Prague) 03:10:29 - Why invest without understanding? Newbie wave acceleration 03:11:23 - Niche value: In-between content bridges extremes 03:13:48 - Who listens matters: Robin Linus' DM is more important than mass views 03:16:07 - Still early days: 16 years in, aim for 1B daily users 03:16:39 - Special word: "Grinta" (grit mindset) for full listeners 03:18:14 - Outro: Thanks & next: Shai on PoW improvements

Vikrant Sharma, better known as Vik, is the CEO and founder of Cake Wallet: the first Bitcoin wallet to support both Silent Payments and PayJoins. In this episode, we talk about the wallet's Monero roots & what is next in terms of features. Time stamps: 00:01:05 - Introducing Vik 00:01:24 - Cake Wallet Features for Bitcoin and Monero 00:03:08 - Background Sync Improvements 00:03:49 - Monero.com Wallet Discussion 00:04:41 - Monero Community Insights 00:05:01 - Privacy in Monero Transactions 00:06:33 - Funding and Revenue Model 00:08:29 - Vik's Background in Steel and Tech 00:10:34 - Discovering Bitcoin and Privacy Apps 00:13:22 - Launching Cakewallet for Monero 00:14:23 - Why Start with Monero Over Bitcoin 00:15:35 - Origin of the Name "Cake Wallet" 00:17:36 - Order of Coins Added to Cake Wallet 00:19:09 - PayJoins and Silent Payments 00:21:11 - Citrea 00:22:34 - Layer 2 Labs and Drivechains 00:24:32 - Silent Payments Address Drama 00:25:35 - Qubic Mining Drama in Monero 00:30:42 - Monero's Resilience to Attacks 00:32:53 - Monero as a Stablecoin 00:33:41 - Use It to Win: Spending vs Hodling 00:36:38 - Treasury Company Plans 00:39:28 - Future of Privacy Coins 00:42:58 - SideShift.ai 00:44:20 - NoOnes.com 00:45:29 - Bitcoin.com News 00:46:37 - Taxes and Privacy Coins 00:48:42 - Layers of Privacy 00:59:00 - Zcash and Privacy Experiments 01:00:36 - Growing the Crypto Space 01:02:44 - Supported Coins: Ethereum 01:06:17 - Litecoin and MWEB Integration 01:08:43 - Dogecoin Addition 01:10:37 - Wownero for Monero Community 01:11:17 - Bitcoin Cash Support in Cake Wallet 01:13:30 - Polygon and Tron for Low Fees 01:15:44 - Nano for Feeless Payments 01:17:00 - Decred and Community Overlap 01:18:14 - Zano and Confidential Assets 01:20:06 - Lightning Network Plans 01:21:46 - Zcash Future Integration 01:23:02 - Cupcake Airgapped Wallet 01:26:00 - Considering Kaspa 01:29:56 - Dash Privacy Debate 01:32:20 - Network Effects and Wallet Choices 01:34:57 - Raven Coin Experiment 01:35:43 - Hiring Developers 01:36:18 - Custom Wallpapers and UI Overhaul 01:37:12 - One Seed for All Wallets 01:38:31 - How Many of the Supported Coins Will Survive? 01:39:46 - Multi-Coin Payment Services 01:40:32 - Pay Invoice Feature 01:42:03 - User Data and Privacy Policy 01:45:49 - Node Data Handling 01:47:04 - Advice on Self-Custody 01:48:17 - Where to Follow Vik and Cake Wallet 01:48:51 - Closing Remarks

Michael Tidwell is the organizer of Tabconf, the longest running Bitcoin technical conference which takes place every year in Atlanta. In this episode, we talk about Bitcoin drama & use a fun roulette game to figure out who's guilty of it. Time stamps: 00:01:09 - Welcome and episode gimmick intro 00:01:30 - Sponsors shoutout 00:01:36 - Bitcoin drama discussion starts 00:03:38 - Bitcoin Core vs Knots debate 00:04:28 - Wheel spin: Blame the plebs 00:06:52 - Egg pick: Solution is "use tabs" 00:07:56 - Adam Back's "use tabs" context from 2017 00:09:09 - Paul Sztorc's role and personality 00:10:52 - Defining "pleb" in Bitcoin culture 00:13:42 - Hodlonaut story and Lightning Torch 00:16:32 - Roger Ver interview drama 00:18:43 - Hijacking Bitcoin book discussion 00:22:58 - Layer 2 Labs sponsor plug and drivechains 00:25:14 - Citrea ZK rollup explanation 00:27:48 - Liquid federation vs true sidechains 00:32:39 - Core vs Knots diffs and risks 00:33:52 - Peter Todd's OP_RETURN proposal 00:34:56 - CSAM fears and cultural debates 00:38:05 - Illicit content already on chain 00:40:54 - Multiple Bitcoin implementations history 00:44:03 - Libbitcoin rewrite and optimizations 00:44:37 - Bitcoin Cash fork and implementations 00:46:42 - Potential hard fork predictions 01:46:05 - MEV in Bitcoin via game example 01:47:57 - Drivechains delay: Blame the spooks 01:50:27 - Solution: Hard fork 01:51:59 - Drivechains on Litecoin pros/cons 01:55:01 - Litecoin as testbed for Bitcoin tech 01:57:59 - Stablecoins on Bitcoin layers 02:00:16 - Lightning Network limitations meme 02:01:35 - Lightning critique and distractions 02:04:49 - Lightning wheel spin: Blame Jack Dorsey 02:07:34 - Solution: Listen to Bitcoin Takeover 02:08:28 - Too many Bitcoin conferences issue 02:10:45 - Early Bitcoin conferences like San Jose 2013 02:13:00 - Craig Wright blame: Roger Ver 02:17:08 - Solution: Sell all your Bitcoin 02:18:24 - Reasons to sell all Bitcoin 02:19:47 - BSV community and Craig Wright claims 02:23:28 - Mental health in Bitcoin and seeking clarity 02:27:23 - Bitcoin's robustness to issues 02:31:26 - Advice for newcomers on understanding Bitcoin 02:32:41 - TabConf plug and history books 02:35:05 - Fortune-telling wrap-up and farewell

Yonatan Sompolinsky is an academic in the field of computer science, best known for his work on the GHOST protocol (Greedy Heaviest Observed Subtree, which was cited in the Ethereum whitepaper) and the way he applied his research to create Kaspa. In this episode, we talk about scaling Proof of Work and why Kaspa might be a worthy contender to process global payments. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Time stamps: 00:01:22 - Debunking rumors: Why some think Yonatan is Satoshi Nakamoto 00:02:52 - Candidates for Satoshi: Charles Hoskinson, Charlie Lee, Zooko, and Alex Chepurnoy 00:03:41 - Alex Chepurnoy as a Satoshi-like figure 00:04:07 - Kaspa overview: DAG structure, no orphaned blocks, generalization of Bitcoin 00:04:55 - Similarities between Kaspa and Bitcoin fundamentals 00:06:12 - Why Kaspa couldn't be built directly on Bitcoin 00:08:05 - Kaspa as generalization of Nakamoto consensus 00:11:55 - Origins of GHOST protocol and early DAG concepts for Bitcoin scaling 00:13:16 - Academic motivation for GHOST and transitioning to computer science 00:13:50 - Turtle pet named Bitcoin 00:15:22 - Increasing block rate in Bitcoin and GHOST protocol 00:16:57 - Meeting Gregory Maxwell and discovering GHOST flaws 00:20:00 - Yonatan's views on drivechains and Bitcoin maximalism 00:20:36 - Defining Bitcoin maximalism: Capital B vs lowercase b 00:23:18 - Satoshi's support for Namecoin and merged mining 00:24:12 - Bitcoin culture in 2013-2018: Opposing other functionalities 00:26:01 - Vitalik's 2014 article on Bitcoin maximalism 00:26:13 - Andrew Poelstra's opposition to other assets on Bitcoin 00:26:38 - Bitcoin culture: Distaste for DeFi, criticism of Ethereum as a scam 00:28:03 - Bitcoin Cash developments: Cash tokens, cash fusion, contracts 00:28:39 - Rejection of Ethereum in Bitcoin circles 00:30:18 - Ethereum's successful PoS transition despite critics 00:35:04 - Ethereum's innovation: From Plasma to ZK rollups, nurturing development 00:37:04 - Stacks protocol and criticism from Luke Dashjr 00:39:02 - Bitcoin culture justifying technical limitations 00:41:01 - Declining Bitcoin adoption as money, rise of altcoins for payments 00:43:02 - Kaspa's aspirations: Merging sound money with DeFi, beyond just payments 00:43:56 - Possibility of tokenized Bitcoin on Kaspa 00:46:30 - Native currency advantage and friction in bridges 00:48:49 - WBTC on Ethereum scale vs Bitcoin L2s 00:53:33 - Quotes: Richard Dawkins on atheism, Milton Friedman on Yap Island money 00:55:44 - Story of Kaspa's messy fair launch in 2021 01:14:08 - Tech demo of Kaspa wallet experience 01:28:45 - Kaspa confirmation times & transaction fees 01:43:26 - GHOST DAG visualizer 01:44:10 - Mining Kaspa 01:55:48 - Data pruning in Kaspa, DAG vs MimbleWimble 02:01:40 - Grin & the fairest launch 02:12:21 - Zcash scaling & ZKP OP code in Kaspa 02:19:50 - Jameson Lopp, cold storage & self custody elitism 02:35:08 - Social recovery 02:41:00 - Amir Taaki, DarkFi & DAO 02:53:10 - Nick Szabo's God Protocols 03:00:00 - Layer twos on Kaspa for DeFi 03:13:09 - How Kaspa's DeFi will resemble Solana 03:24:03 - Centralized exchanges vs DeFi 03:32:05 - The importance of community projects 03:37:00 - DAG KNIGHT and its resilience 03:51:00 - DAG KNIGHT tradeoffs 03:58:18 - Blockchain vs DAG, the bottleneck for Kaspa 04:03:00 - 100 blocks per second? 04:11:43 - Question from Quai's Dr. K 04:17:03 - Doesn't Kaspa require super fast internet? 04:23:10 - Are ASIC miners desirable? 04:33:53 - Why Proof of Work matters 04:35:55 - A short history of Bitcoin mining 04:44:00 - DAG's sequencing 04:49:09 - Phantom GHOST DAG 04:52:47 - Why Kaspa had high inflation initially 04:55:10 - Selfish mining 05:03:00 - K Heavy Hash & other community questions 06:33:20 - Latency settings in DAG KNIGHT for security 06:36:52 - Aviv Zohar's involvement in Kaspa research 06:38:07 - World priced in Kaspa after hyperinflation 06:39:51 - Kaspa's fate intertwined with crypto 06:40:29 - Kaspa contracts vs Solana, why better for banks 06:42:53 - Cohesive developer experience in Kaspa like Solana 06:45:22 - Incorporating ZK design in Kaspa smart contracts 06:47:22 - Heroes: Garry Kasparov 06:48:12 - Shift in attitude from academics like Hoskinson, Buterin, Back 06:53:07 - Adam Back's criticism of Kaspa 06:55:57 - Michael Jordan and LeBron analogy for Bitcoiners' mindset 06:58:02 - Can Kaspa flip Bitcoin in market cap 07:00:34 - Gold and USD market cap comparison 07:06:06 - Collaboration with Kai team 07:10:37 - Community improvement: More context on crypto 07:13:43 - Theoretical maximum TPS for Kaspa 07:16:05 - Full ZK on L1 improvements 07:17:45 - Atomic composability and logic zones in Kaspa 07:23:12 - Sparkle and monolithic UX feel 07:26:00 - Wrapping up: Beating podcast length record, final thoughts on Bitcoin and Kaspa 07:27:31 - Why Yonatan called a scammer despite explanations 07:32:29 - Luke Dashjr's views and disconnect 07:33:01 - Hope for Bitcoin scaling and revolution

Cory Klippsten is the CEO of Swan Bitcoin and has a long history in both traditional finance and the Bitcoin space. In this two-part episode, he talks about why Bitcoin is winning and how the culture around it has changed.

