Paul Sztorc (Drivechain) on Bitcoin Security Budget and the Importance Merge Mining (EP.280)

Published: Jan. 31, 2022, 11 a.m.

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Veteran Bitcoin commentator and inventor of Drivechains Paul Sztorc joins the show to talk Bitcoin\'s sustainability and the role of merged mined side chains. In this episode:\\xa0

  • Why Paul is the \\u2018Steely Dan\\u2019 of Bitcoin
  • Revisiting \\u2018Measuring decentralization\\u2019
  • Revisiting Paul\\u2019s argument on Proof of Stake being veiled PoW
  • Why you should roll your own statistics
  • Concentration of power in miners and mining pools
  • Is PoW worthless if it isn\\u2019t challenged?
  • How Bitcoin energy FUD is based on neo-malthusianism
  • The Julian Simon / Paul Ehrlich wager
  • Why none of our resources are finite
  • How climate change diplomacy is neo-colonial
  • Why and when innovation happens
  • Why Paul is a critic of Bitcoin development culture
  • Paul\\u2019s critique of Stock to Flow
  • Why Bitcoin culture is static
  • Why Bitcoin needs more satire
  • Bitcoin fees are 80-100x less than those of Ethereum
  • Why BTC fees are not sustainably high
  • Why Bitcoin fees and security budget need to grow over time
  • Can you just wait for more confirmations if security spend declines
  • Are fees destined to be effectively 0 through the creation of more blockspace?
  • The history of Drivechains /BIP300
  • Does merge mining make it more expensive to run a node?\\xa0
  • Do we know how to upgrade Bitcoin Core today?
  • The relevance of sidechains and merge mining to Bitcoin today
  • Was Satoshi into altcoins?
  • Would more sidechain development have inhibited the growth of Ethereum?
  • Does BIP300 solve the problem of the Bitcoin security budget?
  • Why you can\\u2019t reduce blockspace to increase security budget?\\xa0
  • Update on Drivechains

Content mentioned in this episode:\\xa0

Sponsor notes:

  • Fireblocks\\xa0is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Learn more at\\xa0fireblocks.com
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