Bitcoin Takeover Podcast

As the CEO of Synonym, John Carvalho has experimented with many Bitcoin layers & protocols – including OmniBolt, Lightning & sidechains. In this episode, he explains what lessons he's learned and why he believes in more conservative ways to scale Bitcoin.

Eric Voskuil is the maintainer of Libbitcoin & the author of Cryptoeconomics. In this episode, he offers details about the Libbitcoin incident that took place in the summer of 2023 and also criticizes some aspects of the cult of Michael Saylor.

Fiatjaf is the creator of Nostr, a decentralized social media protocol which enables everyone around the world to communicate without censorship. Surprisingly, he doesn't agree with some existing Nostr software, no longer likes Lightning & promotes BIP300. Nostr Bitcoin and Lightning (00:00:47) Fiatjaf's creation Nostr, association with Bitcoin, and differing opinions on its development and use. Creation of Nostr (00:01:55) Decentralization and BlueSky (00:07:31) Comparison between Nostr and BlueSky, and the importance of decentralization. Peter Todd's Criticism (00:09:33) Fiatjaf's response to Peter Todd's criticism and the misunderstanding of Nostr's decentralization. Nostr's Popularity and Lightning Criticism (00:15:31) The influence of Jack Dorsey on Nostr's growth and the controversial opinion on Lightning's limitations. The Future of Bitcoin and Lightning (00:20:43) Fiatjaf's skepticism about Lightning as the future of Bitcoin, deferring to Antoine Riard as a reliable source for insights. Challenges of running nodes (00:23:21) The challenges and limitations of running Lightning nodes for normal users and the evolution of the uncle Jim model. Issues with small transactions (00:26:11) The impracticality of sending very small transactions in the Lightning network due to fees and protocol limitations. Difficulties of being a custodian (00:29:21) The challenges and limitations of being a custodian in the Lightning network. Complexities of Lightning protocol (00:34:18) Exploration of the complex features and potential bugs in the Lightning protocol, as well as the challenges of routing and receiving payments. Struggles of managing a routing node (00:36:40) Personal experiences and challenges faced while managing a routing node in the Lightning network. Drivechains for scaling Bitcoin (00:39:29) Discussion on the potential of Drivechains as a solution for scaling Bitcoin, including technical and consensus considerations. Criticism of Drivechains (00:42:12) Concerns regarding Drivechains, including the potential increase in human politics and voting processes. BIP301 and voting concerns (00:43:24) Discussion on the automatic voting process and concerns about adding politics and complexity to the Bitcoin network. Focusing on Future Bitcoiners (00:47:04) BitVM and Roll-Ups (00:53:14) Discussion about the BitVM project and roll-up systems, including skepticism and concerns about its overhyped nature. State of Soft Forks (00:59:22) Conversation about the absence of soft forks and the emergence of workarounds in the Bitcoin space. Liquid and Decentralization (01:02:48) The nature of Liquid as a blockchain and the concerns about its decentralization and reliance on geopolitics for security. The vilification of miners (01:04:31)The narrative shift in Bitcoin, from miners activating changes to users activating with full nodes. Miners' role in soft fork activation (01:05:46) Criticism of Drivechains (01:06:22) Two-way pegs and price (01:08:17) Concerns about the value of pegged BTC on sidechains and potential market fluctuations. Arguments against miner theft from sidechains (01:09:30) Debunking the idea of miners stealing from successful sidechains and its impact on Bitcoin's value. Mining centralization and Drivechains (01:11:52) Miner-extracted value (MEV) and its relevance (01:15:18) Exploration of miner-extracted value (MEV) and its applicability in the Bitcoin context. Accidental hard fork and network cooperation (01:17:13) LayerTwo Labs and Drivechain adoption (01:18:26) Can LayerTwo Labs activate Drivechains & push adoption? Challenges of running Bitcoin nodes (01:21:02) On the difficulty of running Bitcoin nodes and UTXO set management.

Bastien and Baudoin are the creators and main promoters of Satochip: an affordable self-custody solution which makes use of the smart card technology to provide hardware wallet features. In this episode, they explain how Satochip works & why it's unique.