Karl Kreder, better known as Dr. K, is best known in the space for researching the use of merged-mined subnets to scale Proof of Work in 2018 – a concept which led to the launch of the Quai Network, which introduced the Proof of Entropy Minima (PoEM) consensus for high transaction throughput within a decentralized environment. Today, we talk about his views on Bitcoin, why Proof of Work is still relevant in a world that's converging towards the more convenient Proof of Stake, and how the Quai Network works. Time stamps: 00:00 Intro & Welcome 00:03:00 Discussion Length Challenge 00:04:00 Dr. K's Bitcoin Background 00:06:00 Wallet Security & Lattice1 00:08:00 Scaling PoW Networks 00:11:00 PoW vs PoS Debate 00:13:00 Fair Launch & Distribution Issues 00:15:00 Quai Launch & Hash Rate 00:17:00 GPU Mining & ProgPow 00:20:00 ASIC Manufacturers 00:23:00 NiceHash & AI Integration 00:26:00 Quai Network Inspiration 00:29:00 Electronic Cash Necessity 00:32:00 Quai Scale to Replace Visa 00:34:00 Decentralization & No Roadmap 00:38:00 LayerTwo Labs Ad & DriveChains 00:40:00 Hierarchy for Validation 00:42:00 Payment Platforms Limits 00:44:00 Scale Beyond Current L1s 00:46:00 Monetary History & Gold 00:50:00 Self-Custody Challenges 00:52:00 Kaspa Differences & DAG 00:54:00 Bitcoin Love & Improvements 00:56:00 BSV Technical Limits 00:58:00 Consensus as Limit 01:00:00 Wolfram Physics Project 01:02:00 Scale Analogy & Consensus 01:04:00 Quai Node Hardware 01:06:00 Systemically Important Nodes 01:08:00 Bitcoin Privacy Issues 01:11:00 CoinJoin & Deniability 01:13:00 Good vs Bad Nodes 01:15:00 Economic Surplus Incentives 01:16:00 Bitcoin.com News Ad 01:19:00 Government as Enemy 01:21:00 Digital Paths & Freedom 01:23:00 Bitcoin as Linux & Tribalism 01:25:00 Legit Coins Assessment 01:26:00 EVM Compatibility Reasons 01:34:00 Why Choose EVM 01:35:00 Programming Languages 01:37:00 Simplicity Language 01:38:00 EVM as Standard 01:40:00 Bitcoin Changes Proposal 01:42:00 Quai Mainnet Visualization 01:45:00 Sharding Coordination 01:46:00 PoEM Consensus Mechanism 01:49:00 Chain Work & Withholding 01:52:00 Work Shares Explained 01:54:00 Miner Shard Choice & Balance 01:57:00 Privacy in Sharding 01:59:00 Settlement Time Trade-Off 02:00:00 Ethereum Usage Stats 02:03:00 Qi Token & Energy Dollar 02:12:00 Quai Deflationary Supply 02:16:00 Qi Privacy Properties 02:24:00 Node Incentives & Markets 02:27:00 Kipper Tipping App 02:31:00 Blip Pay Wallet Demo 02:40:00 EVM Big Deal 02:43:00 Quai Launch Reception 02:47:00 Industry Reviews 02:49:00 PoW Sampling Theory 03:02:00 Kipper Demo 03:07:00 Multiplatform Kipper 03:12:00 Qi Denominations & Pruning 03:14:00 Messaging via Qi 03:15:00 PWAs Advantages 03:19:00 Neo PoW Explained 03:21:00 Data Provider Agnostic 03:23:00 Transaction Propagation 03:26:00 Global TPS Demand 03:28:00 Interchange Integration 03:31:00 Direct Crypto POS 03:33:00 Node Requirements in Sharding 03:35:00 Kaspa Attention Reasons 03:38:00 ASIC Future in Quai 03:41:00 Trilemma & Tetralemma 03:43:00 Hierarchy Trade-Offs 03:47:00 Security Notes 03:50:00 Resource Markets 03:52:00 Quantum Resistance 03:57:00 Work Shares Uses 04:00:00 Decentralized Pools (Dools) 04:02:00 Quai Simplicity 04:07:00 Tree Chains Comparison 04:09:00 Homogeneous Security 04:10:00 Vitalik Story 04:18:00 Qi Details 04:24:00 Dool Mechanics 04:27:00 Work Shares Info 04:29:00 2000 Viewers Milestone 04:29:00 Magic Word 04:31:00 Monero Reorgs & Qubic 04:34:00 Transaction Censorship 04:37:00 Red Balloon Problem 04:38:00 Selfish Mining 04:42:00 Liquidity Arc 04:44:00 Culture Challenge 04:46:00 Regional Trends 04:48:00 State Bloat vs Consensus 04:51:00 Storage Scaling 04:54:00 Propagation Time 04:56:00 400ms Lower Bound 04:58:00 