Episode 96: Mining Decentralization Update

Stratum v2, DATUM, Bitaxe, P2Pool and friends. In Bitcoin, Explained 96, Aaron and Sjors discuss some recent innovations in mining, and in particular mining decentralization. Specifically, they discuss the Stratum V2 and DATUM mining protocols to decentralize transaction selection in mining pools, the open source hardware Bitaxe miner, and some recent proposals to make decentralized mining pools like P2Pool more viable. === This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the ColdCard. Aaron’s Nostr: npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5 Sjors’ Nostr: nprofile1qyvhwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnnwpex7an0daehgtnwdshsqgyxsh477ejn8rwkjv0zen0ncxwe7rj6zpnujx8j9ecgrsj43786lqyul0f2

In Bitcoin, Explained 95, Aaron and Sjors discuss the new Bitcoin Core 28.0 release. Specifically, they cover upgrades to Bitcoin’s testnet (testnet 4), new mempool policies, full RBF integration, the introduction of assume UTXO, improved wallet migration support and the implementation of block file XOR. https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/ Release notes: https://bitcoincore.org/en/releases/28.0/ This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the ColdCard. Aaron’s Twitter: @AaronvanW Aaron’s Nostr: npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5 Sjors’ Nostr: nprofile1qyvhwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnnwpex7an0daehgtnwdshsqgyxsh477ejn8rwkjv0zen0ncxwe7rj6zpnujx8j9ecgrsj43786lqyul0f2

In this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors welcome Ruben Somsen and Josie to the show to discuss BIP 352, their now-finalized Bitcoin Improvement Proposal for Silent Payments. As previously discussed in episode 58, Silent Payments use a special type of addresses that allow senders to generate public keys for transaction recipients, in such a way that these recipients can in turn generate the associated private keys. This benefits privacy, as Bitcoin users can freely share a static address, without this resulting in address reuse on the Bitcoin blockchain. Aaron, Sjors, Ruben and Josie recap how this works. and discuss some of the implementation details for the BIP, including how light clients can utilize Silent Payments, how these payments are made compatible with CoinJoin, and an extra feature called “labels”. === This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the ColdCard. Aaron's Twitter: @AaronvanW Aaron’s Nostr: npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5 Sjors’ Twitter: @provoost Sjors’ Nostr: npub1s6z7hmmx2vud66f3utxd70qem8cwtggx0jgc7gh8pqwz2k8cltuqrdwk4c Ruben’s Twitter: @SomsenRuben Josie’s Twitter: @josibake If you’d like to sponsor the show, please email info at bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com. https://bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com/

In this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss the Great Consensus Cleanup Revival soft fork(s). This proposal would fix some known bugs in the Bitcoin protocol, specifically the timewarp vulnerability, large block validation times, 64 byte transactions and BIP 30 verification. Sjors also provides a quick update on the court case against Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev, and places this in the context of the recent arrests of Samourai Wallet developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill. === This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the ColdCard Aaron's Twitter: @AaronvanW Aaron’s Nostr: npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5 Sjors’ Twitter: @provoost Sjors’ Nostr: npub1s6z7hmmx2vud66f3utxd70qem8cwtggx0jgc7gh8pqwz2k8cltuqrdwk4c If you’d like to sponsor the show, please email info at bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com. https://bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com/

In this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors explain what new features are included in the upcoming Bitcoin Core 27.0 release. https://github.com/bitcoin-core/bitcoin-devwiki/wiki/27.0-Release-Candidate-Testing-Guide === This episode’s sponsor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠CoinKite⁠⁠⁠⁠, maker of the ColdCard Aaron's Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@AaronvanW⁠⁠⁠⁠ Aaron’s Nostr: npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5 Sjors’ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@provoost⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sjors’ Nostr: npub1s6z7hmmx2vud66f3utxd70qem8cwtggx0jgc7gh8pqwz2k8cltuqrdwk4c If you’d like to sponsor the show, please email info at bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com. ⁠https://bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com/

