Bitcoin

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Whether the block size should be increased to 20MB has created more controversy than any other question in Bitcoin's recent history. For some, it is an urgent and necessary step in Bitcoin's evolution. Their view is that leaving the block size at 1MB would be irresponsible inaction with potentially catastrophic consequences. Others see increasing the block size as unnecessary and a dangerous first step down a slippery slope towards a more centralized Bitcoin.

We were joined by Mike Hearn, along with Gavin Andresen the most outspoken supporter of a block size increase. He is also the creator of Bitcoin XT, a modified fork of Bitcoin Core, that may become the vehicle for the push for bigger blocks if no agreement is reached regarding Bitcoin Core. Don't miss this crucial conversation!

Topics included:
- What would happen if blocks started being consistently full
- Whether bigger blocks create a centralization risk
- Why Bitcoin core development has become pervaded with toxic division
- What Bitcoin XT is and how it differs from Bitcoin Core
- The roadmap ahead and how a transition to BitcoinXT would occur
- Update on Lighthouse

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- The Capacity Cliff: http://bit.ly/1Ap8NRP
- Crash Landing: http://bit.ly/1HrOhNd
- Let's Talk Bitcoin! #217 The Bitcoin Block Size Discussion: http://bit.ly/1dXmOvU
- Gavin Andresen Moves Ahead with Push for Bigger Blocks: http://bit.ly/1FKzgFf
- Bitcoin Dev Mailing List: http://bit.ly/1QEhsS8
- Lighthouse: http://bit.ly/1eXxwCP

Sponsors: 

- CoinCap: Crypto-currency market cap rankings, charts, and more http://coincap.io/#/
- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EB09 at http://ledgerwallet.com (valid until 09/30/15)
- Vaultoro: Trade gold to Bitcoin instantly and securely starting at just 1mg at http://vaultoro.com

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/082
YouTube: http://youtu.be/8JmvkyQyD8w


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB82 – Mike Hearn - Blocksize Debate At The Breaking Point

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Close to two years after the initial whitepaper, the revolutionary Ethereum network has finally launched. The decentralized smart contract platform is, without a doubt, the most exciting cryptocurrency project since Bitcoin. The versatile platform with its turing-complete scripting language aspires to power the distributed applications of the future.

Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin joined us for the second time to discuss the Frontier Launch, future plans for scalability, governance and the road ahead for the organization and the protocol.

Topics covered included:
- Ethereum's frontier launch and the upcoming development stages
- The plans for how to create a scalable blockchain architecture
- The thinking around transitioning to proof-of-stake
- The state and new board of the Ethereum Foundation
- How Ethereum's development will be funded in the longer term
- His thoughts on the governance of Ethereum and Bitcoin
- When private blockchains make sense and if Ethereum
- What mistakes were made during the development of Ethereum

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Sponsors: 

- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EB09 at http://ledgerwallet.com (valid until 09/30/15)

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/091
YouTube: https://youtu.be/3uvbIyzsCLY


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
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EB91 – Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum Frontier Launch, Scalability And The Road Ahead

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As the debate about the blocksize continues to roar through the Bitcoin community, Gavin Andresen joins us to take a step back and ask the big questions: How should these decisions be made in the first place? What does the governance of Bitcoin look like now and what do we want it to look like in the future?

In a challenging time for Bitcoin, it's a critical discussion to have with the Chief Scientist of the Bitcoin Foundation and successor of Satoshi. We cover everything from the current blocksize debate to the nature of forks to how decisions will be made in Bitcoin XT.

Topics covered included:
- MIT Digital Currency Initiative
- The way Gavin thinks about Bitcoin
- How were decisions made throughout Bitcoin's history
- What the Nakamoto/market consensus is
- Forking the software vs a fork of the blockchain
- Who should make decisions in Bitcoin and how the interest of different stakeholders should be reconciled
- Why the desirable state is to move towards many different implementations
- How decisions will be made for the Bitcoin XT code base

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Eli Durado: How should Bitcoin be governed? http://bit.ly/1Vm7JnM
- Arvind Narayanan: Bitcoin faces a crossroads, needs an effective decision-making process http://bit.ly/1LCq8bf
- Matt Asay: Why you should fork your next open-source project http://tek.io/1N2bk9i
- Robles & Gonzalez-Barahona, A comprehensive study of software forks http://bit.ly/1JDCtwB
- Chinese Mining Pools Call for Consensus; Refuse Switch to Bitcoin XT http://bit.ly/1Ukpph6
- Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies - Chapter 7: Community, Politics, and Regulation http://bit.ly/1PZVZo5
- BIP 100 Proposal http://bit.ly/1iakV0M