Alexei Zamyatin is an academic cryptographer who works on the Build on Bitcoin projects. His approach to scaling Bitcoin with second layers involves some unconventional methods, which he describes in this interview. Zero Knowledge Proofs and Rollups (00:01:21) Discussion of the development of layer two solutions, including zero knowledge proofs and rollups. Defining BitVM Rollups (00:01:58) Explanation of the debate surrounding the definition of zk rollups and the introduction of the new category of BitVM rollups. Citrea's Approach (00:04:41) Analysis of Citrea's zk optimized BitVM rollup and its approach to sidechains and rollups. Zero Knowledge Proofs and Rollups Explained (00:05:26) Explanation of the concepts of zero knowledge proofs and rollups in the context of layer two solutions. Comparison of Rollups and Sidechains (00:12:41) Comparison of sidechains and zk rollups, discussing their differences and promises. The Vision of Build on Bitcoin (00:18:48) Discussion of the problems to be solved in the development of layer two solutions and the vision of the Build on Bitcoin project. EVM: The easiest way to build decentralized applications (00:22:54) Alexei Zamyatin advocates for the ease of building decentralized applications using EVM, while pointing out to the challenges of building infrastructure from scratch. Liquidity and Stablecoins on Rollups (00:23:53) The challenges of bringing stablecoins onto rollups and the dependency on centralized parties for stablecoin provision. Bootstrapping BOB as an ETH Rollup (00:25:47) Alexei xplains the decision to bootstrap BOB as an ETH rollup, inheriting Ethereum security and bridging assets. Pragmatic approach to Bitcoin and Ethereum (00:30:06) Alexei Zamyatin discusses the pragmatic approach to Bitcoin and Ethereum, acknowledging the need to cater to user preferences and solve real-world problems. Building centralized layer on Bitcoin and counterparty models (00:37:03) The trade-offs of building centralized layers on Bitcoin and the limitations of counterparty and other models. Satochip and IVPN ads (00:42:15) Rapid fire presentation of Satochip and IVPN ads. Drivechains proposal and its drawbacks (00:43:20) The Drivechains proposal, its potential usefulness, and the technical details and drawbacks associated with it. Drivechains (00:44:19) Discussion on the activation of drivechains and the need to prove demand for their implementation. Mining and MEV (00:46:29) Exploration of miner extractable value (MEV) and its potential impact on Bitcoin's consensus and mining incentives. Covenants for Bitcoin (00:49:17) The need for covenants in Bitcoin to facilitate the development of sidechains, layer twos, and rollups. Activation Proposals (00:51:06) Debate over the activation of opcode proposals, such as OP_CTV and OP_CAT, and their implications for Bitcoin's development. Following Build on Bitcoin (00:52:47) How to keep up with the Build on Bitcoin project and relevant resources for learning about Bitcoin rollups.

Orkun Kilic, an expert on Citrea, discusses the advantages of ZK rollups on Bitcoin, including scalability, privacy, and lower fees. They explore the concept, benefits, and future research plans for Citrea, the first protocol to enable ZK rollups on Bitcoin. They also compare roll-ups to drivechains, highlighting the technical superiority and trust assumptions. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the advantages of using roll-ups over Lightning for Bitcoin users, emphasizing faster and cheaper transactions, incentive for adoption, and potential for further improvements.

Andrew Poelstra, mathematician and head of research at Blockstream, discusses covenants in Bitcoin Script, including op CAT and op CTV. The chapter explores the functionalities of op codes dupe and cat, the limitations of CTV, and the potential solution of CAT for more flexible transactions. They also discuss personal experiences with Wasabi and JoinMarket, the integration of Wasabi and Shop N Bit, and the future improvements needed in Bitcoin.

Paul Sztorc returns with a twist: he's talking about sidechains, rollups, BitVM, Lightning, and ever other scaling solution... but can't say the words "Drivechain" or "BIP 300". If he breaks the rule, he must send a Lightning transaction and drink vodka.

Aaron van Wirdum is a veteran Bitcoin journalist who has been writing for Bitcoin Magazine since 2014. On January 3rd 2024, after nearly five years of working on this project, he launched The Genesis Book: a reflection on the history before Bitcoin.

Nicolas Dorier talks about the early days of BTCPay Server, activating SegWit before it was cool on NBitcoin, contributing to TumbleBit, writing a book about coding Bitcoin projects in C#, and working with colored coins.