Interplanetary Transactions 05:00:00 Reference Resolution 05:05:00 Propagation & Consensus 05:07:00 Independent Samples 05:08:00 Price Pump 05:10:00 Ideology & Tech 05:11:00 Bitcoin Scaling Limits 05:12:00 Gold as PoW 05:14:00 Self-Custody 05:17:00 Yield & MSTR 05:20:00 Pandemic Inflation 05:22:00 Dollar Future 05:24:00 Bitcoin Heterodoxy 05:25:00 Maximalism 05:29:00 Cult Dynamics 05:30:00 Mises & Rothbard 05:32:00 Roger Ver 05:36:00 Saylor Infiltration 05:37:00 Memes & Philosophies 05:38:00 Leader Emergence 05:39:00 CIA Speculation 05:40:00 Who is Satoshi? 05:41:00 Code Quality 05:42:00 Burning Keys 05:43:00 Martti Malmi Insights 05:44:00 Satoshi Is Not NSA 05:45:00 21m Is Arbitrary 05:46:00 Early Changes 05:47:00 Block Size Temp 05:48:00 Economics Assumptions 05:49:00 Satoshi Scaling 05:52:00 Tech Optimism 05:53:00 Industry Honesty 05:56:00 Sharding Complexity 05:57:00 PoW Scalability 05:58:00 Consensus Efficiency 05:59:00 Sharding Compat 06:00:00 Memes as Rhetoric 06:02:00 Hoskinson Cult 06:03:00 Fake Engagement 06:04:00 Steam Adoption 06:07:00 Overstock & Patrick Byrne 06:10:00 Design Philosophy 06:11:00 Frustrated Devs 06:12:00 Talent Exodus 06:14:00 Follow Dr. K 06:15:00 Message to Yonatan 06:16:00 Quai vs Kaspa 06:17:00 Closing Remarks

Sergej Kotliar is the CEO of Bitrefill, while Matt Ahlborg recently created PPQ.AI to enable millions of users to experience LLMs without expensive subscriptions. But how are bitcoin payments doing? In this episode, they present their latest stats. Time stamps: 00:00:48 – Introducing Sergej Kotliar and Matt Aalborg 00:02:20 – Bitrefill’s Lightning Network Experience & Payment Trends 00:04:13 – Shift from Bitcoin Maximalism to Multi-Chain Usage 00:05:47 – Tron, Ethereum, and Payment Method Comparisons 00:10:04 – Defining Post-Maximalism 00:11:08 – Changing Morality and Ideology in Bitcoin 00:13:12 – Proof of Reserves & Bitcoin Company Transparency 00:14:15 – Bitrefill’s Payment Method Rankings 00:18:00 – Payment Method Percentages & Dashboard Usage 00:20:21 – Decline in On-Chain Bitcoin Payments 00:24:46 – Popular Wallets for Bitrefill Purchases 00:27:53 – Bitrefill’s Business Growth & Marketing 00:29:04 – Adoption Pace & Decentralization Tradeoffs 00:31:35 – Centralized vs. Decentralized Chains & Security 00:33:51 – Stablecoins’ Role in Crypto Payments 00:35:25 – Bitcoin as Store of Value vs. Stablecoins as Medium of Exchange 00:36:26 – American Influence & “Never Spend Your Bitcoin” Narrative 00:38:47 – Bitcoin Spending Trends & Storage Habits 00:43:34 – Crypto Usage Beyond Bitcoin & Banking Systems 00:44:24 – Bitrefill’s Current Offerings & eSIM Growth 00:47:50 – Integration with Traditional Payment Networks 00:49:29 – Loss of libertarian ethos and Bitcoin community fragmentation. 00:51:41 – Support for Privacy Coins & Chain Selection 00:57:36 – Monero Usage on PPQ.AI & Regulatory Perceptions 01:00:01 – Liquid Bitcoin & Its Limited Adoption 01:05:16 – NFTs, Gambling, and Network Effects in Crypto 01:07:14 – Changing Narratives & Post-Rationalization 01:09:34 – Bitcoin’s Utopian Vision & Real-World Challenges 01:13:06 – Decentralization’s Gradual Growth & VPN Analogy 01:17:18 – PPQ AI: Naming, Features, and Privacy 01:22:03 – AI Model Variety & User Experience on PPQ AI 01:25:02 – Image & Video Generation with AI 01:27:22 – AI’s Impact on Employment & Content Creation 01:29:42 – AI, Automation, and Crypto Payments for Robots 01:34:02 – How PPQ.AI Handles User Data & Privacy 01:37:22 – Memory Features & User Profiling in AI 01:39:19 – Bitrefill’s Vision for the Future 01:40:29 – PPQ.AI’s Business Model & Growth 01:44:18 – PPQ.AI Model Access, Subscriptions, and Competitors 01:52:03 – PPQ.AI’s Elevator Pitch & Referral Program