Sponsors: 

- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EB09 at http://ledgerwallet.com (valid until 09/30/15)
- Vaultoro: Invest in the gold-Bitcoin trading platform on Bank to the Future http://bit.ly/1ER5gIo

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/094
YouTube: http://youtu.be/B8l11q9hsJM


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB94 – Gavin Andresen: On The Blocksize And Bitcoin's Governance

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As the debate about forks, the blocksize and decision making in Bitcoin continues, we are joined by Adam Back. Adam is best known for his invention hash-cash which became one of the fundamental building blocks of Bitcoin. He is also the inventor of the sidechains concept and founder and president of Blockstream, the single biggest employer of Bitcoin core developers.

With Adam we talked about the different blocksize proposals and how a decentralized cryptocurrency should be governed in general. He is an influential conservative voice in the current debate and has been warning that a rapid increase of the blocksize could undermine the decentralization of Bitcoin.

Topics covered included:
- Adam's concerns with Bitcoin XT and the approach by Gavin Andresen and Mike Hearn
- Why Adam favors a slower blocksize increase to preserve decentralization
- How Bitcoin will function as a settlement network in the medium-term with the bulk of transactions going through the Lightning Network or sidechains
- Why forks are in Bitcoin are different from forks in other open source projects
- The upcoming Scaling Bitcoin workshop in Montreal

Links mentioned in this episode:

- Scaling Bitcoin Montreal Event http://bit.ly/1Qk6Qt2
- Blockstream http://bit.ly/1KAn8zf
- Gavin Andresen's BIP 101 http://bit.ly/1WZZlw5
- Jeff Garzik's BIP 100 http://bit.ly/1iakV0M
- Adam Back's blocksize proposal http://bit.ly/1K18XwC
- List of different blocksize proposals http://bit.ly/1LTs4fI

Sponsors:

- Vaultoro: Trade gold to Bitcoin instantly and securely starting at just 1mg at http://vaultoro.com

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/095
YouTube: http://youtu.be/wYHyR2E5Pic


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.

- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB95 – Adam Back: Why Bitcoin Needs A Measured Approach To Scaling

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Prediction markets are considered one of the most promising applications of blockchain technology. Although the concept and some early implementations have existed for years, decentralized prediction markets present a number of advantages to their centralized counterparts. 

Paul Sztorc joins us to discuss Truthcoin, a “Peer-to-Peer Oracle Protocol which absorbs accurate data into a blockchain so that Bitcoin-users can speculate in Prediction Markets”. We dive deep to explore the advantages of decentralized prediction markets, their various real-world applications, and their potential to revolutionize the creation and propagation of knowledge in our society. 

On this episode, we are thrilled to introduce a new co-host on Epicenter Bitcoin, Meher Roy. He has a biochemical engineering background and previously worked as an adviser to HyperLedger. Since discovering Bitcoin, he spends most of his free time understanding blockchain technology and its potential impact on our lives. We’re confident that Meher will bring a high level of understanding and critical thinking to the topics we cover, and we’re certain our listeners will be as happy as we are to have him on the show.

Topics covered include: 
- What are prediction markets and why they are useful
- The mechanics of prediction markets 
- The potential for prediction markets to provide useful aggregation to today's abundant information
- The parallels between crowd intelligence and artificial intelligence
- The different components of Truthcoin and the state of the project
- How Truthcoin differs from other decentralized prediction markets

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Truthcoin Website: http://bit.ly/1V5pOcY
- Truthcoin Whitepaper: http://bit.ly/1JkkIgY
- The Win-Win Blocksize Solution: http://bit.ly/1j2nUsE
- Blocksize Markets: http://bit.ly/1LHXi74

Sponsors: 

- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EB09 at http://ledgerwallet.com (valid until 09/30/15)

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/097
YouTube: https://youtu.be/qNeX_5jvAI0


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB97 – Paul Sztorc: Truthcoin & Prediction Markets, From Information-Overload To Crowd Intelligence

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When Robin Hanson invented the concept of prediction markets almost thirty years ago, he felt he had stumbled on a concept with huge implications. By allowing people to bet on the likelihood of future events, prediction markets promise to allow better forecasts and better decision making.

Research into the area has been vibrant, culminating in Hanson's concept of Futarchy: A prediction-market based governance system. At the same time, the real-world applications have been few and far.

Hanson, an associate professor of economics at George Mason University, joined us to discuss his invention, futarchy and the challenges of disruptive technology. 