In this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors are once more joined by Breez developer Jesse de Wit, this time to explain splicing. Splicing allows users of the Lightning Network to effectively add or remove funds from an active channel, allowing for continuous payment and routing activity. Aaron, Sjors and Jesse discuss what challenges this entails, and how these challenges are overcome. At the beginning of the episode, Sjors also gives a brief update on the ongoing TornadoCash trial in the Netherlands, and he addresses a recent block mined by Mara Pool. === This episode’s sponsor: ⁠⁠⁠CoinKite⁠⁠⁠, maker of the ColdCard Jesse’s Twitter: ⁠@WitDeJesse⁠ Jesse's Nostr: npub18hwpk5qep3ptnmzatq22ptwr9mth7ccrku56rdntwpxjxlkfyr2qrav8du Aaron's Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@AaronvanW⁠⁠⁠ Aaron’s Nostr: npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5 Sjors’ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@provoost⁠⁠⁠ Sjors’ Nostr: npub1s6z7hmmx2vud66f3utxd70qem8cwtggx0jgc7gh8pqwz2k8cltuqrdwk4c If you’d like to sponsor the show, please email info at bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com. https://bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com/

In this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors are joined by Breez developer Jesse de Wit to discuss asynchronous lightning payments. They explain why such payments would be useful, how they would work, and what building blocks are required to realize it. In the process, Aaron, Sjors and Jesse also cover the basics of PTLCs and Trampoline Payments. === This episode’s sponsor: ⁠⁠CoinKite⁠⁠, maker of the ColdCard Jesse’s Twitter: @WitDeJesse Jesse's Nostr: npub18hwpk5qep3ptnmzatq22ptwr9mth7ccrku56rdntwpxjxlkfyr2qrav8du Aaron's Twitter: ⁠⁠@AaronvanW⁠⁠ Aaron’s Nostr: npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5 Sjors’ Twitter: ⁠⁠@provoost⁠⁠ Sjors’ Nostr: npub1s6z7hmmx2vud66f3utxd70qem8cwtggx0jgc7gh8pqwz2k8cltuqrdwk4c

In this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss two more electronic cash projects that predate Bitcoin: Wei Dai’s b-money and Hal Finney’s RPOW. As detailed in Aaron’s new book, The Genesis Book, these systems introduced design elements that were later utilized by Satoshi Nakamoto. Aaron and Sjors explain what these elements are, and how the inspired Bitcoin’s design. To buy Aaron’s new book, visit www.thegenesisbook.com. Mentioned: B-money (archive link): https://web.archive.org/web/20050211031649/http://www.eskimo.com/~weidai/bmoney.txt RPOW (archive link): https://nakamotoinstitute.org/finney/rpow/index.html === This episode’s sponsor: ⁠CoinKite⁠, maker of the ColdCard Aaron's Twitter: ⁠@AaronvanW⁠ Aaron’s Nostr: npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5 Sjors’ Twitter: ⁠@provoost⁠ Sjors’ Nostr: npub1s6z7hmmx2vud66f3utxd70qem8cwtggx0jgc7gh8pqwz2k8cltuqrdwk4c If you’d like to sponsor the show, please email info at bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com ⁠https://bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com/

In this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss two electronic cash projects that predate Bitcoin: Adam Back’s Hashcash and Nick Szabo’s Bit Gold. As detailed in Aaron’s new book, The Genesis Book, these systems introduced design element that were later utilized by Satoshi Nakamoto. Aaron and Sjors explain what these elements are, and how they inspired Bitcoin’s design. To buy Aaron’s new book, visit ⁠www.thegenesisbook.com⁠.
 Mentioned: * 1992 Dwork & Naor: Pricing via Processing or Combatting Junk Mail * 2002 Back: Hashcash - A Denial of Service Counter-Measure * Bit Gold: Bitcoin Magazine article (1998) * One-way function: Wikipedia * Secure-benchmark function: Intrapolynomial Cryptography (1999) === This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the ColdCard Aaron's Twitter: @AaronvanW Aaron’s Nostr: npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5 Sjors’ Twitter: @provoost Sjors’ Nostr: npub1s6z7hmmx2vud66f3utxd70qem8cwtggx0jgc7gh8pqwz2k8cltuqrdwk4c If you’d like to sponsor the show, please email info at bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com https://bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com/

In this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss the so-called “block 1,983,702 problem”. They explain how a bug in early Bitcoin implementations could in rare cases cause a loss of funds, or in a worst-case scenario even lead to consensus failures, while they also explain how BIP 30 and BIP 34 solved this problem. As it turns out, however, BIP 34 introduced a new problem, that could become an issue about twenty years from now… ===
 This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the ColdCard Aaron's Twitter: @AaronvanW Aaron’s Nostr: npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5 Sjors’ Twitter: @provoost Sjors’ Nostr: npub1s6z7hmmx2vud66f3utxd70qem8cwtggx0jgc7gh8pqwz2k8cltuqrdwk4c If you’d like to sponsor the show, please email info at bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com https://bitcoinexplainedpodcast.com/