Topics covered included:
- How prediction markets can surface information
- The history of prediction markets
- How futarchy works
- Whether futarchy could settle the blocksize debate
- Why prediction markets failed to get wide adoption
- How Bitcoin is facing a similar adoption challenge


Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Science 'The Promise of Prediction Markets' http://bit.ly/1PJ2bAn (PDF)
- Futarchy: Vote Values, But Bet Beliefs http://bit.ly/1KFhx7v
- Robin Hanson's Blog Overcoming Bias http://bit.ly/1KFhwAx

Sponsors: 

- Shapeshift: Buy and sell alt coins instantly at http://ShapeShift.io
- Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at http://Hide.me/epicenter 

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/098
YouTube: https://youtu.be/mUUk0jSndoc


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
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EB98 – Robin Hanson: Futarchy, Prediction Markets And The Challenge Of Disruptive Technology

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In the midst of the heated blocksize debate one could be forgiven to think that there is very little Bitcoin developers are able to agree on. Yet, when core developer and Blockstream co-founder Pieter Wuille introduced the concept of segregated witness at the Scaling Bitcoin conference in Hong Kong most of the Bitcoin community quickly rallied behind the proposal. 

Eric Lombrozo, CEO of wallet company Ciphrex and responsible for running the segregated witness testnet, joined us to discuss the proposal and its implications. Segregated witness, it turns out, does not only provide an elegant way to increase the blocksize via a soft-fork, it also solves transaction malleability and greatly simplifies updating the Bitcoin's scripting language. It's a crucial topic and may well enable a new wave of accelerated innovation in Bitcoin.

Topics covered included:
- The various benefits of segregated witness
- The mechanics of segregated witness
- How segregated witness solves transaction malleability
- How segregated witness could increase the blocksize to 2-3MB with a soft fork
- What segregated witness means for wallet developers
- How segregated witness could facilitate development of off-chain networks such as Lightning Network
- The important difference between hard forks and soft forks
- How segregated witness will allow updates of Bitcoin's script language via soft forks

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Scaling Bitcoin Talk by Pieter Wuille http://bit.ly/1RhgRKA
- Let's Talk Bitcoin! #277 Separating Signatures with Segregated Witness http://bit.ly/1SaELZi
- Gavin Andresen: Segregated Witness is Cool http://bit.ly/1RhgOyh
- Bitcoin Magazine Series on Segregated Witness Part 1: http://bit.ly/1PgyFD8 Part 2: http://bit.ly/1SYEK9K Part 3: http://bit.ly/23Soo7H
- Eric Lombrozo's company Ciphrex: http://bit.ly/1T83Bcs

Sponsors: 

- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EPICENTER at http://ledgerwallet.com

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/117
YouTube: https://youtu.be/iipca5gmcT8


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
- Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter
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EB117 – Eric Lombrozo: Upgrading Bitcoin With Segregated Witness

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A pioneering feature of Bitcoin is verifiability of transactions: It is designed to enable low-power devices and high end computers alike to be able to verify occurrences on the blockchain.

This observation led our guest, Adam Gibson, to wonder why webpages aren't so easily verifiable as a Bitcoin transaction? Can I prove to you that I have certain bank account balance over the internet? Why do we submit photocopies of passports rather than furnishing a cryptographically verifiable proof of citizenship by logging on to a Government site?

Born out of this intellectual itch is the TLS Notary protocol. It pioneers a new kind of auditing that enables participants to prove that a certain https page was in their browser. This protocol paves the way to brilliant designs for Proof of Reserves, Smart contract oracles and Decentralised fiat-to-bitcoin exchange.

Topics covered included:

- Why is the current Web structured to be not easily verifiable?
- What is TLS and how does it work?
- How TLS differs from SSL.
- The TLS Notary protocol
- Capabilities and limitations of TLS Notary.
- Applications of TLS Notary including provably honest smart contract oracles.

Links mentioned in this episode:

- The TLS Notary website: https://tlsnotary.org/
- Oraclize, the provably honest oracle service: http://www.oraclize.it/
- The TLS specification (TLS 1.0 RFC 2246):  https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2246.txt

Sponsors: 

- Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EPICENTER at http://ledgerwallet.com
- GTEC: Apply now to enter the GTEC Blockchain Contest and win prizes worth €50k http://epicenterbitcoin.com/gtec

Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/119
YouTube: https://youtu.be/MVjTOZ_lJ30

Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.
 
- Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com
- Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

EB119 – Adam Gibson: A New Kind Of Auditing - Cryptographic Proof Of Online Accounts

Epicenter is a podcast about the technologies, projects & people driving decentralization and the global blockchain revolution.

Epicenter is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sebastien Couture and Meher Roy. Every week, we find the most interesting people in the industry for in-depth discussions about their projects, ideas and stories.